| End of life estate advice from the hive please 18:44 - Jan 11 with 2597 views | earlsgreenblue |
My Father in law recently passed, some simple advice please, my wife is the executor & the only person named in his will.
He had one HSBC bank account, very limited funds in it, the only monies owing from it will be the funeral directors & the solicitors handling.
The questions are,
1, Do we really need the solicitor to finalise things. Suggesting £2500 minimum costs. +++
2, If there are a few quid in his bank, how easy is it to close the account etc.
3, Are we being mugged by said solicitors?
Probably the simplest end of life scenario there could be, nobody else involved, would appreciate advice & I don’t want to park at Gatwick. Thanks in advance.
Further to asking the question, the “Tell us once” service has been used & so far is doing a handsome job, the replies on here have been most useful & have helped me nudge her in doors in the right direction. Once again, thank you all for the replies. [Post edited 12 Jan 2023 10:25]
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 18:50 - Jan 11 with 2537 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
I managed to do the probate for my Dad. Don't pay a solicitor. |  |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 18:52 - Jan 11 with 2531 views | HARRY10 |
ABSOLUTELY NOT !
As your wife is the executor then it is for her to decide. Banks have a bereavement department and will close the account, settled what's owed.
Further advice is to go through the undertakers charges with a fine tooth comb. I refused to pay £470 of their bill. Many,as with solicitors, work on the premise that folk are too stressed to think about costs etc and presume both those parties are 'honest'.
They are not, far from it. | | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 18:55 - Jan 11 with 2505 views | lowhouseblue |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 18:50 - Jan 11 by BanksterDebtSlave |
I managed to do the probate for my Dad. Don't pay a solicitor. |
yes if it's simple there's advice online and you don't need a solicitor. |  |
| And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:08 - Jan 11 with 2435 views | DJR |
My recent experience is that banks will release moneys in an account below around £50,000 merely on production of a death certificate and without the need for probate.
Are there any other assets, such as land? |  | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:10 - Jan 11 with 2431 views | MedwayTractor |
Agree with the earlier replies, I dealt with my mother's estate without a solicitor, slightly more complicated, the undertakers and the bank should help.
One thing I remember, see if you can find "Tell Us Once", a system for informing all the people like pension offices, local authorities etc. |  |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:29 - Jan 11 with 2314 views | Bettamoose |
My mother passed away last year just leaving a few grand in a couple of bank accounts (one of which was HSBC) and little else. It was well below the threshold for inheritance tax.
Both banks released the funds to me on sight of a death certificate, and I just needed to fill out a couple of forms.
It felt a bit strange to me that I didn't need to complete probate. I rang HMRC and they advised that if the banks were happy to release the funds, and it was under the inheritance tax threshold, then there was no need for me to complete probate. I settled everything without using a solicitor or going through probate.
I second the suggestion about using 'Tell Me Once'. The Registrar provided the details for how to do this when I registered the death. | | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:51 - Jan 11 with 2234 views | longtimefan |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:29 - Jan 11 by Bettamoose |
My mother passed away last year just leaving a few grand in a couple of bank accounts (one of which was HSBC) and little else. It was well below the threshold for inheritance tax.
Both banks released the funds to me on sight of a death certificate, and I just needed to fill out a couple of forms.
It felt a bit strange to me that I didn't need to complete probate. I rang HMRC and they advised that if the banks were happy to release the funds, and it was under the inheritance tax threshold, then there was no need for me to complete probate. I settled everything without using a solicitor or going through probate.
I second the suggestion about using 'Tell Me Once'. The Registrar provided the details for how to do this when I registered the death. |
Surprised you managed to avoid probate. My father’s estate was well below inheritance tax levels and it was all passing to my Mother anyway, but we still needed to go through probate. I did this myself as an executor as most of the information needed for the forms I would have had to supplied to a solicitor anyway.
Edit: just to clarify didn’t need probate finalised to close and retrieve money from accounts as an executor. Banks were happy to do this on production of will proving my status as an executor and death certificate [Post edited 11 Jan 2023 22:10]
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:54 - Jan 11 with 2214 views | Plums |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 19:08 - Jan 11 by DJR |
My recent experience is that banks will release moneys in an account below around £50,000 merely on production of a death certificate and without the need for probate.
Are there any other assets, such as land? |
Check the figure with the bank/ building society as they differ and my MIL recently had to get probate for one account because they had a significantly lower threshold than the others. |  |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 20:45 - Jan 11 with 2061 views | factual_blue |
It's pretty straightforward. I've done it a couple of times.
Presumably you can do it online these days. |  |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 20:51 - Jan 11 with 2042 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
As per all the advice on here. Check online for anything you are not sure about but that sounds so straightforward that paying a solicitor for it is a waste.
The Banks etc use a service called Tell Us Once which makes a lot of things more straightforward too. https://www.bereavementadvice.org/topics/registering-a-death-and-informing-other
My condolences to your family too. [Post edited 11 Jan 2023 20:53]
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 21:08 - Jan 11 with 1964 views | farkenhell |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 20:45 - Jan 11 by factual_blue |
It's pretty straightforward. I've done it a couple of times.
Presumably you can do it online these days. |
Yes you can do it online. It's fairly straightforward, even the bits relating to inheritance tax (as someone has already said, the OPs estate in question appears to be well below the IHT threshold). | | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 21:48 - Jan 11 with 1875 views | Meadowlark |
If you have a named executor you do not need a solicitor. In my personal experience they take ages, take money, take liberties and offer very little in return.
My late father thought that naming a solicitor as my co-executor would help and take the pressure off me.
In fact, it did exactly the opposite! |  | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 08:06 - Jan 12 with 1554 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Probate is exceptionally easy - I’ve done it four times. It has to be easy if a jobbing solicitor can entrust it to their part-timers and junior staff. Just read up the basics of which there is plenty of info on line. The bank will help you get the money out and close the account | |
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 08:27 - Jan 12 with 1524 views | Churchman |
I think if an estate is complex, employ a solicitor. We did when when my father in law died and it saved us a lot of money on inheritance tax. One factor we hadn’t realised was that some offset was possible for Mrs Cs long deceased mother’s allowance. His estate involved a lot of stuff, a house and his son was of course also a beneficiary.
If you do employ a solicitor, check their figures and calculations. They can get it wrong.
For a simple estate you can do it yourself. We did with my mother. It was just a case of working through it. With financial institutions, they will need to see a death certificate. Ask them to take a certified copy. That way you will keep the originals and not be charged by the Registry Office for copies you don’t need. |  | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 09:50 - Jan 12 with 1462 views | Tangledupin_Blue |
Sorry to hear of your loss.
As others have said, The 'Tell Me Once' is very useful. The registrar will be able to advise you on how it works. Might be handy to have a couple of extra death certificates. You may need to leave a copy, temporarily, with one or another party.
My widowed dad died, intestate, at the beginning of the covid outbreak and I was his executor. He had four bank accounts of which three had balances in the low thousands. The funds from these three accounts were released when I provided death certificate. The balance of the other account was more than £25,000 and the bank required proof of probate. I believe that the banks set their own 'limit' but in 2000 they were about that £25,000 mark.
If he owned a house then, as long as you are within inheritance tax limits, get the highest possible valuation for probate. If you get a valuation at, say, £200,000 then sell for £250,000 then the £50,000 will be regarded as profit and taxed further down the line. Better to have it valued at the higher sum and you could save several £000s. [Post edited 12 Jan 2023 9:55]
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| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 10:10 - Jan 12 with 1359 views | Battersea_Blue |
My mother sadly passed in April 2020, at the start of the first lockdown.
I managed to do everything online, including the cremation, as at that time no funerals were allowed and when they were very restricted. My brother and I decided to have mum cremated with one of these cheap places and have a proper service for her when restrictions allowed.
I did everything from my mum's lounge and it was pretty simple. I did get probate, I do believe you need to do that in order for no repercussions later. My mother's estate was nowhere near the IT threshhold, I got probate approved within 24 hours after completing the form online.
Lloyds bank were terrific, the only items that took time was providing the necessary paperwork to the companies that held her investments. But all pretty easy.
My brother and I just had to pick up mum's ashes from a local crematorium.
My mum's Will was lodged at a Solicitor and once we'd provided them with proof of identity for my brother and I, along with the death certificate, I dealt with everything else, except we needed the Solicitor to complete the sale of mum's house. | | | |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 10:24 - Jan 12 with 1330 views | farkenhell |
| End of life estate advice from the hive please on 08:27 - Jan 12 by Churchman |
I think if an estate is complex, employ a solicitor. We did when when my father in law died and it saved us a lot of money on inheritance tax. One factor we hadn’t realised was that some offset was possible for Mrs Cs long deceased mother’s allowance. His estate involved a lot of stuff, a house and his son was of course also a beneficiary.
If you do employ a solicitor, check their figures and calculations. They can get it wrong.
For a simple estate you can do it yourself. We did with my mother. It was just a case of working through it. With financial institutions, they will need to see a death certificate. Ask them to take a certified copy. That way you will keep the originals and not be charged by the Registry Office for copies you don’t need. |
I'd second this spot on advice. Especially the rip-off charge that a local Registrar will make for unnecessary copies of the death certificate. You can even register the death online nowadays as well as apply for a Grant of Probate (on the Gov.UK website). | | | |
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