What exactly is Probate and what does it involve?
Discussion
Unfortunately my oh and I are down to one parent each. While both are fairly healthy, we have had to start thinking about life without them.
On both occasions of our other parents death we have not been activly involved in all of the paperwork
Could someone please explain how Probate works and what we shall need to do?
I am particularly concerned as my sister, who does nothing for my father, will decend upon the place and take whatever she can get her hands on. Sad I know but true.
When my mother died , my father seemed to be able to value her Estate himself and no one seemed to check up on this Is this normal. He did have a solictor working for him, as there was to be a Trust set up. With the changing of the inheritance laws , this trust was no longer required
I'd like to be better informed as to the process of Probate and what will be involeved. The are 3 executors in my fathers case, myself, my sister and a family friend. Also the legalities of the situation
Perhaps there is a book that could be of use?
Any info is greatly received
On both occasions of our other parents death we have not been activly involved in all of the paperwork
Could someone please explain how Probate works and what we shall need to do?
I am particularly concerned as my sister, who does nothing for my father, will decend upon the place and take whatever she can get her hands on. Sad I know but true.
When my mother died , my father seemed to be able to value her Estate himself and no one seemed to check up on this Is this normal. He did have a solictor working for him, as there was to be a Trust set up. With the changing of the inheritance laws , this trust was no longer required
I'd like to be better informed as to the process of Probate and what will be involeved. The are 3 executors in my fathers case, myself, my sister and a family friend. Also the legalities of the situation
Perhaps there is a book that could be of use?
Any info is greatly received
molly said:
Unfortunately my oh and I are down to one parent each. While both are fairly healthy, we have had to start thinking about life without them.
On both occasions of our other parents death we have not been activly involved in all of the paperwork
Could someone please explain how Probate works and what we shall need to do?
I am particularly concerned as my sister, who does nothing for my father, will decend upon the place and take whatever she can get her hands on. Sad I know but true.
When my mother died , my father seemed to be able to value her Estate himself and no one seemed to check up on this Is this normal. He did have a solictor working for him, as there was to be a Trust set up. With the changing of the inheritance laws , this trust was no longer required
I'd like to be better informed as to the process of Probate and what will be involeved. The are 3 executors in my fathers case, myself, my sister and a family friend. Also the legalities of the situation
Perhaps there is a book that could be of use?
Any info is greatly received
Am no expert on it but the easiest way is to think of it that all of the person's goods & property & money etc become the "estate". That then has to be valued for inheritance tax purposes & the end of that process of agreeing a valuation with HMRC is the granting of probate. Once its been granted and the tax man paid, then the distribution of assets to the benficiaries of the will can begin.On both occasions of our other parents death we have not been activly involved in all of the paperwork
Could someone please explain how Probate works and what we shall need to do?
I am particularly concerned as my sister, who does nothing for my father, will decend upon the place and take whatever she can get her hands on. Sad I know but true.
When my mother died , my father seemed to be able to value her Estate himself and no one seemed to check up on this Is this normal. He did have a solictor working for him, as there was to be a Trust set up. With the changing of the inheritance laws , this trust was no longer required
I'd like to be better informed as to the process of Probate and what will be involeved. The are 3 executors in my fathers case, myself, my sister and a family friend. Also the legalities of the situation
Perhaps there is a book that could be of use?
Any info is greatly received
In the case of the first partner dieing then it tends to be much simpler - especially if everything is left to the surviving husband/wife because there is no IHT to pay.
Probate. Nothing more than a legal con where you have to pay a solicitor an extortionate amount of money to drag out the process of having assets frozen and audited by people who are nothing to do with your family, and then any wealth that has been earnt and has already had tax paid on it be taxed again for having the audacity of working, saving and building up assets all your life.
You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:35
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:36
My Dad died on 19.12.08.
The executors of my Dad's will are just me and my sister.
Our Mum passed away in 2005 leaving everything to him, of course.
Our parents asked us to make sure we got the most value possible for ourselves from anything they left us with, so we have been able to just get on with doing what they asked us to do.
Probate forms were sent, approved and the certificate of probate recieved within 2 months of our Dad dieing.
All 5 (!) of his accounts were frozen and the funds therein moved to a single account in our names.
A couple of (small-ish) bonds they had have now been cashed and the value of them is heading for the same account.
All other financial issues are limited to ongoing gas, electricity and water bills at their house. Even the local council have said the estate is due some money back for the part of the year our father was alive and had paid council tax for... Also, his pension people have spotted that he wasn't in receipt of approximately 4% of his pension from them for 12 years (don't ask us... a fit of honesty on their part?) and we should also have those funds by 31 March.
We can't bear the thought of somebody else living in their house whilst we 'own' it, so it's now for sale - there is no mortgage outstanding as of 1995. A lick of magnolia here and there and a window clean should do the trick, that and a bit of de-personalising. We have my wife and my sister's partner to do that for us...
Sorting out probate needn't be complicated or complex. You certainly don't need to pay a solicitor a penny - the probate forms can be downloaded from the government website that applies - if I wasn't so lazy I'd post a link here but I am - it's Monday morning! - sorry.
You will need to be pragmatic and calm. You will also need to be ruthless with yourself and remind yourself that you are just doing what you were told you should do and in your case, probably just what you should do for your living parents peace of mind and your own.
I wish you well and hope your surviving parents live for as long as possible. Make sure you spend time with them and enjoy that time with them as much as possible.
Me and ar' kid would much prefer it if both of our parents were still alive. There's a limit to how calm and controlled a person can be, hey? That limit can get passed very suddenly just lately, as you might imagine.
The executors of my Dad's will are just me and my sister.
Our Mum passed away in 2005 leaving everything to him, of course.
Our parents asked us to make sure we got the most value possible for ourselves from anything they left us with, so we have been able to just get on with doing what they asked us to do.
Probate forms were sent, approved and the certificate of probate recieved within 2 months of our Dad dieing.
All 5 (!) of his accounts were frozen and the funds therein moved to a single account in our names.
A couple of (small-ish) bonds they had have now been cashed and the value of them is heading for the same account.
All other financial issues are limited to ongoing gas, electricity and water bills at their house. Even the local council have said the estate is due some money back for the part of the year our father was alive and had paid council tax for... Also, his pension people have spotted that he wasn't in receipt of approximately 4% of his pension from them for 12 years (don't ask us... a fit of honesty on their part?) and we should also have those funds by 31 March.
We can't bear the thought of somebody else living in their house whilst we 'own' it, so it's now for sale - there is no mortgage outstanding as of 1995. A lick of magnolia here and there and a window clean should do the trick, that and a bit of de-personalising. We have my wife and my sister's partner to do that for us...
Sorting out probate needn't be complicated or complex. You certainly don't need to pay a solicitor a penny - the probate forms can be downloaded from the government website that applies - if I wasn't so lazy I'd post a link here but I am - it's Monday morning! - sorry.
You will need to be pragmatic and calm. You will also need to be ruthless with yourself and remind yourself that you are just doing what you were told you should do and in your case, probably just what you should do for your living parents peace of mind and your own.
I wish you well and hope your surviving parents live for as long as possible. Make sure you spend time with them and enjoy that time with them as much as possible.
Me and ar' kid would much prefer it if both of our parents were still alive. There's a limit to how calm and controlled a person can be, hey? That limit can get passed very suddenly just lately, as you might imagine.
Edited by XXVIII on Monday 9th March 09:14
bazking69 said:
Probate. Nothing more than a legal con where you have to pay a solicitor an extortionate amount of money to drag out the process of having assets frozen and audited by people who are nothing to do with your family, and then any wealth that has been earnt and has already had tax paid on it be taxed again for having the audacity of working, saving and building up assets all your life.
You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
Bitter or what?You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:35
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:36
A solicitor can be useful of not but is certainly not a necessity - it depends really upon what the estate is worth and the potential liabilities. A big estate could potentially pay far more tax than necessary without decent guidance. While it's not complicated to deal with all the paperwork, it can be time consuming and for those, like me, who aren't good with bureaucracy it can be a bit overwhelming.
Have your parents made wills? Who are the executors? If its you it's easy, if its a third party it can get tricky as you may not agree with their way of doing things.
My mum died a couple of years ago and I dealt with all the work except actually selling the house. It took a few months to collect in all the money and shares and pension etc, and to pay back overpayments were required, to stop paying council tax etc but it was all perfectly do-able as I was the executor of her very clear will.
One point you might like to consider is the deceased wishes other than financial and legal. My mum kept an exercise book with her wishes in it - where she wanted to be buried; the undertakers' details (there was a policy in place to pay for all the funeral arrangements); who she wanted to conduct the service (she was a serious church-goer); who she wanted to read the lessons; what little bits and pieces were to be given to whom; what to do with her (valueless) clothes and furniture and so on. She updated the details as time went by so it was always possible to do what she wanted. I knew of the book and when she died I went to her house, opened the bureau and read it. It cracked me up big time but it was so easy to deal with everything subsequently that I would recommend this to everyone to consider now.
haworthlloyd1 said:
bazking69 said:
Probate. Nothing more than a legal con where you have to pay a solicitor an extortionate amount of money to drag out the process of having assets frozen and audited by people who are nothing to do with your family, and then any wealth that has been earnt and has already had tax paid on it be taxed again for having the audacity of working, saving and building up assets all your life.
You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
as with most things bazking you can do it yourself - however, solicitors ensure its done properly. you can source your own mortgage, do your own conveyancing etc but i prefer to use a professional etc.You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:35
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:36
finally - i unfortunately agree with inheritance tax.
here's why:
a married man and his wife can leave roughly £625,000 with no IHT for the beneficiaries to pay.
If there was no IHT so people inherited money without paying tax then the saying 'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer' would certainly hold true more so than it does today
it is a tax on the beneficiaries not the dead - why should the beneficiaries inherit lots of money for not doing anything? The person who had the money could have left it to charity and there are many many ways to reduce IHT.
Tax has already been paid on the money.
Why should we pay twice?
haworthlloy said:
If there was no IHT so people inherited money without paying tax then the saying 'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer' would certainly hold true more so than it does today
it is a tax on the beneficiaries not the dead - why should the beneficiaries inherit lots of money for not doing anything? The person who had the money could have left it to charity and there are many many ways to reduce IHT.
Do you have a poster of Gordon Brown above your bed?it is a tax on the beneficiaries not the dead - why should the beneficiaries inherit lots of money for not doing anything? The person who had the money could have left it to charity and there are many many ways to reduce IHT.
Utterly down to the situation and circumstances of what has happened. For example, when my father died, we managed to deal with most of the stuff ourselves. Only a few final bits needed some further investigation and this was handled by his very nice and helpful financial advisors who had an solicitor who worked for them - so got the service on the cheap as it were (they were really nice about the whole thing and came across the country to say sorry and to help my mum....).
Still, don't forget that many financial institutions are somewhat heartless when it comes to death. I cannot tell you how utterly stupid some of them are and how they desperately tried to claw back money that legally wasn't theirs. If you had to deal with this yourself, it would be enough to make you go mad, so maybe this is worth the £50 an hour for a solicitor to tell them to sod off....
Everything has a value, which is different for each and everyone.
Still, don't forget that many financial institutions are somewhat heartless when it comes to death. I cannot tell you how utterly stupid some of them are and how they desperately tried to claw back money that legally wasn't theirs. If you had to deal with this yourself, it would be enough to make you go mad, so maybe this is worth the £50 an hour for a solicitor to tell them to sod off....
Everything has a value, which is different for each and everyone.
haworthlloyd1 said:
paoloh said:
haworthlloyd1 said:
bazking69 said:
Probate. Nothing more than a legal con where you have to pay a solicitor an extortionate amount of money to drag out the process of having assets frozen and audited by people who are nothing to do with your family, and then any wealth that has been earnt and has already had tax paid on it be taxed again for having the audacity of working, saving and building up assets all your life.
You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
as with most things bazking you can do it yourself - however, solicitors ensure its done properly. you can source your own mortgage, do your own conveyancing etc but i prefer to use a professional etc.You are prudent to look at it sooner rather than later. Filter out as much as you can to other 'sources' for safe keeping is my advice. All legally of course. Talk to your parents about it and make sure that everyone who is names in or in charge of the will is aware of the details of the will and the wishes of the person writing it. You don't need a £150 an hour solictor to help you with this, all the laws, allowances and loopholes are freely available on the net.
The thought of people dictating how much you have to give the tax man in the process for having the audacity of dying makes my piss boil personally. A tax on death is the lowest of low.
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:35
Edited by bazking69 on Sunday 8th March 23:36
finally - i unfortunately agree with inheritance tax.
here's why:
a married man and his wife can leave roughly £625,000 with no IHT for the beneficiaries to pay.
If there was no IHT so people inherited money without paying tax then the saying 'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer' would certainly hold true more so than it does today
it is a tax on the beneficiaries not the dead - why should the beneficiaries inherit lots of money for not doing anything? The person who had the money could have left it to charity and there are many many ways to reduce IHT.
Tax has already been paid on the money.
Why should we pay twice?
you pay tax on your income pauloh and then put it in a bank account or savings account whereby you are being taxed again - you are paying twice there
what about income tax then vat and duty on fuel then vat on the duty on fuel - you are paying more than twice there
i could go on with many examples.
if people were to continually be allowed to leave everything tax free then the people without anything will always have nothing and the people with assets will continue growing their assets tax free - this would change the demographic too much imho
haworthlloyd1 said:
the majority of most people's estates is the family home that was bought very cheap in say the 70s and there hasn't really been any direct tax on the capital growth of the home as the primary residence is CGT free.
you pay tax on your income pauloh and then put it in a bank account or savings account whereby you are being taxed again - you are paying twice there
what about income tax then vat and duty on fuel then vat on the duty on fuel - you are paying more than twice there
i could go on with many examples.
if people were to continually be allowed to leave everything tax free then the people without anything will always have nothing and the people with assets will continue growing their assets tax free - this would change the demographic too much imho
The whole premise for your argument is that taxation is to be used as some form of wealth redistribution mechanism, that the poor will always stay poor without some active assistance by the Government and the richer among us deserve to have their wealth sequestered for use by the Government to stay in power. Well we've had almost 12 years of this perverted, misguided, downright ignorant philosophy and well, bugger me, the poor are still poor and the rich are still rich and those who are in the middle who pay their taxes fair and square will still get shafted even after they've died. IHT is plain wrong - the natural ability to pass on one's wealth to one's heirs, or whomsoever one chooses should not be seen as an opportunity to take yet more tax. The average person has paid their fair share of tax over the years, while the IHT allowance has not shifted with real inflation/asset price increases (not the phoney stats Gordon Brown likes to use when it suits him). And furthermore, many people who do leave nice estates to their children did start with NOTHING and worked bloody hard to get something - and got taxed in the process. you pay tax on your income pauloh and then put it in a bank account or savings account whereby you are being taxed again - you are paying twice there
what about income tax then vat and duty on fuel then vat on the duty on fuel - you are paying more than twice there
i could go on with many examples.
if people were to continually be allowed to leave everything tax free then the people without anything will always have nothing and the people with assets will continue growing their assets tax free - this would change the demographic too much imho
Are you some kind of wannabe Labour apparatchik?
sadoksevoli said:
haworthlloyd1 said:
the majority of most people's estates is the family home that was bought very cheap in say the 70s and there hasn't really been any direct tax on the capital growth of the home as the primary residence is CGT free.
you pay tax on your income pauloh and then put it in a bank account or savings account whereby you are being taxed again - you are paying twice there
what about income tax then vat and duty on fuel then vat on the duty on fuel - you are paying more than twice there
i could go on with many examples.
if people were to continually be allowed to leave everything tax free then the people without anything will always have nothing and the people with assets will continue growing their assets tax free - this would change the demographic too much imho
The whole premise for your argument is that taxation is to be used as some form of wealth redistribution mechanism, that the poor will always stay poor without some active assistance by the Government and the richer among us deserve to have their wealth sequestered for use by the Government to stay in power. Well we've had almost 12 years of this perverted, misguided, downright ignorant philosophy and well, bugger me, the poor are still poor and the rich are still rich and those who are in the middle who pay their taxes fair and square will still get shafted even after they've died. IHT is plain wrong - the natural ability to pass on one's wealth to one's heirs, or whomsoever one chooses should not be seen as an opportunity to take yet more tax. The average person has paid their fair share of tax over the years, while the IHT allowance has not shifted with real inflation/asset price increases (not the phoney stats Gordon Brown likes to use when it suits him). And furthermore, many people who do leave nice estates to their children did start with NOTHING and worked bloody hard to get something - and got taxed in the process. you pay tax on your income pauloh and then put it in a bank account or savings account whereby you are being taxed again - you are paying twice there
what about income tax then vat and duty on fuel then vat on the duty on fuel - you are paying more than twice there
i could go on with many examples.
if people were to continually be allowed to leave everything tax free then the people without anything will always have nothing and the people with assets will continue growing their assets tax free - this would change the demographic too much imho
Are you some kind of wannabe Labour apparatchik?
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