Wills and dealing with an estate

[mathmos]

I am trying to sort out my late father in laws estate and I had a couple of questions I am struggling to get a clear answer to.

So he had a house, current and savings Account all in joint names with his wife.

He had an ISA and some shares in his sole name.

For the purpose of completing the inheritance tax form prior to probate, do I just include the value of the ISA and shares? So just stuff in his sole name? Does anything in a joint name automatically pass over to his wife?

For the will itself for anything he's bequeathed I take it that just comes out of his sole assets?

And last question (for now!!)! How do you actually close probate and who confirms the will has been executed correctly?

[pacoryan]

Firstly, my condolences. Presumably this is an "excepted estate" (no IHT due) and you are filling in form IHT 205? In which case the notes (IHT206) will tell you much of what you need to know, but basically you enter the value of the deceased's share of a jointly held asset, so 50% if only held with a spouse. If the asset was held legally as "Tenants in Common" which often happens with property, the deceased will have a defined percentage share so you work that out.

Individual bequests should come out of the deceased's assets, this should be straightforward.

The resolution of the estate is the responsibility of the executors, having obtained the grant of probate you just need to record everything that you do and keep copies/evidence. If anyone wishes to challenge the estate it will be the executors that have to evidence they followed the wishes of the deceased.

HTH!

[mathmos]

Thanks, yep it does help, I'll take another look through the forms and see if I can figure it out.

So I am not sure how the house was set up, I am going to try and talk to the solicitor who dealt with it at the time to see if he can confirm. Unfortunately my FIL's documentation is a complete mess, just boxes of unopened mail some of it going back 25 years or more.

My presumption is that this will be an excepted estate, but I am still not 100% sure.

So basically from what I've found at the moment, he seems to have sole assets that are below the £325k limit. However if I add in 50% of the value of the property and accounts that are in joint names it's way above that. However the amount bequeathed to named people is spot on £325k, with any remainder going to his wife.

So I am scratching my head a bit!

[pacoryan]

mathmos said:

My presumption is that this will be an excepted estate, but I am still not 100% sure.

So basically from what I've found at the moment, he seems to have sole assets that are below the £325k limit. However if I add in 50% of the value of the property and accounts that are in joint names it's way above that. However the amount bequeathed to named people is spot on £325k, with any remainder going to his wife.

Whether the asset was joint or solely owned is academic, you add up the value of the estate in total and then work out the bequests.

It sounds like an exempt estate, which is also "excepted" !! from HMRC linky

" For deaths after 1 September 2006, the estate will generally be an excepted estate if one of the following applies:

...
it's an exempt estate - the deceased person left everything (or everything over and above the Inheritance Tax threshold) to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a 'qualifying' charity (and the estate is valued at under £1 million)..."

Sounds like it was a well written Will!