#EstatePlanning #Inheritance #ProbateProcess
Hey everyone 👋, I could really use some advice. My parents recently passed away and as their sole heir, I’ve inherited everything. However, I’m feeling overwhelmed with dealing with their estate, especially when it comes to the house. Here’s where I need some help:
– Is there a service that can assist me with the forms and documents needed to transfer the property?
– As the executor of the will, can I transfer the property into my name before making the large charity contributions mentioned in the will?
Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! 🏡💼 Thank you in advance for your help!
Sorry for your tragic loss.
So for your loss, I have recently become a sole heir. If you get someone to help you get a fixed price quotation.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.