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Post by bracknellboy on Sept 10, 2021 15:17:36 GMT
I have a situation I wasn't really expecting to have. My first parent has passed away and from an estate / will perspective I was expecting things to be relatively simple given the 'rule of survivorship'. However, having looked at the will and some other documents (I am one of the executors) I am finding that things are not quite what they seem. Amongst other things, I am now pretty sure we will need a grant of probate (whereas I though that would not be needed). I will need to talk to the original solicitor who drew up the will, but I would like to go in a bit more 'fore armed' than I currently am, given the slight surprise I've found which can only have been at the solicitor's suggestion originally. Also, given delays on getting Grant of Probate at the moment (8 weeks quoted on government website) I want to get things rolling but am not sure whether it can be me that does it even if I eventually get some help from a solicitor.
If there is anyone on here who has some suitable professional background and would be willing to have a short exchange of messages on the topic then it would be very much appreciated.
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archie
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Post by archie on Sept 10, 2021 15:31:44 GMT
I have a situation I wasn't really expecting to have. My first parent has passed away and from an estate / will perspective I was expecting things to be relatively simple given the 'rule of survivorship'. However, having looked at the will and some other documents (I am one of the executors) I am finding that things are not quite what they seem. Amongst other things, I am now pretty sure we will need a grant of probate (whereas I though that would not be needed). I will need to talk to the original solicitor who drew up the will, but I would like to go in a bit more 'fore armed' than I currently am, given the slight surprise I've found which can only have been at the solicitor's suggestion originally. Also, given delays on getting Grant of Probate at the moment (8 weeks quoted on government website) I want to get things rolling but am not sure whether it can be me that does it even if I eventually get some help from a solicitor. If there is anyone on here who has some suitable professional background and would be willing to have a short exchange of messages on the topic then it would be very much appreciated. I know nothing but I bookmarked this website in case I might need it :- Ask a solicitor online
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Sept 10, 2021 15:37:23 GMT
My first parent has passed away Sorry to hear that bracknellboy , sad news  .
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pikestaff
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Post by pikestaff on Sept 10, 2021 16:00:54 GMT
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agent69
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Post by agent69 on Sept 10, 2021 21:03:53 GMT
I'm not certain that the questionnaire is particularly accurate. It suggest that if the deceased has more than £20k in savings probate will be required, whereas in reality many financial organisations will release more than this sum without probate.
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shw
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Post by shw on Sept 11, 2021 9:16:15 GMT
My experience with my wife's Aunty's estate,I was the executor and a beneficiary,after starting the process DIY style to save all beneficiaries money,it backfired on me.
In the end it cost about £5000 for the solicitor to do the job with no grief from families involved.
If your scenario is complex,solicitors know the system,banks and others prefer to deal with solicitors,they get replies quicker and should avoid challenge from family.
Although it took nearly 7 months to sort,mainly due Covid excuses,it was worth using a solicitor despite the cost.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2021 16:08:37 GMT
Just before the first lockdown I did (not a professional) my BIL's will for my living sister. Again it was very simple and I did the whole Grant of Probate thing. I started on a Saturday and had the probate by Monday (amazingly fast) and the whole thing wrapped up by Monday night. I even rang HMRC to check I had done it all correctly because it was so easy. It seems that since it was a survivor's will the Grant of Probate is required more as part of a process than with any actual reason. At the time they were quoting 6 weeks.
So you may get lucky and just skip through that part of the process.
Getting final monies of course took longer at 4 to 5 months as companies are not set up to manage the amazing concept of people dying. Virgin Money was especially incompetent. Do get enough copies of the documents and do understand that companies have no memory. NB some companies claim that surviving spouses cannot inherit ISAs, technically they are correct but practically they are worng as the ISA merely changes it name.
Many years ago our family suffered after a family solicitor managed a will and managed to cock it up. By the time we had put it all straight some 10% of the value had been disippated in costs which, of course, were unrecoverable. The will was not complicated but it was of high value. Since then, all our family members have made sure their financial affairs are simple and we avoid solicitors like the plague.
What we did discover from the process was that certain parts of the process hide the fact that certain costs are "expected" but not acceptable to a normal person. This expectation is just part of the usual solicitor/institution relationship during this process and could be described as theft or fraud if one felt it was worth the time to describe them.
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Greenwood2
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Post by Greenwood2 on Sept 11, 2021 17:00:40 GMT
Just before the first lockdown I did (not a professional) my BIL's will for my living sister. Again it was very simple and I did the whole Grant of Probate thing. I started on a Saturday and had the probate by Monday (amazingly fast) and the whole thing wrapped up by Monday night. I even rang HMRC to check I had done it all correctly because it was so easy. It seems that since it was a survivor's will the Grant of Probate is required more as part of a process than with any actual reason. At the time they were quoting 6 weeks.
So you may get luck and just skip through that part of the process.
Getting final monies of course took longer at 4 to 5 months as companies are not set up to manage the amazing concept of people dying. Virgin Money was especially incompetent. Do get enough copies of the documents and do understand that companies have no memory. NB some companies claim that surviving spouses cannot inherit ISAs, technically they are correct but practically they are worng as the ISA merely changes it name
I thought the surviving spouse got an extra ISA allowance equivalent to the amount of the deceased spouses ISA holding, which may effectively amount to just changing the name or may require cashing in and re-investing in a new ISA (or you might want to move the ISA anyway). At the start of Covid we did an Uncle's estate with the help of a solicitor, we sorted everything out, accounts and amounts and what all his regular bills were and gave the solicitor a list, making it simple for him to deal with and the costs seemed reasonable. As discussed in other threads the biggest hassle was the charitable donations in the will and there was also a house which was still half in the name of his sister that had died some years earlier that had to be sorted. There always seem to be some problems that need a bit of expert input. In the end we were glad to leave the detail to the solicitor.
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Post by bracknellboy on Sept 12, 2021 11:34:39 GMT
Thank you to everyone who has commented and those who have messaged. Temporarily I have shifted focus to the more immediately pressing issues which go with these events but will be coming back to this.
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Oct 29, 2021 10:49:43 GMT
Solicitors can be a pain, My uncle died last year and it was all put in hands of solicitors
In January we were all asked for bank details to transfer the funds across as it was all sorted bar a couple of accounts.
In September I phoned and asked solicitors and was told one small local building society "being difficult" but funds would be released imminently, for pitys sake if a firm of solicitors writes with probate and death certificate etc surely it can't be difficult for a building society to release <£1000
8 weeks on and still no news, begins to feel like its being strung out
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Feb 14, 2022 13:26:53 GMT
so now I'm 18 months down the line and solicitors still saying waiting for all monies to come in.
Had I been doing this and given my understanding it is a matter of a few hundred pounds.I would have distributed the estate assuming that the outstanding amount was available and then used the outstanding amount as part of my share.
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mogish
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Post by mogish on Feb 14, 2022 14:07:16 GMT
so now I'm 18 months down the line and solicitors still saying waiting for all monies to come in. Had I been doing this and given my understanding it is a matter of a few hundred pounds.I would have distributed the estate assuming that the outstanding amount was available and then used the outstanding amount as part of my share. My wife and I have just about completed confirmation(same as probate in scotland)for my late aunt estate, hopefully her flat is sold today. Overall its taken since May last year and she had various pensions, bank accounts and shares to sort out. The longest part was getting the courts to stamp the paperwork as its quite complicated knowing what words to use in legal jargon. Anyway once we got that it was fairly straightforward, the biggest hassle has been dealing with family members! You may want to push your lawyer a bit, our lawyer wanted around 3% to sort it out , very expensive once you see whats actually involved , hence why we did it ourselves.
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Greenwood2
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Post by Greenwood2 on Feb 14, 2022 14:12:10 GMT
so now I'm 18 months down the line and solicitors still saying waiting for all monies to come in. Had I been doing this and given my understanding it is a matter of a few hundred pounds.I would have distributed the estate assuming that the outstanding amount was available and then used the outstanding amount as part of my share. When in a similar position with an Uncle's estate our solicitor did two distributions, one of most of the available funds (keeping some in hand for any other expenditure) and one from the house sale and the remainder of the funds. Plus eventually another very small one quite a while later of a few coppers that had somehow slipped through the net!
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