I'm in agreement with Seth on this one. Thinking back to my LPC it wasn't the most complex area (process/procedure etc) but they are professionals for a reason, and if Prague doesn't feel comfortable doing it himself then hopefully the one HI recommended is good value.
As Len says, it only becomes complex when there is disagreement and a number of beneficiaries or no will - but sounds like it's a simple execution needed here so value for money is key
Sure it is possible to do it yourself but my gut feeling would be its not worth the hassle. Yes 2% of a big number is a lot, but what about the other 98% should anything go wrong or you make a mistake because its not your area of expertise?
If it is a vanilla transaction, then you should be able to get them to agree to a fee and no % element.
Watts and Leeding in New Eltham are good for probate. I dont know if they are cheap.
I did it in Guildford mate, 05/06. We've got some lawyers on here I believe. @Jints is a good egg
Did it myself 8 years ago when my father passed away, I have no legal training but with the help of a 'Which' book I worked through it in around 2 weeks including some inheritance tax. Found the Banks were very slow to react. A small detail - order plenty of death certificates, I ordered 10.
Did it myself because my previous 2 experiences of solicitors meant I trust them as far as i can throw them. Saved myself and my sister around £4k and it boosted my self confidence.
Hi Len. Thanks for that tip. Are you quite sure that is how it works? (perhaps you have been through the process). When I asked my accountant he said the nil rate band would double, and I told him the year my Dad passed away. But perhaps he slipped up. He does not usually though.
Hi Len. Thanks for that tip. Are you quite sure that is how it works? (perhaps you have been through the process). When I asked my accountant he said the nil rate band would double, and I told him the year my Dad passed away. But perhaps he slipped up. He does not usually though.
I've not done it myself but how I've described it is how I read it.
If your dad died after 6 April 2009 then the nil rate band would double as the threshold has been £325,000 since that date.
If he died before that date though then my understanding is that it would be less as shown in the links.
......."Inheritance Tax threshold The threshold (‘nil rate band’) is currently £325,000.
There were different thresholds in previous years - use the threshold that applied when the person died.".......
My Dad passed away in 96 though when the allowance was only 200k, so there would be a significant difference. I will check it out and let everyone know.
Hi, your accountant is right. There would not have been inheritance tax payable when your Father died as he would have passed everything to his wife. Both allowances are then applied on her death at the current rate, currently £650k. Everything above this will be taxed at 40%.
It is quite straightforward and I do not think you will have a problem if you all agree on what you all get - I assume a 3 way split but it does not matter as long as you all agree.
Remember that you cannot just help yourselves to assets as you will be expected to account for things like jewelry, furnitur, paintings etc. They should be valued and you will need to show who had what on the forms.
When you have all decided what you wish to keep you can get a couple of valuers to make an offer on the bits that they want. They will usually make a deal to dispose of the rest as well which keeps it simple and stress free.
Of course you have to do this if you get a solicitor or not. They just do not bother to tell you, you just find out a long way down the process which can be a pain.
I am sure you will be fine and you will only get annoyed when you find out that you have to provide all the information anyway and all they do is put it on the form. As someone said earlier, it does seem appropriate and sort of therapeutic to sort it yourself.
From my experience the IHT allowance at the time of the first death (apologies for how blunt that sounds) minus anything not left to the surviving spouse can be carried forward. I don't believe it is just double the current allowance. You are duty bound to adhere to the conditions laid out in the will, follow that to the letter to settle the estate.
Hi Len. Thanks for that tip. Are you quite sure that is how it works? (perhaps you have been through the process). When I asked my accountant he said the nil rate band would double, and I told him the year my Dad passed away. But perhaps he slipped up. He does not usually though.
I've not done it myself but how I've described it is how I read it.
If your dad died after 6 April 2009 then the nil rate band would double as the threshold has been £325,000 since that date.
If he died before that date though then my understanding is that it would be less as shown in the links.
......."Inheritance Tax threshold The threshold (‘nil rate band’) is currently £325,000.
There were different thresholds in previous years - use the threshold that applied when the person died.".......
I've done a bit more research on this myself as the ambiguity was niggling away and if your Dad did leave 100% of his estate to your Mum then yes the full £650K would be available.
The earlier thresholds come into play where beneficiaries other than the spouse are involved. Any surplus nil rate threshold is calculated from the rate prevailing at the time of the first death and added to the amount available at the time of the second death. So, hypothetically, had your Dad left £100 K to other beneficiaries £100 K only could be added to your Mum's potential £325K as things stand.
Sorry for the false alarm! In mitigation these things are ambiguously worded sometimes as you can see from the quotes above.
As others have said, doing it yourself is relatively straightforward, particularly if the will doesn't have any really complicated provisions in it. My parents have done it for all four of my grandparents, and the only really fiddly one was Mum's Mum's one, because that involved selling a property that she had a shared interest in rather than owning outright. That said it is worth bearing in mind that you may not be in the best place to do it while you're grieving (also literally in your case, PragueAddick), so having a professional lined up to do it will mean you have one less thing to worry about at what is likely to be a difficult time.
Hi Len. Thanks for that tip. Are you quite sure that is how it works? (perhaps you have been through the process). When I asked my accountant he said the nil rate band would double, and I told him the year my Dad passed away. But perhaps he slipped up. He does not usually though.
I've not done it myself but how I've described it is how I read it.
If your dad died after 6 April 2009 then the nil rate band would double as the threshold has been £325,000 since that date.
If he died before that date though then my understanding is that it would be less as shown in the links.
......."Inheritance Tax threshold The threshold (‘nil rate band’) is currently £325,000.
There were different thresholds in previous years - use the threshold that applied when the person died.".......
I've done a bit more research on this myself as the ambiguity was niggling away and if your Dad did leave 100% of his estate to your Mum then yes the full £650K would be available.
The earlier thresholds come into play where beneficiaries other than the spouse are involved. Any surplus nil rate threshold is calculated from the rate prevailing at the time of the first death and added to the amount available at the time of the second death. So, hypothetically, had your Dad left £100 K to other beneficiaries £100 K only could be added to your Mum's potential £325K as things stand.
Sorry for the false alarm! In mitigation these things are ambiguously worded sometimes as you can see from the quotes above.
@ Thanks a lot Len. You are absolutely right that the wording on the website is ambiguous, I was quite prepared to believe you were right first time. You've clarified this, not just for me but for others. Cheers!
My Mum thankfully is still alive and kicking at 87, but she expects me to look after the will etc when she passes away. I was reading in Which magazine that fees for executing a will vary widely and not for any good reason. Which quoted a range of £750 - £15,000 for a similar estate. So we decided to look into it and asked the solicitors who hold my Mum's will , TG Baines, what they will charge. they gave their answer as 2.5% of the value of the estate. They went down to 2% when i pushed them but they ignored my point, that a percentage approach is not transparent because estate values have shot up with the recent rise in property values - yet the amount of work involved stays the same.
So if anyone could recommend a solicitor for this, as close to Eltham as possible, I'd be very pleased to know of them (and any other thoughts on this)
use a small local solicitor they should charge 1-2k. do not do it yourself its a pain in the arse.
From my experience the IHT allowance at the time of the first death (apologies for how blunt that sounds) minus anything not left to the surviving spouse can be carried forward. I don't believe it is just double the current allowance. You are duty bound to adhere to the conditions laid out in the will, follow that to the letter to settle the estate.
Not quite true. You can change the terms of the will in cetain circumstances if all parties agree. It was done quite often in the past to avoid death duties.
Me and Mrs cafcfan did my Dad's and her Mum's ourselves. Both were well under the tax threshold though. In both cases the beneficiaries were scattered to the four winds so we made sure we did a spreadsheet for the Relies setting out all the asset realisations and offsetting the costs so that they properly understood all the deductions (for funeral costs and the like). Fairly painless really.
My big sister did the probate when dad died back in 2005. The most complicating factor? His Charlton shares - don't think she could get her head round the fact you could not just sell them. I told her they were virtually worthless so she gave them to me and shortly after they did become totally worthless!
All the best sorting things out, but hopefully not for a long while yet.
Did the probate when my mother passed. No previous experience at all, the estate was relatively simple, although she died in a fire at home which added insurance complication to the event. However, it was all quite simple, do it yourself, you will save the money, and anyone with average intelligence can sail through it.
Did the probate when my mother passed. No previous experience at all, the estate was relatively simple, although she died in a fire at home which added insurance complication to the event. However, it was all quite simple, do it yourself, you will save the money, and anyone with average intelligence can sail through it.
Comments
You may not be entitled to as much as £650K as the threshold may have been lower when he died.
https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/decide-if-tax-is-due
and
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-inheritance-tax-thresholds/rates-and-allowances-inheritance-tax-thresholds
inheritance tax. Found the Banks were very slow to react. A small detail - order plenty of death certificates, I ordered 10.
Did it myself because my previous 2 experiences of solicitors meant I trust them as far as i can throw them. Saved myself and my sister around £4k and it boosted my
self confidence.
If your dad died after 6 April 2009 then the nil rate band would double as the threshold has been £325,000 since that date.
If he died before that date though then my understanding is that it would be less as shown in the links.
......."Inheritance Tax threshold
The threshold (‘nil rate band’) is currently £325,000.
There were different thresholds in previous years - use the threshold that applied when the person died.".......
I'll leave you to research it. I've got a feeling it goes back to something like 2006.
I'm confident because my father in law died in 2006.
chancellors.com
Next door to Baynes
It is quite straightforward and I do not think you will have a problem if you all agree on what you all get - I assume a 3 way split but it does not matter as long as you all agree.
Remember that you cannot just help yourselves to assets as you will be expected to account for things like jewelry, furnitur, paintings etc. They should be valued and you will need to show who had what on the forms.
When you have all decided what you wish to keep you can get a couple of valuers to make an offer on the bits that they want. They will usually make a deal to dispose of the rest as well which keeps it simple and stress free.
Of course you have to do this if you get a solicitor or not. They just do not bother to tell you, you just find out a long way down the process which can be a pain.
I am sure you will be fine and you will only get annoyed when you find out that you have to provide all the information anyway and all they do is put it on the form. As someone said earlier, it does seem appropriate and sort of therapeutic to sort it yourself.
The earlier thresholds come into play where beneficiaries other than the spouse are involved. Any surplus nil rate threshold is calculated from the rate prevailing at the time of the first death and added to the amount available at the time of the second death. So, hypothetically, had your Dad left £100 K to other beneficiaries £100 K only could be added to your Mum's potential £325K as things stand.
Sorry for the false alarm! In mitigation these things are ambiguously worded sometimes as you can see from the quotes above.
and dont take a % deal its a rip off.
All the best sorting things out, but hopefully not for a long while yet.