Best estimate of personal and household possessions

lushkat

Sadly my step father died a few weeks ago and we have decided to apply for probate ourselves rather than appoint a solicitor as the will is very simple (left everything to my mum)

I am trying to fill out the IHT205 form (relevant form in our circumstances) where it asks me to value household and personal goods (13.2). I dont think they have anything out of the usual in terms of household possessions- and the car I can value - but has anyone got any experience of valuing the household and personal effects?

The form says to put down resale value and not insurance value (which seems to vary from 30,000 to 45,000 on various different website) and it says that best estimates will do.

Can anyone advice me on making a best estimate.

Very much appreciated in advance

Lushkat

Errata

Have a look on ebay for similar items and see what they're going for.
Very often household items are worth nothing, especially if they're a number of years old. Or you could call in a house clearance firm and ask them to give you a price.

vaio

It depends so much on the stuff, if it’s normal run of the mill stuff its resale value is almost zero as you will find out if you ask a house clearance firm to give you a price for everything. If it’s antiques obviously that’s a different matter and you need specialist advice.

Are there any implications to getting it wrong? Other beneficiaries? Inheritance tax? Value related costs?

lushkat

Since my mum was the only beneficiary in his will and it falls below the ceiling for Inheritance Tax I think I have quite a large margin of error. I think I will phone the probate helpline tomorrow and see if they have any ideas. Thanks though

hardpressed

We were advised by our solicitor that the value of household goods was negligible, in fact a house clearance firm wanted us to pay them £150 to clear the house. If they are normal household things wouldn't you mum own them jointly?

Red_Cat

Lushkat, sorry to read of your loss.

When my father died last year, my sister and I applied for probate. We faced the same question as you, my dad had ordinary items but nothing really valuable. As such we just put in a nominal value of £500.