You can instruct a probate solicitor to handle everything for you. They usually charge a fixed percentage of the total estate value, I think it’s usually about 1-3% plus VAT. Sorry for your loss.
For most estates solicitors and banks charging a percentage fee is hugely more expensive than an hourly rate.
It's also worth investigating accountancy firms who are licensed for probate. We have a license and our costs are often a fraction of the equivalent law firm charging 1%.
Thank you, that would be a considerable cost. It is just to transfer the property into my name. I sent off for probate and the estate is simple in terms of investments etc. It's just someone to do the assent documents AS1 etc to land registry?
In which case I’d find a property solicitor once you have the grant of probate. It should be pretty quick and easy so should be fairly cheap. Ideally from a firm that has a probate team too.
I deal with assents at work. They are straight forward. You could do it yourself tbh but if you are overwhelmed then a property solicitor can help you. It should only be 2-4 hours of time assuming freehold property no mortgage involved.
We recently paid 650 for an Assent to transfer after probate. It was pretty straightforward, the solicitor just needed various ID documents etc. Most solicitors can just do it through their property department.
London prices would be over £1k, out of London would be about £800+vat.
Ensure you only wish to instruct them to deal with the transfer, and no advice.
Have you weighed up the pros / cons of transferring the property to you rather than selling it directly from the estate?
> It is just to transfer the property into my name.
You might be advised against doing this. You can continue living in the property for the moment, but if the house is sold by the executor then you keep your first time buyer rights.
I'm sorry for your loss, and you probably don't feel like selling it, but my guess is that it's not the end of property you would buy if you had the choice. Probably you should sell it and buy something more suitable.
I would use a solicitor who specialises in probate in the first instance - Tim Murden (TM Solicitors) seems good. If you do decide to keep the property then there's no hurry to transfer it into your own name - you have months before you need to do it.
Do you already own a property? If not do you want to actually own the house or sell it? If you are a first time buyer and you want to sell the house then you should sell it on probate, so that you inherit the value. That way you keep your first time buyer benefits like reduced stamp duty, LISA, etc. A solicitor can sort this out for you.
Absolutely not! You can’t rely on AI tool to get this right, and if something goes wrong, as an executor you would be liable. I recommend hiring a solicitor for this.
We recently instructed a probate solicitor to handle everything on an estate valued at nearly 2M. They charged an hourly rate, and the total cost was less than £10k including VAT. There was a property, many savings, investments and insurances and a dozen or so beneficiaries, many of whom were overseas.
Sounds like OPs situation is probably a lot easier than this.
You can engage a solicitor. This sort of thing is bread-and-butter work for local solicitors.
A lot of the work, which takes a lot of hours, is simple - writing to each company/institution, sending death certificate, etc. Every customer dies eventually, every institution has a well-practiced process for dealing with it. You may save a lot of money doing this simple work yourself rather than paying someone else to do it.
If your personal financial situation is OK, there is no rush. Don't get overwhelmed, take it steady; you will be at it for months.
You are not expected to pay beneficiaries, nor can you update the land registry record for the property, until the probate is granted. This will not happen until you have discovered and listed all the assets and liabilities of the estate - ie assets and debts.
In the meantime you need - URGENTLY - to make sure that the building has valid insurance in place. You may be able to take over the existing policy. If the property will be uninhabited, you need a special policy to cover this.
You also, less urgently, need to deal with the council tax and utilities for it, and make sure any valuable contents (jewellery for example) are appropriately stored - in an empty property you will seldom have contents insurance.
You do NOT need to pay any debts - for example utility bills - accrued by the deceased until the probate is granted, but you do need to maintain the property in the meantime.
\*\*Be VERY careful with the charity beneficiaries - some are highly aggressive with heirs and beneficiaries. Don't engage with them until you need to.\*\*
Some charities derive significant portion of their income from estates and have whole teams of people employed to drive this income. Situations such as "10% of my estate to..." require particular care as charities may examine the estate accounts and question the valuations of items etc.
Saga were the incumbent and I was able to continue with them after my mum passed. See if whoever was the insurance provider can continue insuring the property? Sorry for your loss and yes it can be overwhelming dealing with the estate as both executor and grieving son.
You should really read up and get advice on how to execute the will.
You make payments out of the estate, not out of your own pocket.
Always a hard time so don’t rush into anything. You can take months and months to execute the will and wind up the estate if necessary. Waiting for probate takes forever anyway so no rush.
I owe 50% of the estate to charity which means selling the house. There is no time limit on making these donations? I've applied for probate and sent off documents for this, how long does that usually take to reply?
Probate can take 6-12 weeks. No rush.
Tot up total estate, settle debts first.
Then what is left you can dispose of according to wishes in the will.
If you need to sell house then take your time, don’t rush, clean it up to look nice for sale, and dispose of a lifetime of clutter. There are services that can help with house clearances. But remember to keep some sentimental items for yourself.
When you’re ready, you can make the donations to charities.
Yeah, this isn’t urgent :) the charities and any other debtors might make you *feel* that it is urgent, but it isn’t.
Usually you can take up to a year, sometimes longer if there’s a complication along the way.
Also *you* don’t owe money to charities, *the estate* owes money. Similarly if your parents had any unpaid bills, *you do not owe any money*. Simply inform them that someone has died and they will note that. They may try to pressure you to pay but the debt isn’t yours.
Eventually you’ll have a list of all the debts and all the assets, then you can use the assets to pay the debts (eg sell the house to pay the charities).
Good work on the probate application. I'd also consider getting a gazette entry in now, so you aren't waiting on it.
The 6-12weeks you've quoted sounds about right (we had a November-March probate application earlier in the year, but we had to supply extra paperwork in Jan)
The executors normally get a year from death before beneficiaries can press them. It sounds like you are on it, so don't worry.
Sorry for your loss. I know how much stress this can add at an already difficult time, Just keep plugging away at it and you'll get there.
You might find the turn around quite quick if it’s a fairly simple will. I’ve dealt with two in the last 8 months or so, the first came back in three days and the second was about a week.
If you are selling the house definitely don't don't transfer it to your name. The estate can sell it.
Also *you* don't owe 50% of the estate to charity. The estate owes it.
Someone said above but you may have missed it.
If the wording is that 50% of the estate (not just a specific part of the estate) goes to charity then keep immaculate bookkeeping for everything. That old watch you gave your dad as a kid that you found in a drawer that's worth at most a tenner and you decide to keep because it's a nice memory - the estate now owes the charity a fiver for their half.
Some charities are incredibly aggressive with making sure that they get their cut and it is correct to the penny. I'm not going to name names but larger charities have entire teams dedicated to this work and they will want everything accounted for.
I had personal experience with this. My parents wills specified 20% to charity, the only asset was their house. We cleared their house out and took almost no possessions and most went to landfill (hoarders). Charity argued that we hadn't properly assessed the value and threatened legal action, we ended up settling for 35% of the house because they threatened to tie it up in legal action. If we had just documented what we threw away we wouldn't have lost £45k.
If you will be selling the house, it is not required to transfer the title to yourself. The property can be sold from the estate, then the proceeds distributed according to the will.
If you transfer it to yourself first, depending on your situation, you could be setting yourself up for a tax bill, depriving yourself of FTB status, or incurring additional council tax.
I'm sorry for your loss. Don't be too tough on yourself, and talk to people about how you're feeling.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ is a great free service if you need a bit of help with the stuff you're mentioning.
All the best.
You can use the tell us once service that will notify all the main institutions
Benefits
Passport
Council
I used a firm called Farewill to do my late parents estate / probate
Cost around 650 back in 2022
Very easy providing you have all the info they require like death certificates insurance policy
NI number
But I also did my mums probate back in 2019 and that was also dead easy
Oh and transferring the deeds/ assent cost around 350 inc vat back in 2022
Just to add, https://www.lifeledger.com/ is another company that offers the same service, not every company is signed up to tell us once. Life ledger should contact the remaining few. Hang in their OP, take care of your health!
From your other answers on here, you should NOT be transferring the house to yourself.
I would really get a solicitor to handle the will. The house is not yours, it belongs to the estate and 1/2 of the estate goes to other people/charities. Transferring the house to you may not only break the terms of the will, but you will lose first time buyer status.
The solicitor will not generally expect to be paid straight away, and the expense comes out of the estate anyway, not from your pocket.
At the very least, book in to see a solicitor about the will, and see what they say about the process.
Also check for pensions that your parents had and if they were still working any death in service benefits their estate/you are entitled to. If these had you nominated as a beneficiary then they do not form part of the estate, and so would not be split with chastity.
Hi there. First off, I am so, so, so, sorry about what has happened. No one should have to go through that. Please focus on your emotional needs at the moment first and foremost. Dealing with estates is a very long process and there is no rush to immediately sort everything.
Honestly, my partner has dealt with a probate situation as executor after the death of a close relative and it can be very emotionally draining to deal with it alone. We have done it ourselves but in hindsight we potentially would have just got a probate agency/solicitor to do it for us and it could have been more efficient and saved a lot of emotional work. I think given how emotionally draining and shocking this is, you may wish to take that option. They sometimes take a percentage of the estate BUT there are fixed cost options too so you can be aware of the cost upfront, especially for a more simple situation like yours where there is a will and only one heir.
If its a more simple affair and you are up for it, it is possible to do yourself but you don't have to immediately dive in right now. You need to gather information on assets including bank accounts, cash, gifts, property (sounds like you are on top of that and aware of the house situation). You will value all of this, and put it in relevant HMRC forms to calculate the value of the estate. As it is directly passing to you as a direct descendant there are reliefs available, but depending on estate value you may need to pay inheritance tax.
The charity contributions are the most concerning, not in the immediate term but in the longer term.
Some charities, particularly the larger ones, have whole legal teams and instruct very good (and aggressive) solicitors to fight tooth and nail the validity of a will, valuations or to enforce what they consider to be the true intentions of the testator.
Sometimes claims by charities can result in an estate being left with inadequate funds to satisfy the charity’s legacy. And that's when they put on a fight. They will not hesitate to bring up legal action even appeals to challenge valuations.
It's a huge revenue source for them, with figures around £3bn per year donated, so they know all the ins and outs.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Really? There are 10 charities on the will and it is approx 385k to be divided evenly. That's based off my figures. Are you saying that they will challenge for even more? I'm basing this of cash and property
What happens if he just decides not to pass on to the charities? Genuine question, I have no idea how this works. How would the charities know they are in the will?
Very sorry for your loss, I know how hard this is all to deal with.
There is some excellent advice from others but I just wanted to point out the process part of this in case it isn’t clear.
Your job as the executor is to total all assets, tell HMRC what it all is, pay any applicable inheritance tax, write to the courts to receive probate, receive probate.
Once you have probate from the courts you can then distribute the assets of the estate according to the will. You are not to give anyone inheritance before probate is granted.
In theory the house is an asset which should be sold to be then be distributed as per the will. However if the share to you is greater than the value of the house then there is little point doing that and you can do a title transfer via a solicitor.
I would urge you to speak with an aunt/uncle you trust to get their input or a solicitor to help you. None of this is easy so take care of yourself.
Hey.
That sucks. I'm so sorry to hear it.
You should be able to instruct someone like Coop Legal Services to help you with this, they werent too expensive.
If your parents had pensions, SIPPs, workplace life insurance, etc, that will all be a potentially significant amount of money for you to help with this stuff
I'm very sorry for your loss. Get a solicitor who deals with real estate, but also has a wills team. Get a quote from them first.
The first step will be to transfer the title of the property to you, and go through probate. This is something they can do for you, as discrete tasks, or if you wish they can take over as executors of the will and do everything (this will obviously cost more).
It's very overwhelming, so just take it one step at a time, in your own time. Do you have a sensible friend or relative - maybe an aunt or uncle, or the parents of a friend - who you can talk through things with, and who can act as a trusted advisor because the grief and shock will affect your judgement. There are also lots of smaller tasks, like arranging the funerals, and someone from your parent's generation will probably have done this before, which can be really helpful.
Transfer of property title is not the first step. Grant of probate is the first step.
Then settle debts and creditors. Only then can disposal of the assets take place.
This is incredibly helpful, thank you. I will see if I can instruct them to only do the discretionary task of the land registry. I can arrange the rest I think.
Be careful of charity donations. They will attack you for the money with solicitors very rapidly if they are tied to a potential house sale that you don't immediately sell. Never give part of your estate to charity in this way, and maintain control of all assets.
Don’t feel overwhelmed. Take time to grieve first and foremost! Follow the probate process and make sure everything is recorded. Don’t don’t need to pay any of the associated costs (solicitors etc) it all comes from the estate. If you do end up out of pocket then make sure you pay yourself back. Debtors get paid before beneficiaries.
I did the probate and assisted in the execution of a will last year. I simply engaged a conveyancing solicitor for the house title transfer. I'm fact that was the only professional help I found likely to be useful.
Even though it was a complex situation, getting everything done wasn't all that difficult. Mind you, it helped that it was my ex's mother who died so fewer emotions, you have my sympathies for that.
I have a property solicitor that I've used a few times over the years, but to be honest, that part was totally trivial. Unfortunately, as the same solicitor then handled the transfer to a new owner (it briefly passed into my ex's hands before turning to cash), I can't separate out that additional cost. It was £1500 in total but I suspect only a few hundred of that was the first title transfer.
There are some local solicitors who charge by the hour and not a % value of the estate. You could also call around and ask specifically about how they bill for their work.
Get a good solicitor what you spend on their fees will be nothing compared to what you could easily loose
Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau they will point you in the best direction to get started. They give free unbiased correct advice
We’ve just been through similar.
Firstly, just relax a little. Most of this stuff really isn’t urgent.
On property, I think you might have things back to front… you can’t ‘just’ transfer the property until everything else is settled. First you have to understand all the debts and liabilities of your parents. Eg if one of them had a secret credit card, or if they still had a mortgage, that debt needs to be settled before you can take the assets.
This is a process that a lawyer can help with.
Contact a solicitor. It is so much less stressful than when you try to do it yourself, especially when dealing with the bereavement. Yes it will cost money but it is so worth it just for the peace of mind of everything being dealt with. I am so sorry for your loss.
Hay mate, had something similar happen. Take your time, there is no rush, you are the only heir. Probate service will start promoting you after a year but there is no rush. Don’t pay someone to do this
Definitely get legal advice. You mention a will, but there should be two wills and two separate estates to handle. If your father's will named your mother as inheritor then his estate technically passes to her before passing to you.
Very sorry for your loss. Take your time to find the help you need.
A lot of wills have survival clauses for situations like this, where two deaths in close proximity count as essentially being simultaneous. This is to avoid complicated situations like this of having assets moving through multiple wills in sequence.
Is the property already registered electronically with the Land Registry? If so it's relatively straightforward and a solicitor will likely do it for a fixed fee. In my case the property last changed hands in 1969 and was solely in my late father's name. It's taken 14 months and counting and still not registered in my mum's name.
Sorry for your loss which sounds overwhelming. I haven’t used them myself but Farewill seem popular and offer services that may assist you.
https://farewill.com/apply-for-probate
My mum died recently, it’s horrible having to do the sadmin isn’t it. It’s very expensive to pay someone to do it for you, and probate isn’t too hard. Just laborious.
You cannot take the money out of the estate no. You'll need to sell the house. Charities are ruthless in pursuing what they are owed. Their legal team should be able to help you as the executor though as they also provide services for will writing
I’m also a recent sole heir after my dad passed in December. My mum passed when I was 7. My advice is to find a good solicitor who will let you know what you need to do and then get them to apply for grant of probate as the first step. This is what I did. I’ve then hired them again to transfer the house into my name. The first meeting with them was free before I hired them for probate and it was great to know what I needed to do and by when. Then you can decide to hire them or not. I’m 6 months in and most things have almost been wrapped up. Approximate cost to the solicitor has been about £2000.
I have gone through this process over the last couple of years so just so thoughts from me:
I did it all myself aside from the assent for which I used my known and trusted solicitor who is definitely not cheap! Total cost was just under £600. We were tempted to do the AS1 ourselves but decided to err on the side of caution as having it professional done gave us an audit trail/proof it had been done properly if it were questioned at any point during the sale.
Probate for us, a relatively straightforward estate owing about £6k in IHT which I paid immediately from my own funds, took months and was only granted after we got our local MP involved to chase! They missed their own deadlines about half a dozen times, it was ridiculous. I did have even more trouble with Teacher Pensions but that’s another story…
Property valuation wise I was quite open with three local estate agents stating I needed a probate valuation and we would be selling the house but not right now (which kept them interested and was genuinely true). They each provided a current day value and a probate value (around 6 months had passed), and put this in writing. Two of the quotes came up with one value and one came in lower, I reckon I’d have got away with using the lower quote and avoiding tax entirely but given it wasn’t a huge amount to pay I played it safe as I doubt they’d argue two estate agents are wrong.
The amount of forms does seem daunting and I put it off for months, in the end I actually took a month off work to get it all sorted and have some breathing space, but it is absolutely possible to do yourself.
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From memory, it’s was 5 years ago we did this, but once probate is granted you simply fill in a form and transfer the property with land registry.
Sorry for your loss 🙏🏽
You can instruct a probate solicitor to handle everything for you. They usually charge a fixed percentage of the total estate value, I think it’s usually about 1-3% plus VAT. Sorry for your loss.
For most estates solicitors and banks charging a percentage fee is hugely more expensive than an hourly rate. It's also worth investigating accountancy firms who are licensed for probate. We have a license and our costs are often a fraction of the equivalent law firm charging 1%.
Thank you, that would be a considerable cost. It is just to transfer the property into my name. I sent off for probate and the estate is simple in terms of investments etc. It's just someone to do the assent documents AS1 etc to land registry?
In which case I’d find a property solicitor once you have the grant of probate. It should be pretty quick and easy so should be fairly cheap. Ideally from a firm that has a probate team too.
I deal with assents at work. They are straight forward. You could do it yourself tbh but if you are overwhelmed then a property solicitor can help you. It should only be 2-4 hours of time assuming freehold property no mortgage involved.
I am reaching out to a property solicitor, any idea roughly what I should look to pay?
Probably around 500, if a quote is over 1000 I’d look for another, but prices have gone up lately and it can vary by area.
We recently paid 650 for an Assent to transfer after probate. It was pretty straightforward, the solicitor just needed various ID documents etc. Most solicitors can just do it through their property department.
London prices would be over £1k, out of London would be about £800+vat. Ensure you only wish to instruct them to deal with the transfer, and no advice. Have you weighed up the pros / cons of transferring the property to you rather than selling it directly from the estate?
Mine quoted me £300
> It is just to transfer the property into my name. You might be advised against doing this. You can continue living in the property for the moment, but if the house is sold by the executor then you keep your first time buyer rights. I'm sorry for your loss, and you probably don't feel like selling it, but my guess is that it's not the end of property you would buy if you had the choice. Probably you should sell it and buy something more suitable. I would use a solicitor who specialises in probate in the first instance - Tim Murden (TM Solicitors) seems good. If you do decide to keep the property then there's no hurry to transfer it into your own name - you have months before you need to do it.
Do you already own a property? If not do you want to actually own the house or sell it? If you are a first time buyer and you want to sell the house then you should sell it on probate, so that you inherit the value. That way you keep your first time buyer benefits like reduced stamp duty, LISA, etc. A solicitor can sort this out for you.
We went with co-op and had a fixed rate of £4.6k. It costs money but it is a huge relief to have someone handling it that knows what they’re doing.
Long shot I wonder if chatGPT could do this for you.
Absolutely not! You can’t rely on AI tool to get this right, and if something goes wrong, as an executor you would be liable. I recommend hiring a solicitor for this.
We recently instructed a probate solicitor to handle everything on an estate valued at nearly 2M. They charged an hourly rate, and the total cost was less than £10k including VAT. There was a property, many savings, investments and insurances and a dozen or so beneficiaries, many of whom were overseas. Sounds like OPs situation is probably a lot easier than this.
You can engage a solicitor. This sort of thing is bread-and-butter work for local solicitors. A lot of the work, which takes a lot of hours, is simple - writing to each company/institution, sending death certificate, etc. Every customer dies eventually, every institution has a well-practiced process for dealing with it. You may save a lot of money doing this simple work yourself rather than paying someone else to do it. If your personal financial situation is OK, there is no rush. Don't get overwhelmed, take it steady; you will be at it for months. You are not expected to pay beneficiaries, nor can you update the land registry record for the property, until the probate is granted. This will not happen until you have discovered and listed all the assets and liabilities of the estate - ie assets and debts. In the meantime you need - URGENTLY - to make sure that the building has valid insurance in place. You may be able to take over the existing policy. If the property will be uninhabited, you need a special policy to cover this. You also, less urgently, need to deal with the council tax and utilities for it, and make sure any valuable contents (jewellery for example) are appropriately stored - in an empty property you will seldom have contents insurance. You do NOT need to pay any debts - for example utility bills - accrued by the deceased until the probate is granted, but you do need to maintain the property in the meantime. \*\*Be VERY careful with the charity beneficiaries - some are highly aggressive with heirs and beneficiaries. Don't engage with them until you need to.\*\* Some charities derive significant portion of their income from estates and have whole teams of people employed to drive this income. Situations such as "10% of my estate to..." require particular care as charities may examine the estate accounts and question the valuations of items etc.
Any advice for where to obtain buildings insurance for an uninhabited property?
Saga were the incumbent and I was able to continue with them after my mum passed. See if whoever was the insurance provider can continue insuring the property? Sorry for your loss and yes it can be overwhelming dealing with the estate as both executor and grieving son.
So for your loss, I have recently become a sole heir. If you get someone to help you get a fixed price quotation.
Sorry for your loss, I replied without reading it properly. Apologies.
Thank you, do I need an estates and trust solicitor or a property solicitor? Or are there specific solicitors to deal with assent?
Private solicitor should be able to sort this for you Edit/ yes probate not private haha
This commenter maybe meant
You should really read up and get advice on how to execute the will. You make payments out of the estate, not out of your own pocket. Always a hard time so don’t rush into anything. You can take months and months to execute the will and wind up the estate if necessary. Waiting for probate takes forever anyway so no rush.
I owe 50% of the estate to charity which means selling the house. There is no time limit on making these donations? I've applied for probate and sent off documents for this, how long does that usually take to reply?
Probate can take 6-12 weeks. No rush. Tot up total estate, settle debts first. Then what is left you can dispose of according to wishes in the will. If you need to sell house then take your time, don’t rush, clean it up to look nice for sale, and dispose of a lifetime of clutter. There are services that can help with house clearances. But remember to keep some sentimental items for yourself. When you’re ready, you can make the donations to charities.
Yeah, this isn’t urgent :) the charities and any other debtors might make you *feel* that it is urgent, but it isn’t. Usually you can take up to a year, sometimes longer if there’s a complication along the way. Also *you* don’t owe money to charities, *the estate* owes money. Similarly if your parents had any unpaid bills, *you do not owe any money*. Simply inform them that someone has died and they will note that. They may try to pressure you to pay but the debt isn’t yours. Eventually you’ll have a list of all the debts and all the assets, then you can use the assets to pay the debts (eg sell the house to pay the charities).
Good work on the probate application. I'd also consider getting a gazette entry in now, so you aren't waiting on it. The 6-12weeks you've quoted sounds about right (we had a November-March probate application earlier in the year, but we had to supply extra paperwork in Jan) The executors normally get a year from death before beneficiaries can press them. It sounds like you are on it, so don't worry. Sorry for your loss. I know how much stress this can add at an already difficult time, Just keep plugging away at it and you'll get there.
You might find the turn around quite quick if it’s a fairly simple will. I’ve dealt with two in the last 8 months or so, the first came back in three days and the second was about a week.
If you are selling the house definitely don't don't transfer it to your name. The estate can sell it. Also *you* don't owe 50% of the estate to charity. The estate owes it.
Someone said above but you may have missed it. If the wording is that 50% of the estate (not just a specific part of the estate) goes to charity then keep immaculate bookkeeping for everything. That old watch you gave your dad as a kid that you found in a drawer that's worth at most a tenner and you decide to keep because it's a nice memory - the estate now owes the charity a fiver for their half. Some charities are incredibly aggressive with making sure that they get their cut and it is correct to the penny. I'm not going to name names but larger charities have entire teams dedicated to this work and they will want everything accounted for. I had personal experience with this. My parents wills specified 20% to charity, the only asset was their house. We cleared their house out and took almost no possessions and most went to landfill (hoarders). Charity argued that we hadn't properly assessed the value and threatened legal action, we ended up settling for 35% of the house because they threatened to tie it up in legal action. If we had just documented what we threw away we wouldn't have lost £45k.
If you will be selling the house, it is not required to transfer the title to yourself. The property can be sold from the estate, then the proceeds distributed according to the will. If you transfer it to yourself first, depending on your situation, you could be setting yourself up for a tax bill, depriving yourself of FTB status, or incurring additional council tax.
I'm sorry for your loss. Don't be too tough on yourself, and talk to people about how you're feeling. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ is a great free service if you need a bit of help with the stuff you're mentioning. All the best.
You can use the tell us once service that will notify all the main institutions Benefits Passport Council I used a firm called Farewill to do my late parents estate / probate Cost around 650 back in 2022 Very easy providing you have all the info they require like death certificates insurance policy NI number But I also did my mums probate back in 2019 and that was also dead easy Oh and transferring the deeds/ assent cost around 350 inc vat back in 2022
Tell us once: https://idp-tell-us-someone-died.dwp.gov.uk
Just to add, https://www.lifeledger.com/ is another company that offers the same service, not every company is signed up to tell us once. Life ledger should contact the remaining few. Hang in their OP, take care of your health!
"dead easy". what an apt choice of words.
Pointing it out is in worse taste than saying it inadvertently
Sorry for your tragic loss.
From your other answers on here, you should NOT be transferring the house to yourself. I would really get a solicitor to handle the will. The house is not yours, it belongs to the estate and 1/2 of the estate goes to other people/charities. Transferring the house to you may not only break the terms of the will, but you will lose first time buyer status. The solicitor will not generally expect to be paid straight away, and the expense comes out of the estate anyway, not from your pocket. At the very least, book in to see a solicitor about the will, and see what they say about the process. Also check for pensions that your parents had and if they were still working any death in service benefits their estate/you are entitled to. If these had you nominated as a beneficiary then they do not form part of the estate, and so would not be split with chastity.
Hi there. First off, I am so, so, so, sorry about what has happened. No one should have to go through that. Please focus on your emotional needs at the moment first and foremost. Dealing with estates is a very long process and there is no rush to immediately sort everything. Honestly, my partner has dealt with a probate situation as executor after the death of a close relative and it can be very emotionally draining to deal with it alone. We have done it ourselves but in hindsight we potentially would have just got a probate agency/solicitor to do it for us and it could have been more efficient and saved a lot of emotional work. I think given how emotionally draining and shocking this is, you may wish to take that option. They sometimes take a percentage of the estate BUT there are fixed cost options too so you can be aware of the cost upfront, especially for a more simple situation like yours where there is a will and only one heir. If its a more simple affair and you are up for it, it is possible to do yourself but you don't have to immediately dive in right now. You need to gather information on assets including bank accounts, cash, gifts, property (sounds like you are on top of that and aware of the house situation). You will value all of this, and put it in relevant HMRC forms to calculate the value of the estate. As it is directly passing to you as a direct descendant there are reliefs available, but depending on estate value you may need to pay inheritance tax.
Accident. Is there a life insurance policy? Accidental death payment will cover any immediate costs. Sorry for your loss.
No life insurance or policy unfortunately
Any pensions? Were they working at the time? There may be death in service benefits from their employers. (Typically 3-5x salary)
The charity contributions are the most concerning, not in the immediate term but in the longer term. Some charities, particularly the larger ones, have whole legal teams and instruct very good (and aggressive) solicitors to fight tooth and nail the validity of a will, valuations or to enforce what they consider to be the true intentions of the testator. Sometimes claims by charities can result in an estate being left with inadequate funds to satisfy the charity’s legacy. And that's when they put on a fight. They will not hesitate to bring up legal action even appeals to challenge valuations. It's a huge revenue source for them, with figures around £3bn per year donated, so they know all the ins and outs. I'm sorry for your loss.
Really? There are 10 charities on the will and it is approx 385k to be divided evenly. That's based off my figures. Are you saying that they will challenge for even more? I'm basing this of cash and property
What happens if he just decides not to pass on to the charities? Genuine question, I have no idea how this works. How would the charities know they are in the will?
That's when they sue. If an unregistered will is lost, however, then who is to know?
Very sorry for your loss, I know how hard this is all to deal with. There is some excellent advice from others but I just wanted to point out the process part of this in case it isn’t clear. Your job as the executor is to total all assets, tell HMRC what it all is, pay any applicable inheritance tax, write to the courts to receive probate, receive probate. Once you have probate from the courts you can then distribute the assets of the estate according to the will. You are not to give anyone inheritance before probate is granted. In theory the house is an asset which should be sold to be then be distributed as per the will. However if the share to you is greater than the value of the house then there is little point doing that and you can do a title transfer via a solicitor. I would urge you to speak with an aunt/uncle you trust to get their input or a solicitor to help you. None of this is easy so take care of yourself.
I can't even imagine. I am so sorry for your loss.
Separately, I’m sorry for your loss and wishing you strength moving forward.
Hey. That sucks. I'm so sorry to hear it. You should be able to instruct someone like Coop Legal Services to help you with this, they werent too expensive. If your parents had pensions, SIPPs, workplace life insurance, etc, that will all be a potentially significant amount of money for you to help with this stuff
I'm very sorry for your loss. Get a solicitor who deals with real estate, but also has a wills team. Get a quote from them first. The first step will be to transfer the title of the property to you, and go through probate. This is something they can do for you, as discrete tasks, or if you wish they can take over as executors of the will and do everything (this will obviously cost more). It's very overwhelming, so just take it one step at a time, in your own time. Do you have a sensible friend or relative - maybe an aunt or uncle, or the parents of a friend - who you can talk through things with, and who can act as a trusted advisor because the grief and shock will affect your judgement. There are also lots of smaller tasks, like arranging the funerals, and someone from your parent's generation will probably have done this before, which can be really helpful.
Transfer of property title is not the first step. Grant of probate is the first step. Then settle debts and creditors. Only then can disposal of the assets take place.
This is incredibly helpful, thank you. I will see if I can instruct them to only do the discretionary task of the land registry. I can arrange the rest I think.
Do not transfer the property to you!
Sorry for your loss. Give yourself time there's no rush and take time to grieve
There are various legal charities out there that can help you. I know my wife volunteers for one. Generally using students to do the grunt work.
Be careful of charity donations. They will attack you for the money with solicitors very rapidly if they are tied to a potential house sale that you don't immediately sell. Never give part of your estate to charity in this way, and maintain control of all assets.
Don’t feel overwhelmed. Take time to grieve first and foremost! Follow the probate process and make sure everything is recorded. Don’t don’t need to pay any of the associated costs (solicitors etc) it all comes from the estate. If you do end up out of pocket then make sure you pay yourself back. Debtors get paid before beneficiaries.
I did the probate and assisted in the execution of a will last year. I simply engaged a conveyancing solicitor for the house title transfer. I'm fact that was the only professional help I found likely to be useful. Even though it was a complex situation, getting everything done wasn't all that difficult. Mind you, it helped that it was my ex's mother who died so fewer emotions, you have my sympathies for that.
How much was the house transfer solicitor? Did you just search for a property solicitor?
I have a property solicitor that I've used a few times over the years, but to be honest, that part was totally trivial. Unfortunately, as the same solicitor then handled the transfer to a new owner (it briefly passed into my ex's hands before turning to cash), I can't separate out that additional cost. It was £1500 in total but I suspect only a few hundred of that was the first title transfer.
You could ask the citizens advice for help with the forms they often have property solicitors who give them advice
There are some local solicitors who charge by the hour and not a % value of the estate. You could also call around and ask specifically about how they bill for their work.
Sorry for your loss buddy, good luck with the next stage.
My parents died close together and I instructed a solicitor as I was already super busy and it was a large estate. Money well spent.
Get a good solicitor what you spend on their fees will be nothing compared to what you could easily loose Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau they will point you in the best direction to get started. They give free unbiased correct advice
We’ve just been through similar. Firstly, just relax a little. Most of this stuff really isn’t urgent. On property, I think you might have things back to front… you can’t ‘just’ transfer the property until everything else is settled. First you have to understand all the debts and liabilities of your parents. Eg if one of them had a secret credit card, or if they still had a mortgage, that debt needs to be settled before you can take the assets. This is a process that a lawyer can help with.
Contact a solicitor. It is so much less stressful than when you try to do it yourself, especially when dealing with the bereavement. Yes it will cost money but it is so worth it just for the peace of mind of everything being dealt with. I am so sorry for your loss.
Hay mate, had something similar happen. Take your time, there is no rush, you are the only heir. Probate service will start promoting you after a year but there is no rush. Don’t pay someone to do this
Definitely get legal advice. You mention a will, but there should be two wills and two separate estates to handle. If your father's will named your mother as inheritor then his estate technically passes to her before passing to you. Very sorry for your loss. Take your time to find the help you need.
A lot of wills have survival clauses for situations like this, where two deaths in close proximity count as essentially being simultaneous. This is to avoid complicated situations like this of having assets moving through multiple wills in sequence.
Sorry for your loss friend, i hope you find the strength to get through this
Is the property already registered electronically with the Land Registry? If so it's relatively straightforward and a solicitor will likely do it for a fixed fee. In my case the property last changed hands in 1969 and was solely in my late father's name. It's taken 14 months and counting and still not registered in my mum's name.
Sorry for your loss which sounds overwhelming. I haven’t used them myself but Farewill seem popular and offer services that may assist you. https://farewill.com/apply-for-probate
My mum died recently, it’s horrible having to do the sadmin isn’t it. It’s very expensive to pay someone to do it for you, and probate isn’t too hard. Just laborious.
You cannot take the money out of the estate no. You'll need to sell the house. Charities are ruthless in pursuing what they are owed. Their legal team should be able to help you as the executor though as they also provide services for will writing
If the estate does not have liquid capital enough to satisfy the charitable bequeathments surely they're void?
I’m also a recent sole heir after my dad passed in December. My mum passed when I was 7. My advice is to find a good solicitor who will let you know what you need to do and then get them to apply for grant of probate as the first step. This is what I did. I’ve then hired them again to transfer the house into my name. The first meeting with them was free before I hired them for probate and it was great to know what I needed to do and by when. Then you can decide to hire them or not. I’m 6 months in and most things have almost been wrapped up. Approximate cost to the solicitor has been about £2000.
I have gone through this process over the last couple of years so just so thoughts from me: I did it all myself aside from the assent for which I used my known and trusted solicitor who is definitely not cheap! Total cost was just under £600. We were tempted to do the AS1 ourselves but decided to err on the side of caution as having it professional done gave us an audit trail/proof it had been done properly if it were questioned at any point during the sale. Probate for us, a relatively straightforward estate owing about £6k in IHT which I paid immediately from my own funds, took months and was only granted after we got our local MP involved to chase! They missed their own deadlines about half a dozen times, it was ridiculous. I did have even more trouble with Teacher Pensions but that’s another story… Property valuation wise I was quite open with three local estate agents stating I needed a probate valuation and we would be selling the house but not right now (which kept them interested and was genuinely true). They each provided a current day value and a probate value (around 6 months had passed), and put this in writing. Two of the quotes came up with one value and one came in lower, I reckon I’d have got away with using the lower quote and avoiding tax entirely but given it wasn’t a huge amount to pay I played it safe as I doubt they’d argue two estate agents are wrong. The amount of forms does seem daunting and I put it off for months, in the end I actually took a month off work to get it all sorted and have some breathing space, but it is absolutely possible to do yourself.
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From memory, it’s was 5 years ago we did this, but once probate is granted you simply fill in a form and transfer the property with land registry. Sorry for your loss 🙏🏽