HMRC & Probate shock!

[TotallyUnexpected]

I've name changed for this as I've been telling all & sundry so could be very outing but I thought I'd share it with fellow Mumsnetters to give hope during difficult times.

Dealing with my mother's estate, I sent off the IHT400 forms, other IHT4** forms & a ton of paperwork to HMRC on 14th May.

HMRC contacted me on 4th June stating they were happy with the paperwork, giving me the references to allow me to apply for probate.

I sent off the application for probate on 18th June.

2nd July an email from HMRC arrived stating that they had received my application & it would take up to 16 weeks to deal with.

6th July I receive another email from HMRC telling me that probate had been approved & I would get the paperwork in 10 working days.

FOUR DAYS!!!

Probate application paperwork would've been sent off earlier but my fellow executor was away.

I am delighted as it's been balls-achingly bad so far with all the IHT forms but yes, HMRC have proved that they can deal with these things swiftly if they put their minds to it.

I just hope that other families that are going through of this get treated as well as I did.

That's impressive. It took 20 weeks to get probate for my mum (straightforward estate).

It's OK unless the probate office loses the death certificate, and we aren't the only ones that happened to. Despite chasing we were repeatedly told it had been passes to another department and they weren't customer facing so we never knew what was happening. It was only when we threatened to go to our MP that anything happened and it was done on less than a week.

Time from application to grant 18 months.

I am glad for you but it seems if they vovk up it's always a mega chore to get it sorted

Incorrect. Executors cannot access the assets of the estate until they have a grant of probate. But IHT has to be paid before you can get a grant of probate.

The only exception is that some National Savings and some banks, building societies and so on will make direct payments of IHT to HMRC before probate is granted. But if the dead person's assets were in property, directly held shares or other investments where you can't use the direct payment scheme, then the executors have to come up with the cash themselves before they can get probate. Some people have to get probate loans to be able to pay.

Yes @exexpat that is my understanding of it. A real headache if the estate is tied up in property which let’s face it is how many people get pushed over IHT threshold these days. There are ways to manage it but it’s a concern and there isn’t much patience or leeway with people negotiating the role of executor, if they misunderstand or make mistakes.

I had a family member die in Jan 2020. Filling in the HMRC forms took me until the end of Nov 2020 (complicated finances!) - probate was approved at the end of March 2021 - I didn't think that was too bad TBH - I was well and truly sick of the whole process by then - having to go through the contents of someone's house trying to get on top of their finances - I would never do it again. On the whole HMRC were helpful but the quality of the help was very variable - I think this was due to having had to taker on new staff to cope with the numbers of excess deaths due to COVID.

We are going through this currently (my brother is executor) it’s just us 2 as beneficiaries.
Mum passed away in May. Dad back in 2022.
if I’ve understood this correctly, we may not have any IT to pay (combined both parent’s allowance at £325k x 2 = £650,000, another benefit - can’t remember what it’s called £175k x 2 .= £350,000) so, as long as total estate doesn’t exceed 1 million, we should be ok?

I think so. As long as they were still a couple. Not if they were divorced.
(sorry scrap that - it would be £500k per parent anyway, so the same).

@Roryhon - definitely very married! 62 years. Thank you xx

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Your post has given me hope, we are waiting to buy a probate house so fingers crossed the whole process is speeding up for everyone involved.

I can't believe someone up thread was waiting three years?!

Hi I am currently waiting for a probate to be granted so we can complete on a property! We have everything in place however our mortgage offer runs out in 20 days.
The probate has been in since Feb 2024, we were told last week that if it wasn’t granted in 7-10 days for the sellers to contact and would do it over the phone. They rang them yesterday as they advised and were told a team leader would contact them back the same day however that never happened and now they are closed for the weekend. They have passed it back and forth blaming it being with the courts however the courts said they don’t have it and it’s with the probate office! We have been told they have escalated since June as there isn’t anything holding it up.
completely stressed and worrying that our offer will expire. Our solicitors have said we should be fine to complete however we have now got to wait till Monday to Be able to ring again.
The sellers (our close friends) have also contacted the local MP who has wrote to them and we have also both complained however we are getting no where quick!

My brother (the executor) tells me that the forms have now been sent,
How long to wait for it to be granted?
(Using a solicitor if that makes a difference)
Thank you

Why does children inheriting mean there is no IHT? If it's over the IHT limit tax is payable. Only spouses are exempt.

@HolidayHappy123 it isn't over . £200k below . I'm not saying just because children are inheriting it means you don't have to pay IHT.

I believe (I hope I have this correct)
in my parents case for example:
Dad passed away in January 2022, his allowance (£325,000) plus £175,000 (I forget the name of this relief!) passed to mum.
Mum passed away May this year. Dad’s total (£500k) exempt plus hers (another £500k) was passed on, thus meaning that their total exempt from inheritance tax is one million.
Their total estate should be around £800k, so we don’t have to pay IT.
I think (hope!) I have that correct!

If you pass your house to your children there is additional relief called the Residence Nil Rate Band and it’s £175k. This relief can pass to a spouse first, so on the death of the second parent, as long as the beneficiaries are the children the IHT threshold could be up to £1M (compared to 650k if the first parent all went to the second, then the second all goes to an aunt or the local church group)

You don't always have access to the money as executor, though! My aunt's estate is mainly house and shares, neither of which can be sold until we have probate. Luckily the other executor has some savings so she paid the IHT - I don't know what would have happened otherwise.

Thank you @TeresaCrowd
so if I’ve read that correctly, my brother and I won’t have any IT to pay?
what do you mean ‘all went to the second’ it would be 650k threshold?
surely my dad left everything to my mum if he predeceased her (or vice versa)

My grandma’s took from January to December 2023!!!! My parents are currently buying a house that was put on the market when it shouldn’t have been because it hadn’t been through probate properly - there was confusion as to whether it needed to be. It took 3 weeks!!!!

Glad it’s been quick for you OP. It’s the last thing you need when you’ve lost a loved one.

Question for those who have been through this…. Probate can’t be granted until the IHT has been paid but you may well need to sell a property to pay the IHT?

So you inherit a house worth say £2m (London so nothing flash) you then have to find £400k in IHT before you can sell the house? 😱

That seems a bit crazy.

Asking for a friend!

If your dad’s will left 80% to your mum and 20% somewhere else you’d only have what was left after that 20% was taken out of the allowance, so if that 20% was worth £50k then he’d only pass on 275k of unused threshold. It’s probably unlikely but is possible. You’d need to check the wills of the parent who died first.

*Not a lawyer but have recently done IHT forms for the death of the 2nd parent so a lot of recent reading has been done

I also wondered this ! How do you get the money to pay IHT tax if it's tied up in property . Not sure if you can a bridging loan from a bank .

My parents left life us life insurance which paid out without probate so we can now pay any tax

Executors loan

At I’m assuming very high interest rates?

Hopefully for most people, inheritance tax won’t apply (the 1
million threshold I mentioned above)
someone above mentioned property in London…which could conceivably go over. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? What if you’re not in a position to pay a loan?
They should take the inheritance tax once property’s sold in my opinion.
sorry I did ask above:
Anyone’s who’s submitted the probate paperwork- how long after that was probate granted so that the executor could make an interim payment to heirs? I’ve read that it could be as quick as 2 weeks! Does that sound feasible??