Will the estate pay the solicitors fees in these circumstances?

[namechange23947]

DH parents have equity on their house and it is highly unlikely DH and siblings will inherit anything. DH and siblings are not very well off and are concerned how they will pay for solicitors as normally I imagine it is paid out of the estate.

Has anyone been in a similar position? I know you can do probate yourself but we all lack the knowledge and are concerned of mistakes.

So you need to sell the house?

do you mean parents borrowed money on equity release? Or there is equity in the house, in which case they would inherit something

Costs of dealing withe estate can be taken from the estate, but that obviously can only happen if there is money left in the estate after debts are paid.

Is there a will ? Do you have a local solicitors ? Speak to them and they will give you advice

Sorry yes DH parents got equity release on their house. We are concerned about instructing a solicitor in case the entire cost of the house is owed to the equity release company. DH family do not have the money to pay a solicitor and everywhere we look it states solicitors are paid from the estate.

Do you know how much is owed on the house? Or how much it is worth now?

I did this for my dad who had a very small estate with no property. Honestly it was as simple as following these steps and they make very clear at each point what to do. It can be slow to get letters and replies from the relevant departments but quite straightforward and honestly not scary with any legal terms or processes etc - I would start and if you get stuck you can always do a mn post or Google if you need to. www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/apply-for-probate

Are you able to ask your husbands parents details about their equity release? They or the company they used should be able to give the terms of the agreement and what if anything is likely to be left at the end.
If you're not able to get this info now, whoever is nominated as executor in the will should be able to speak to the company when you get to that point and depending on what they say you could then appoint a solicitor if needed?
There is no rush or deadline to get probate, I had to wait several months to apply after I lost my dad due to investigations required by the coroner as it was during Covid and also for ridiculous paperwork reasons.

I've done probate for both my parents, and my DH did it for his mother. If there really isn't much to leave it really will be very simple, and there are great guides on the internet. The main thing to know is that you cannot give out any money until probate is granted, but you are allowed to take any funeral costs from the estate. You would need to let the deceased bank know that they have died and they will freeze the bank account, but you can still take out the funeral expenses from their account if it is invoiced as such. Any debts have to be paid before anything else - but electricity, phone, gas, water etc. companies all have specific departments to deal with this and those bills won't need to be paid until after probate is granted.
If the amount they leave is under the Inheritance tax threshold and they have not given large sums of money away in the last 7 years it will all be very simple.
And if it is for one parent, and your parents are married, it would all go to the other anyway unless otherwise specified, which makes it even simpler.