[Closed] Probate - hints and tips please

Get SO and DD from the bank and the ones that need paying get in touch with the company concerned and ask them to send you the bill. Other alternative is to wait until the threatening letters turn up then pay them.
Car - depends on the terms of the policy and if you're a named driver
House insurance will run until the policy expires but you need to tell them about the death as if the house is empty this can affect insurance. If there is still someone living in it then you should be OK
God knows about assets in the USA

The government website on probate was useful. I did it all online but the estate was under the tax threshold which made it easy

I'm going through this at the moment.

These websites are useful:

https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

https://www.deathnotificationservice.co.uk

Once you notify banks, creditors etc, they send you a final bill or sometimes a refund depending on the situation at the time of death.

I've cancelled gas, electric and water at the property but they all still work. Odd. Not bottomed this out yet.

House insurance continues with a different premium and policy. I have to visit the property once a week for instance.

Can't help with cars or assets in the USA as Mum had neither!

I've set up two spreadsheets to keep records of financial income and expenditure and to record where I'm up to with the various organisations that I have to deal with. I've found that some e.g. RBS are an absolute shower to deal with. Completely ignore emails, give false promises on the phone and blame Covid 19 for their incompetence.

Others (Santander) have been incredibly efficient.

Good luck.

I am still being paid by standing order from a deceased customers account as I am still maintaining the garden until the end of the month so I guess the banks can still be instructed to pay certain things?

All of the organisations concerned are well used to dealing with these circumstances and are, mostly, very sympathetic and helpful. The banks, as stated, all have different policies. Standing orders and direct debits will still get paid as long as there are funds available. It's worth approaching them in person with a copy of the death certificate. You'll usually leave with a cheque if the amount involved is below their threshold, varies from bank to bank. If any large bills have to be dealt with then usually funds can be released for this, funeral costs, house repairs prior to sale etc. Car insurance is still valid assuming the policy payment is up to date but you need to contact them to explain what's happened.
Gas and electric will resolve itself when the next tenants/owners submit an initial reading. You'll then be billed for the difference. The council can be a bit officious, they insisted on dealing with my solicitor with regard to a rebate of £16 which was due to us. I argued that it would cost me far more than that for the solicitor to deal with it so just forget it and put it in the tea kitty. They weren't happy about that and pestered me for months then eventually a cheque for £16 arrived in the post, why not just do that in the first place?
Good luck with it all, it's not a pleasant thing to have to deal with but it can help to have practical actions to deal with.

Car tax stops though. Presumably you've filled in the tell-us-once website. Executor gets a rebate, new keeper retaxes. I think.

I just kept a notebook with an "in" and "out" section in the back and who contacted, when, what was said and done, written down in the front and I have a big box file with all the gubbins in.
Got an income tax refund recently (as I suppose PAYE on her pension assumes you get it the whole financial year). Luckily all under the IHT limit.

House insurance carried on and I had it transferred into my name once the probate grant came through.

Depending on who the beneficiaries are and aren't it might be worth taking out an ad in iirc the London Gazette as this (after N months) covers your arse against potential claimants. If there's a litigious estranged relative or you have suspicions of a second family etc etc (!!).

If there's stuff you're not sure about in the will you can pay a solicitor to advise you without getting them to get probate for you. I did this for a couple of bits related to a trust one will set up and it did throw up some stuff I wouldn't otherwise have known. Get a STEP member if you do this.

The banks etc varied a lot - eg Leeds BS had me come in for an appt with a boatload of docs but ultimately it was done fairly quickly while another (Halifax iirc) seems very promising at first - could do it all y phone and email - but there was many a slip twixt cup and lip with them!

I lost both my parents and mother in law last year (my mum and mother in law on the same day, would you believe).

Some good advice above.

Make sure to do the "tell us once" service - that's very useful!

Bank Accounts - speak to them - they will be very helpful - you will be able to choose which DD's/SO's to keep or cancel but in all cases you must tell the service providers

Ref house insurance - speak to the insurer - in our case, they just changed the policy details and let it run to the end of the current paid for period, then I reinsured

Car - old policy will be null and void. Again, speak to them - they will refund any outstanding monies and you can sort out a policy to coer while you sell, if that's what you want to do. i sold the cars to dealers - they were nice low mileage cars tho - direct to the main dealer that had been servicing them - I was surprised that I got good prices (better than ebay/AutoTrader sold prices)

Gas/Electric - tell them - in our case, they have let us stop paying whilst properties are sold etc - services are still on (they gave us 12 months grace) - building up a bill to settle once the properties are sold

Council Tax - let them know - you will not have to pay anything whilst the property remains unoccupied

Key thing with everything is to contact the service provider - they all have specialist departments to deal with this and you will find they will treat you with respect - I think they put the best people on this job!!!

Probate - do it yourself - it appears daunting at first but to be honest it's not that bad - you would have to spend forever with a solicitor working through it anyway and they will charge a substantial sum for doing it (2-3% of the estate value)

US assets - I'm afraid I have o idea but remember you can request a free 30 minute consultation with any solicitor on any matter - so use it!

Hope that helps - I'm more than happy to help if I can if you need any more advice - I've been through it all and happy to share any knowledge! Good luck

Mostly as above, the registrar told us and gave us the forms for the "tell us once" service. Its worth getting half a dozen certified copies of the death certificate when you register the death. Best wishes, it can be daunting at times but all relatively simple if you follow the gov advice & keep records as you go.

And if it was burial rather than cremation, the headstone doesn't normally go on immediately as the earth "settles" - you wait a year or so - so remember to keep enough in the kitty for the headstone as that alone is a lot and can vary a bit depending on what you want.

Thanks all much appreciated

'Which?' do a free probate process checklist which might be handy:

https://www.which.co.uk/money/wills-and-probate/probate/diy-probate-a2us50s51q5v

Thanks

1. Bank accounts – I read that as soon as you inform the bank of the death of the sole account holder they stop all SOs and DDs – but the bills for the house which is now empty will still need paying so how does this work?

Yes, the accounts are frozen (though you can ask for money for funeral expenses). I rang the utilities and explained - they were all very good, basically said as you're selling the house we;ll just bill you for the outstanding balance when you ring in the final meter readins.

2. Car – presumably the insurance ceases immediately? So that needs sorting urgently even if the car is not being driven

Not sure on this one, didn't need to handle that but I guess it might be covered for fire and theft if just stuck on the drive.

3. House insurance – does this carry on for any period after the policy holder’s death?

Saga were very good about this, understood the problem and, like the utilites, sai just let us know when house was sold and they'd refund the rest of the years payment back.

Think there was a requirement for the ouse to be 'checked' once a week but no loss of cover.

I did the probate myself last year for a relative. Its all fairly straightforwards if slightly daunting to start with. Especially if not hitting the inheritance thresholds.

The US assets might be the only sticking point - there is a very simple online HMRC form you need to fill in but there's one question (in my case about a tiny pension change) that meant you have to fill in a horrendous 40+ page jobbie instead and send off - you might get caught by the same issue with the US stuff. You finally get head round it but its one of those 'add the total for 79a here, the subtract 15b' etc. type forms.

Top tips?
Keep a spreadsheet of all spending - literally even the 50p for extra death certs, postage etc. - they can all be covered out of the estate so you're not out of pocket.

Keep a copy of all the HMRC forms - some things are guestimates, like value of house contents so it's easy to forget what you filled in and they can ask you additional questions and you numbers need to tally up.

And you'll probably need a few days time off to do bank appointments, swear oath for something or other

Oh, and if you haven't done the death certs yet, take all the info you can on accounts, council tax etc. with you to the registrar - the 'tell us once' service is good but they do need some info for various departments that wasn't that obvious/easy to remember - driving licence etc.

If solicitor does the probate for you, you're going to besically be telling them all the info that you could tell them yourself so it's not really worth the money. Unless you get stressed/don't feel like you can cope with ut, then I'd say its definitely worth it and don't let anyone guilt trip you on that - mental health isn't worth damaging for that amount of money involved.

And if the deceased was on pension/benefits don't be surprised if you get a letter saying 'you owe us money'. Followed by a letter saying, no we owe you money'. Followed by a letter saying 'no, you owe us money'.....

We're also going through this at the moment, can anyone here advise as to whether we can sell a property before probate is granted ? Thanks