How long to receive inheritance?

[OverThinkingUnderDoing]

I know this sounds incredibly callous which is why I’m asking on here rather than in real life.

A relative of mine died last month. The will has been read and all her belongings have been left to split between my sister and I. This amounts to her savings, house that she owned outright and all the contents, car and loads of shares.

I’m recently divorced and it appears ex husband has no intention of paying any child maintenance until he is forced to. I can currently live off money from the divorce to pay for mortgage and bills for a max of about 6 months. I’m hoping by this time exdh will be forced to pay CM. I live in an area that is very touristy so will hopefully be able to get a job soon if things are allowed to open up again.

But... obviously the inheritance would be a massive help and give me lots of breathing room. But I have no idea how long these things take - is it months? Years? Also most of the shares are in Pfizer and I’d quite like to cash them in while they’re still worth a lot.

Any ideas, anyone?

Presuming you’re in England.

Is it a large enough estate that it needs to go through probate?
If so google to see if there are any delays on that at the moment.
Will a house need to be sold for the rest to be divided up? I am not sure about that bit.

Just from my one experience it could be months if all goes well.

Can you ask the solicitor dealing with it, if there is one?

I'd seek good advice before cashing in those shares.

My children are in a similar position and have been told to expect a letter from a solicitor very shortly.

At least months.

Why are there so many threads on inheritance today?

You can ask the executor(s) if you can have some on account, eg the cash in her bank. If you explain your position, you don't need to go into too much detail, they'll probably agree.

I'm sure your aunt would want you to have it now when you need it so much, so I don't think you're being callous. I'm sorry for your loss

From the time an application for probate is submitted to receiving the certificate is about two months. How long the application takes to be completed depends entirely on who does it. Solicitors will take considerably longer than if the executor does it.

I did both parents’ myself. Dad died at the end of May and I got the probate certificate in October. Mum died in November and I got the certificate in February.

Probate is not quick.

I was an executor of a will and managed to get it through in about 8 months but that involved an estate that was relatively uncomplicated and as I did everything I was able to process a lot of the paperwork quickly.

I imagine more complicated estates or those being sorted by solicitors (that tend to be slower) could easily take over a year.

Nothing until probate is granted, which of straightforward may be relatively soon (expect delays as there seems to be back ups with everything at the moment). The cash you will get as soon as. You and your sister will have to decide about the house and possessions, if you sell it keep etc. I imagine the contents can go to auction if you aren't keeping anything. The house, as you know, can take months to sell, and you are both responsible for paying the bills on it until it does.
Depending on the value of the shares you might want to take professional advice on that.
Do you know the executors? Ask them about the timeline.

Sorry I should say that was from applying for probate to complete distribution of funds.

It is important as an executor that debts are paid in the correct order and you do need to leave a legal time frame (usually 6 months for England) for notification of claims before beneficiaries are paid from the remaining estate.

@Ragwort

At least months.

Why are there so many threads on inheritance today?

Just thinking exactly that...

Solicitor has applied for probate and they’re in charge of it all. The house will need to be sold and it will be subject to inheritance tax too which I guess will hold things up further.

The solicitor allowed my sister and I to take some jewellery from the house but it was more sentimental and I’d rather not seek it unless I had to.

Sorry, hadn’t spotted any other thread on inheritance or I would’ve read those.

You would have to check the legalities, but if you are currently paying rent, could you move into the house until it is sold?

Probably more inheritance threads at the moment because more people than usual have died unexpectedly without getting their affairs in proper order, coupled with people having a hard time economically with covid so that inheritance becomes more of a survival source than a windfall.

Took about 8months for my partner to receive an inheritance. That was just a cash bequest without waiting for assets to be liquidated.

DH Nan died in March. Probate was granted in the summer. DH and other grandkids who had been gifted a set sum received there’s last month. MIL and DH aunt have inherited the rest. They can’t access the money until 6 months after probate was granted in order to wait in case any debtors pop up out of the woodwork. The house has sold and is currently going through that process.

@Ragwort

At least months.

Why are there so many threads on inheritance today?

I was thinking the same!!

The Executor of the Will has to find and pay all her outstanding bills and expenses (funeral. CT, fuel, care home) , notify and terminate all accounts and memberships. Depending on the wording of the bequest, car house furniture valuables and shares might be sold . All that can take many months. The executor can only go at the speed of response from all the organisations he has to deal with.

If you and your sister have particular views on disposal of the house and pfizer shares, you should contact the Executor to discuss.

Inheritance Tax has to be paid before Probate is granted. That is not always a simple matter.

I depends a lot on complexity, how many beneficiaires, if the executors all get on, if there are any conflicts and I suppose on solicitors, so a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. My grandfather's estate was fairly large and with some confusion over slight variations in his requests, but no disagreements between beneficiaries - most of it came through in 4-5 months, which was honestly faster than I expected.