obtaining probate for deceased person????

noh

You can find historical share prices on yahoo, for instance Lloyds share price is here:- http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=LLOY.L
The shares need to be valued at date of death and the "quarter up" value used.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page8-1.htm#2

Nigel

kunash

noh wrote: »

plus a percentage of the estate value.

so if the estate is valued at around 1.5 million, what you are saying is if they charge 1% for example, they will take a minimum of £15,000. and may well charge more than 1%. seems extortionate to say the least, for doing very little work.

so even if i asked them if i could all the work myself, they would still charge the fee i guess

kunash

noh wrote: »

You can find historical share prices on yahoo, for instance Lloyds share price is here:- http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=LLOY.L
The shares need to be valued at date of death and the "quarter up" value used.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page8-1.htm#2

Nigel

thanks for the link, sorry for all the questions, but how would you tell if a share cerificate is valid, and not obsolete

and the lloyds example you gave, wouldnt you use the close price then?
they give a high and low price, so what you are saying is use that, work out the
"quarter up" value , and that is the value ( and not the close price? )

noh

When I last used a solicitor for probate they quoted law society suggested fees of so much per hour plus 1% of the value of the estate. I negotiated the 1% down to zero but as you are not the client you are not in a position to negotiate.
If its UK companies and you can't find them on Yahoo finance you can try contacting the registrar the address should be on the certificate.


Nigel

kunash

i have looked on the solicitors web page but no mention of fees. i have googled fees, and i see Barclays fees. they are probably ranked the highest of the fees i would say, but i worked it out, if barclays were appointed executors they would charge me 55,000 in % fees alone plus hourly rate fee.

i am a bit speechless atm.

it is almost impossible to remove solicitors as execs. i can see why now.

if you have a will DO NOT appoint professionals. i know that now.

myself, my mum, hold a will with them and have them appointed as execs. of course when we took these wills out they didnt mention their fees. they also hold numerous property deeds.

we will of course be changing our wills and remove them as execs.

they have been our family solicitors for generations.

do you think we have any chance to reduce the fees to a set amount if i ask nicely ( i know nicely doesnt normally cut it with solicitors) ? or reduce the %. if they dont, we will remove everything from them as soon as we are legally allowed to.

so pls, any ideas how to reduce the %?

dzug

kunash wrote: »

thanks for the link, sorry for all the questions, but how would you tell if a share cerificate is valid, and not obsolete

and the lloyds example you gave, wouldnt you use the close price then?
they give a high and low price, so what you are saying is use that, work out the
"quarter up" value , and that is the value ( and not the close price? )

Ask the Registrar of the Company - details should be on the certificate. Even if the company doesn't exist any more, the share certificate can still be valid for a successor company so don't be too hasty to throw them away.

You do (I think) take the close price - the 'quarter up' value relates to the spread between the buying and selling prices, not varying prices during the day.

If there's a lot of shares it would be worth buying the official stock exchange prices listing for the day. Unlike most newspapers it will give the two prices.

tazz233

Hi Kunash,

I am currently sorting out probate for my mums estate so can give some advice and let you know whats happening in my case.
You won't be able to get hold of any money until you have obtained probate. If the total estate is over 300k gross (which seems like it is) and if there is any chance that probate will be applied for, the Life Insurance, bank accounts etc will all ask to see the probate certificate before they transfer the money to you. You will need to get date of death figures for all her assets. Share amounts can be found on the internet, get valuations on the property, exact mortgage amounts and bank details at the date of death etc. This is what the tax form asks for in detail. Once you have exact amounts and written proof, the tax form is sent off- The tax people will then say how much you owe and then with that tax certificate you can apply for a probate certificate.
Good luck, Ive been able to do this all myself with a lot organisation!

kunash

tazz233 wrote: »

You won't be able to get hold of any money until you have obtained probate. If the total estate is over 300k gross (which seems like it is) and if there is any chance that probate will be applied for, the Life Insurance, bank accounts etc will all ask to see the probate certificate before they transfer the money to you.

this is where i get confused. some people tell me i can get probate, sell the investments, transfer the bank balance etc, in order to pay the inheritance tax bill, all in that order. ( these people arent professionals btw, as I cant ask a solicitor until tuesday )

but you are saying you cant touch any asset until inheritance tax has been paid, then probate is issued.

so if you are right, where are we suppose to get the money from? what happens if we dont have the money in our own personal accounts. how can we be expected to pay before we get the probate? sorry just trying to figure out how to pay

femigirl

Firstly I am sorry to hear of the passing away of your Aunt. I hope you and your family are doing ok. My dad die 18mths ago and I had to deal with the probate process all by myself as the only executor etc. My advice to you is get very organise. You can’t claim probate without a death certificate(and the will if one was left), you have to register the death. It can take some days. My dad die during a bank holiday so it took about week. I would strongly advise you to get at least 5 copies of the death certificate because if you don’t have enough it a pain to get extra copies later has I found out.

The probate form has to be fill in and this must be send of with a cheque of £90 and £1 for every copy of the grant probate. You still have to wait for appointment etc.

Without the grant of probate no one will released money to you. You have to use your own financial. Keep receipt and then claim the money back from the estate.

Actually, the only people that released some money was my dad current account(the bank) and they pay funeral directors directly etc.

If you need advise about the shares speak to the solicitor after all that what the estate is paying them for.

I wish you all the best with the process, If I can give anymore advice PM me.

noh

kunash wrote: »

this is where i get confused. some people tell me i can get probate, sell the investments, transfer the bank balance etc, in order to pay the inheritance tax bill, all in that order. ( these people arent professionals btw, as I cant ask a solicitor until tuesday )

but you are saying you cant touch any asset until inheritance tax has been paid, then probate is issued.

so if you are right, where are we suppose to get the money from? what happens if we dont have the money in our own personal accounts. how can we be expected to pay before we get the probate? sorry just trying to figure out how to pay

IHT or a proportion of it has to be paid before Probate is granted.
IHT on free assets ie cash, shares etc is due in full IHT on property can be paid in 10 annual installments. There is something called the "direct payment scheme" which allows banks and building societies to pay money from the deceaseds accounts direct to HMRC.
Info here:-
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/howtopay/iht-direct-pay-scheme.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page12.htm
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAndResponsibilities/Death/BenefitsAndMoney/DG_10029818
You state in your first post that there is a life insurance policy written in trust, proceeds of this are paid direct to the beneficiary outside of the estate, so are available. You also state the proceeds of the sale of your Aunts house are held in a bank account in your Mothers name so they too are available.

Nigel