I am in the process of sorting out my fathers documents and have just found out that his savings mean that we have to go through probate. Can anyone provide advice on what to do/not to do and who to avoid/use?

His bank have already offered to do it and all the house deeds so they can be transferred to my mum for circa £2,800′ £700 of which is third party costs like the land registry etc

Many thanks for any help you can offer.

That sounds waaaaay too much unless your fathers affairs were complicated – was he v.wealthy/lots of property etc. I usually deal with large farming estates for less. Look on the U Gov website and also the probate/court service site – you can probably do it your self. Staff at Probate Registies are generally very helpful also.

definitely you do not need a bank ripping you off like that.

do it yourself, its pretty straight forward. loads of info on the internet.

from memory, you just tally up all the assets, fill in a form, go to the local court for to swear its all true, and thats pretty much it.

to transfer banking accounts some places just want a glimpse of a death certificate, others will want more.

but as i say, its really not that hard to do.

I would echo what others have said, Banks, solicitors etc should be avoided imo I did my fathers about 10 years ago (shares,property, savings etc) and it was easy you just need to be organised and don’t expect it to be done overnight.

I’d agree with DIY, I had to my dad’s last year – unless your dads affairs are very clever or complex; multiple properties, properties or assets abroad or his will is particularly convoluted then it shouldn’t be too big a deal to do it yourself. Its not really much of a bigger deal than doing a tax return or similar, other than you are having to track someone else’s incomes and assets rather than your own.

I’d say give it a shot yourself, the forms are free to obtain (and I think you can download them and the guidance for them), if you find yourself getting mired in it all then just pay someone else to do it then, theres not a massive rush, other than its a relief to have finished it, so just take your time and chug through it.

A solicitor handled my Dad’s probate (just over 2 years ago) and it come in just under £1K I think.

Some really useful info here:

http://www.bereavementadvice.org/probate-and-other-legal-procedures/deciding-how-to-do-probate/diy.php

In my opinion the bank is too expensive but I would pay a solicitor to sort it out. Probate is not something you want to get wrong…

Cheers

Danny B

I’d do it yourself, as others have said, its fairly straight forward.
If you want any advice, email me, I’ve been through it before

+1 for doing it yourself, I did it for my mum, some daunting(ish) bits along the way but it’s not hard per se.

All the best with it.

Been there and got the certificate, is easy, make an appointment with the probate registry, then take the certificates to the relevant banks and building societies, and sign some forms and thats it.

Except if its one bank that is run by people who think its their money, have a serious atitude problem and then when you make a complaint ignore it, finally they pay you 60 compensation and odnt say sorry.

Just what you dont need when your dad has just died.

Except if its one bank that is run by people who think its their money, have a serious atitude problem and then when you make a complaint ignore it, finally they pay you 60 compensation and odnt say sorry.

Just what you dont need when your dad has just died.

Santander?

My brother sorted all our parents out by himself (unmarried unlike us other two so had spare time) and did it in a doddle.

Just to add really – its easy up to a point.

The initially form you use has a number of questions which if you answer in a certain way lead to further forms. So for most people you fill out one form, but if there are particular types of pension, or other unconventional arrangements, or stacks and stacks of cash, then one form can turn in to half a dozen bigger forms and that might be where you’d want to call in help. But start the first one and if you find those extras don’t apply to you then everything is straight forward.

Hi cheers for the advice, dads financial circumstances weren’t overly complex so I’ll have a goog look at doing it myself. Wanted to see if there was a half way house, ie a third party does it, but doesn’t charge a fortune.

As with many posts above, I’m an advocate for doing it yourself. I did it for my Mum’s estate a few years ago. Was rather complex at first and but once I got my head around it, I found it a gratifying and healing exercise to go through. It not only helped practically but also as part of the grieving process. If you can do it, you’ll feel better for it in the long term. Good luck and if you need any specifics, let me know.

If the estate is below the IHT threshold it’ll be a lot easier, but even above the IHT threshold it’s still not exactly difficult.
Hardest part is dealing with the banks TBH. Everything has to be done in writing as they won’t speak to anybody but the account holder, and probate being probate, makes that quite difficult 🙂

Just going through this process myself.

We filled in forms PA1 and IHT205. The latter form is for an excepted estate, where the estate totals less than £325k (for a single allowance). The IHT205 form asks for all of the estate assets vs debts, funeral costs etc. Once you have submitted the Probate and IHT form, you then need to go and swear an oath that what you have placed on the forms is correct.

I’m fortunate, in that my sister-in-law has done the forms before, so knew what to do. We ran a spreadsheet with assets and debts totalled and then carried over to the forms. It’s fairly straight forward, as long as you’re organised.

Have to say though, I wouldn’t know how you deal with the land registry.

My father died a month ago today, and it is a very trying time. It is hard that this kind of thing needs to be dealt with at a time when you just could do without it. We’re fortunate that we won’t be paying inheritance tax, but I’m lead to believe that if you need to pay it, it has to be paid up front. WTF?

Tenfoot, many thanks for sharing your experiences and sorry to hear your news. It’s a shame probate hasn’t been as easy to deal with as the service provided by dwp for registering the death.

Give me a shout if you ever want to talk things over as we are in the same situation and you want the opportunity to talk things through.