Probate Help.

[Itsmeandhim]

Our DM died last week.
My DBs and I are going to start the process of probate.
Mum was always secretive about her money.
Her house is full of paperwork so it's going to take a
while to find everything.
We have found some details of her bank accounts but
some don't have passbooks. Do we need to send these
books to the probate office.
Also on her past few bank statements she had been
withdrawing money over £40k we don't know why and where it went.
Will the office think she was trying to avoid paying any taxes.
We think at the moment she had including her house her
estate will be about £325k maybe more.
What other information do we need to find and send off.
My older DB has tried to phone the probate but can't get through.
Sorry for these questions.

The probate office don’t help with any of this. You need to know all the balances of your mums assets on the day she passed. Savings, property etc. There may be inheritance tax to pay. If you’re not sure what to do, I would definitely recommend using a solicitor.

There is masses of information on the internet...it can all be a minefield but one of the most important aspects to deal with is ensuring that all necessary information is given to the Inland Revenue. This needs to be done correctly and fairly quickly because any inheritance tax will be due after just six months. Research as much as you can - using a solicitor will cost a lot of money so do as much as you can yourself.

You need a Will, to know who is executor and then probate authorises the executors to distribute the estate

This includes gathering assets, paying debts, taxes etc

You probably need a solicitor to help unless the estate is small

You first need to complete the HMRC declaration, which will be either the IHT 205 or 400, depending on if the estate is under the IHT allowance. You can then complete the probate application. If you want someone to work out how much she had, you'll need to appoint a solicitor.

Do you have a copy of the will yet? Who is named as executor?

And sorry for your loss OP.

Sorry for your loss.
There won't be any tax to pay - estate below the inheritance tax limit.
You don't need to send the bank account books to the probate office.
The cash withdrawals are a red flag for her potentially being conned.
Apply for probate (estimate the estate value), and once granted take the probate grant form to the various banks and ask for statements of her accounts.
www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/apply-for-probate

Sorry for your loss. Please don’t worry about probate, you have lots of time to complete it and from what you have said will be under the inheritance tax threshold, even if the 40k were taken into account, which I don’t think it will be.
In your position I’d gather everything together, set aside a morning and call them all tofu d out more. You’ll need to send a copy of your mum’s death certificate, either original or a certified copy and they may ask to see her will to see who us executor. Whoever the executor us will need to send certified proof of identity and address. But please remember you have time, none of this has to be done immediately. Look after yourself at this difficult time.

There won't be any tax to pay - estate below the inheritance tax limit.

You may have misread the post.

We think at the moment she had including her house her estate will be about £325k maybe more.

Thank you for your replies.
We have found her will which is quite straightforward.
The 3 of us are executors. And her estate is divided
between the 3 of us. Only one other bequest to her sister.
Today we have cleared the loft and one small bedroom.
We have bills mixed in with photos. Her filing system was
strange. We'll try and do the other bedrooms tomorrow
then will leave downstairs until after Christmas.

Sorry for your loss. I have had to do this twice now sadly.

You do not need to do the probate stuff in a mega rush. I would make sure you sort all the paperwork into some kind of logic, then start talking to the banks etc. Most will need to see a copy of the will, death certificate, and your personal ids. Not sure how this is done currently but I made appointments with local branchs of the relevant banks or did lots online - this was 2018.

They will help you locate all accounts she had etc.
For probate you will need to know the value of all assets including property and shackles - stuff!

Freezing accounts might be useful to do now if you are worried about the large amounts being removed

NB 'stuff' is 'chattels', not 'shackles'.

I'm sorry for your loss. We recently had to apply for probate after we lost my dad. We used a company called Farewill to do the application - they were great, very professional, kept us in the loop and explained every stage as we went. And cost significantly less than the solicitors we had initially approached had quoted us. I'd really recommend getting in toiuch with them as it took away a lot of stress at a difficult time

Re her financial papers, you need to separate them into DEBTS and ASSETS. Her debts need to be paid out of her estate, but you are not personally responsible for them if the estate doesn't cover them. Contact her banks asap and let them know about the death. They need to see death certificate (get a few copies of the certificate from the Registrar, photocopies not acceptable). Banks will freeze the accounts, possibly reimburse you funeral expenses out of them (some banks do, not all).

Once you have Probate (or other authority if inheritance tax is not due) banks will release the money to the Executor of the will.

Sorry meant estate agent

If you do find the thought of handling the probate yourself (with your fellow executors) daunting or you simply want someone independent to handle it, the suggestion above to use Farewill is worth considering. Another similar company I've heard of is Final Duties. I have no personal experience of either, so am making suggestions rather than recommendations.
www.farewill.com
www.finalduties.co.uk

@Walkacrossthesand

NB 'stuff' is 'chattels', not 'shackles'.

Auto correct!!! I didn't even notice!

I used a probate solicitor and she was very reasonably priced. Of course you still do have to do all the searching for paper work. One excellent piece of advice was to keep paperwork for 5 years after Probate is granted.

We had a valuation of her home for probate purposes, 8 months later it sold for 100K above the valuation. A year later, I received a letter asking me to contact the Revenue. I spoke to a very nasty young woman . She made me feel like a criminal and I could not understand what she was referring to. I went back to the Solicitor who resolved it without further charge.

I have also heard of cases where people have genuinely wrongly claimed benefits. This is then clawed back and can cause difficulties if there are multiple beneficiaries.

Again thank you for everyone's advice. In the new year we will contact someone
as we think this will be above our capabilities.
It now seems that some policies we found in the first bedroom mum had cancelled.
We have found out mum apart from gas, electric etc she didn't owe money to anyone.
We are leaving it now until after Christmas.

An advantage of appointing a professional to handle it is avoiding potential disagreements between the family executors.

I found the utility companies excellent. If you ask for their probate departments, they will ask you to take meter readings then freeze all the bills until you have sold.

Also contact the home and contents insurance provider. They will offer empty property insurance which was cheaper than what mum was paying. Usually you need to visit the property once a month. It is a good idea to change the address to one of yours as it helps you keep on top of correspondence. You need to style it “your name ..executor of.

Be prepared for probate to take up to a year, especially with the pandemic.