Inheritance

[throt]

@ sunoco69,

Get yourself executors insurance cover. Its good to have in case one of the beneficiaries challenge you later or if your accused of mishandling the estate. Some wills will state that your not liable for any financial investment mistakes.

Get some insurance quotes though and charge the estate the fee.

[anonymous-user]

sunoco69 said:

Many thanks for that, really appreciate the advice and help.

I have just spoken to him and he was a great help. Looks like this isn't that uncommon and is all above board.

Just need to get the stated beneficiary of the will to do a "Deed of Variation" which in effect change the will to the deceased verbally stated intent. Simples!

There are various other formalities to have in mind - notifying HMRC for one. Google 'deed of family arrangement' (aka deed of variation) for some more info, but you are really, really, best off speaking to a solicitor about this. If you do, you buy the benefit of their insurance policy if it goes wrong. If you don't, it's your assets on the line.

[Deva Link]

I just looked at the statement to check for the one I was involved in, estate worth about £200K, the solicitors (who was the appointed executor in the will) bill was £1600 + VAT

To be honest, I was amazed it was that low. I don't think I'd have queried any less than £5K. There was a lot of back and forth to get things sorted out, although we still had to do a bit of leg-work, it wasn't just a case of sitting back and letting it happen.

I was a little bit concerened about dodgy benefits payments but he cleared all that up. Apparently that can bite people out of the blue many months later - the DWP are not bound by the time limits of a London Gazzete announcement.


ETA: Just looked again this morning as I didn't remember it being quite as low as I first stated (£900) and there is also in interim charge of £700.

Edited by Deva Link on Friday 17th May 09:29

Edited by Deva Link on Friday 17th May 10:22

[New POD]

My granddad left £150K of investments, split 3 ways to his kids and a £150K house, given to my aunt.

Aunt, thought he was wrong, so gave £50K each to her brother and her sister (my mum).

Mother declined the gift saying it wasn't what her dad wanted. Aunt was upset, but eventually gave that £50K to her 3 kids equally. I was livid. But as my wife pointed out, my granddad didn't leave me anything so I got exactly what he wanted, and I should respect his wishes.

I can laugh now.

[sunoco69]

Ossiantoad said:

From memory I paid a senior guy at Prettys (Partner level or just below)between £100 and £150 per hour. So unless they are going to spend 100 hours on your case it won't cost you £15k, probably not even a tenth of that.

When my Grandfather passed away 2 years ago his estate (a very simple one) and the probate was handled by his lawyer and it cost over 10k.

[Ossiantoad]

Ossiantoad said:
From memory I paid a senior guy at Prettys (Partner level or just below)between £100 and £150 per hour. So unless they are going to spend 100 hours on your case it won't cost you £15k, probably not even a tenth of that.
When my Grandfather passed away 2 years ago his estate (a very simple one) and the probate was handled by his lawyer and it cost over 10k.

That's outrageous!! A lawyer should tell you what their hourly rate is before you engage them and give you an idea of how many hours they expect it to take. Was your Grandfather's lawyer a QC or something?

[Deva Link]

sunoco69 said:

When my Grandfather passed away 2 years ago his estate (a very simple one) and the probate was handled by his lawyer and it cost over 10k.

Was it large though?

I don't know how they charge, so maybe there's a percentage basis (which might not be an unreasonable way of doing things due to their liability increasing).

[sunoco69]

No it was under the individual IHT limit and not complicated at all. 1 main and 2 minor beneficiaries. Took them a year and I even did some of the leg work for them.

[Deva Link]

sunoco69 said:

No it was under the individual IHT limit and not complicated at all. 1 main and 2 minor beneficiaries. Took them a year and I even did some of the leg work for them.

Well that strikes me as just beyond insane. How did they justify the charge? People complain like mad when it's a couple of %.

[mountview]

There will be cgt to pay.

[New POD]

sunoco69 said:

Ossiantoad said:

From memory I paid a senior guy at Prettys (Partner level or just below)between £100 and £150 per hour. So unless they are going to spend 100 hours on your case it won't cost you £15k, probably not even a tenth of that.

When my Grandfather passed away 2 years ago his estate (a very simple one) and the probate was handled by his lawyer and it cost over 10k.

My dad and me, were joint executors, for my nan's very simple will.

She had no house, investments were all in building societies, and bank accounts, but I foolishly let my Dad sort it out. He said it was better to employ a solicitor. How wrong he was.

She had 9 accounts to close with a total of £96K. I could have done that in a day, and have the recipients of the will paid out within 2 months.

It took 18 months, and the estate was charged £5.5K for this simple task. After 17 and a half months, I phone the solicitor, and gave him a 2 week deadline, before the executors would formally request the will be dealt with by another solicitor.
Strange that all of a sudden he could sort it out.

[Deva Link]

New POD said:

She had 9 accounts to close with a total of £96K. I could have done that in a day, and have the recipients of the will paid out within 2 months.

You might think you could close the accounts in a day, but having been through that with the estate we were involved in with only two accounts, I would say you couldn't.

Generally, I found most organisations were sympathetic and tried to be very helpful, but the ability of many of them to mess things up was staggering. United Utilities deserve a special mention for saying the right thing but being spectacularly useless. However old favourites such as British Gas and BT performed faultlessly.

I also found the solicitor did things that I would never have bothered with, such as claim a refund on the house insurance. It was then refunded it to the debit card tied to the deceased closed bank account! However the bank, quite cleverly, redirected the money to the solicitor, but split it into two amounts and didn't advise what it was for. So it sat there with the solicitor not being able to tie the odd amounts to anything.

It took 6 months and that seemed slow at the time. Solicitors seems to be event driven - they send a letter and then put the file away until a reply arrives. They also seem to have a lot of holidays!

Edited by Deva Link on Saturday 18th May 14:04

[Jockman]

My customers tell me that they come across the odd solicitor who declines to pay the funeral bill until probate has been granted, despite knowing it is not required.

Most are ok these days but it's amazing what a complaint to the Law Society achieves.

[silverous]

mountview said:

There will be cgt to pay.

On what basis?

[New POD]

Deva Link said:

Solicitors seems to be event driven - they send a letter and then put the file away until a reply arrives.

Edited by Deva Link on Saturday 18th May 14:04

Summed it up perfectly. but add: When they get a reply, they put it at the bottom of the "to do pile" and when it gets to the top they will deal with it.

Classic lean issue: Lead time is months. Touch time is almost nothing.

[sumo69]

silverous said:

On what basis?

Quite - ridiculous drivel!

Deed of Variation is the way to go on this.

IHT may be payable dependent on whether there is any spousal nil rate band remaining to add to the individuals £325k.

David

[sunoco69]

mountview said:

There will be cgt to pay.

No there wont. Not from the estate. CGT is paid when you make a profit from a sale. Nothing is being sold.

[sunoco69]

Ok to clarify.

Deed of Variation is going to be done. Regarding the 2 executors who do not wish to do it a Letter of Renunciation is being done.

The estate will add up to about £220k house and maybe £200k cash. Inheritance tax will be due based on single persons rate of £325k.

No capital gains tax is payable as nothing is sold.

Am I right so far?

[Mr-B]

sunoco69 said:

Ok to clarify.

Deed of Variation is going to be done. Regarding the 2 executors who do not wish to do it a Letter of Renunciation is being done.

The estate will add up to about £220k house and maybe £200k cash. Inheritance tax will be due based on single persons rate of £325k.

No capital gains tax is payable as nothing is sold.

Am I right so far?

Pretty much. If the deceased was a widower then the NRB allowance will be £650k and no IHT will be payable. Deed of variation is the way to go, shop around you should be able to get it for £1k to £2k. Also look at trust companies or probate brokers they will be the cheapest if you want to hand over the whole process, they will usually charge a fixed fee not by the hour.

Also if you really want to save money you could carry out the house transfer yourself there is no legal requirement to use a conveyancer.

[sunoco69]

Mr-B said:

Deed of variation is the way to go, shop around you should be able to get it for £1k to £2k.

HOW FECKING MUCH??????

I was thinking about £200! It is only a re-write of a will! Robbing gits.