Anyone else currently applying for probate / letter of administration?

[Comps83]

Want to chat about what a pain in the arse this whole process is?

Hi, how are you getting on?

I've done probate now for a couple of relatives and have my mother's underway. It's seemed pretty straight Ford if not a speedy process.

There's lots of help available here on MN, it might be worth having this moved into the 'legal matters' thread.

It's ok I'm not so much looking for advise, just wanted to talk to others who have gone through it
Mother didn't leave a will or even nominated anyone on her death in service scheme

I'm 2.5 months in and it's so slow and painful and it'll be a good long while before it's sorted

Last thing I had to do was contact the court yday for a copy of the divorce certificate.

Had a lengthy battle with the pension provider to even get to speak to someone and then they weren't following their own guidelines . Took 1.5 months to even get them to send me forms out

Oh, goodness, yes, it is much tougher when there is no will. I have started to encourage everyone I know to make a will, because it makes everything so much simpler.

The longest delay we have had to date was my mother's private pension payment. It took 'em just over two months to work out the gross and tax paid on the last payment, so I have only just sent off her personal tax return.

It seems like every time I think I'm getting somewhere there is just something else and then something else .
I would really urge ppl to make a will or at least make sure you update your death in service nomination if you have that option

I’m just starting the journey as mum died 2 weeks ago. All I’ve done so far is let everyone know, freeze her accounts and try and search for a will. I’ve got refund cheques arriving addressed to the executor but there isn’t one and I have no idea what to do next

Yeah I've got one cheque . Not sure what to do with it
Was thinking that once I have proof that I'm administrator I'll take it to the bank

How do you get proof?

Once you've gone through the process of applying for probate / letter of administration you'll get a document
Well that's what I think happens
Could be year before I'm sorted with mine

While I understand that everything seems to take for ever, there is a timetable for paying any IHT due. You won't get probate without having paid the tax

I found the step by step guides on the websites really helpful. Have a look here

The helpline is really great, too. When you call, you are asked to 'state why you are calling' saying bereavement seems to work well

contacts

I meant to add that you have only six months to pay IHT, without which you won't get probate. In order to know what, if any, tax is due, you need to get a valuation of the entire estate, at which point you are really ready to apply for probate anyway.

Is there anything else you are stuck with?

Thanks
It's getting all info together to fill in the tax form which is taking so long
I was about ready to get a solicitor involved with the pension dept taking so long and not following their own guidelines which I had a copy of .

I hope there’s no tax to pay as no way would I be able to pay it

@IcaMorgan Don't worry, you will definitely not have to pay any tax. If the estate is above £325K then tax can kick in, but it would be paid by the estate and there are other reliefs it may be possible to claim.

@FinallyHere thank you. I’m really lost with all of it. On top of that I’m really worried about the funeral with all that’s going on now

We still have to fill in the tax form even when below £325k but I think I'm pretty safe from reaching that amount
When is the funeral ?
Such shit timing
My mother died a week after my baby was born, and now this . She was a nurse and I wonder what she would have made of all this . She caught swine flu the last time

I’ve been through this recently but we had it easy as we knew where to get mum’s will and had docs with her NI number on. But still it was so a right pain in the arse to do. You have two allowances, £325k and £125k, not sure which one is for residence though so if estate is worth £450k+ you pay IHT. As Dad passed before mum we were able to claim allowances from his estate also as mum Didn’t do IHT and probate after he’d died.

I thought I was ready to send off the pension form ... then realised I had to have it witnessed . Well I'm on maternity leave and social distancing so I don't see anyone
It's not stressing me out as much as it was , feel like I can't complain in the current situation

Mums funeral has been cancelled due to immediate family having to isolate for 12 weeks due to either age or medical conditions. They are going to do a direct cremation which means only the funeral directors will be there and we will have a memorial when it’s safe to meet in groups again

I’ve been wondering if HMRC Will give me an extension as I’m not supposed to be leaving the house so can’t get things sorted

I'd ring HMRC. I've had great service from the people manning the phones, who appear very clued up. Then at least you will know

Usually easy to get through first thing.

Can I ask where it says that you need to have the amount to hmrc within 6 months? No way is this going to happen for me now with everything grinding to a halt

I've had a look and I can't see anything referring to a 6 month time limit. Not that it will be over the inheritance tax threshold anyway
Husband is pushing me chase up the pension dept but it's NHS so I feel pretty uncomfortable doing that at the moment even though they very much dragged their heels before this virus even hit the news

from this page
www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died

"You don’t need to value the estate straight away after someone dies. There are only deadlines if the estate owes Inheritance Tax.

If it does, you’ll need to:

send Inheritance Tax forms within one year
start paying tax by the end of the sixth month after the person died - you can make a payment before you finish valuing the estate"

It's been over two years since I did it for my husband. It was tedious but straightforward apart from one of his pension schemes that took a year. They changed administrators part way through so I had to go send everything in again. If the estate is likely to be below a certain value you don't need to get too hung up on the valuations, estimates will do.

I didn't have an executor account, I had two refunds that I needed to process and the bereavements team at my bank did it for me as they were so small.

The lump sum from the pension provider doesn't go on the IHT form. It's because the trustees are not bound to pay out to the nominated person, they have a choice. That's all I can remember right now and I have no wish to trawl through the box of bad memories to find my workings.

Thanks that helps
I'll not worry too much as I'm pretty certain it's under the threshold
I can't make an estimate as I have no clue whats being paid from the pension as they didn't seem to know their arse from their elbow
On this occasion though it will be going into the estate as there was no nomination .

Currently waiting for letter of admin which I applied for a few weeks ago
A friend applied a few days before me and got the letter a few days later so I don't know why my application is taking so much longer as it was pretty straight forward

Finally got my letter of administration yesterday!