Deceased House Sale - Questions

[Aloci]

Hi, my father passed away last year, & my mom passed several years earlier. There was no will but we used a solicitor for LOA which was granted to myself & my 2 sisters as executors. There wasn't any money, but there is a house, fully paid and owned outright by our dad.

We've accepted an offer on the house and have instructed a conveyancing solicitor.

Do we also need a solicitor to deal with the funds once the sale completes? Apologies if that sounds silly but I've never sold a house before! Sisters unfortunately are of no help in these matters! Myself and sisters were all named as administrators for purpose of Letters of Administration. But once contracts have exchanged, where do the proceeds of the house sale get paid? Is a solicitor required still to distribute to us as beneficiaries? Or can we bypass a solicitor and open a bank account in all our names for the proceeds to be paid from the house sale? We all trust each other to distribute proceeds between the 3 of us...

Your conveyancing solicitor will be able to hold the funds and distribute it to the 3 of you as beneficiaries in accordance with instructions from you all and in line with the rules of intestacy. So would be able to send you each your share.

The solicitor will just ask for bank details to transfer the funds. It’s all part of the process. Just provide info as and when the solicitor requests it

Thank you, I wasn't sure if that was part of the conveyancing solicitors role, or if we had to instruct another solicitor. When I said there was no money, there was a bit but its all gone now, used for funeral and bills until house completes.

So I'm just trying to calculate the out goings & fees etc, that will come out of house sale proceeds.

In addition, I'm currently paying the outstanding bills (council tax etc) out of my own money currently on the understanding between me & my sisters, that it will be reimbursed to me once sale has completed. Will the conveyancing solicitor also ask for these details so they can be repaid to me before the funds are distributed?

You can instruct the solicitor to take the outstanding monies owed to you out of the sale monies first and then distribute the rest of the funds. Keep all the evidence of expenditure to submit to the solicitor. You may get a few bills still to pay post sale as you will need to submit final readings for the utilities so don't distribute funds until everything has been settled.

If you've got to make deductions from the proceeds it will be simpler if you get the conveyancing solicitor to send the funds to you as one of the administrators, then you can calculate the expenses payable and distribute the rest to your sisters.

About the council tax, the local authority didn't charge us any at all when my mother in law died. Have your told them your father died?

Frustratingly, there are limits on the time a property can remain empty after someone has died, once the limits are up the council tax kicks back in at 100% or sometimes more.

Thank you, I didn't know that. Harsh!

Your conveyancing solicitor will pay the funds to you however way you ask. Just be aware that they charge a fee for each transfer, so it could be worth having it all paid to you and then for you to distribute it as and when. Perhaps share out most of the money but keep back what you need to cover expenses and outgoings until everything has been paid, then share out the rest. Just make sure you keep receipts and a spreadsheet so that you can account for it.

My advice would be ri give tge solicitor all tge bills and have it included as part if tge costs, then a chq issued to each of you for your share. We did this as we each had a record for tax purposes of the source of funding. When this house was bought the bills were put in my name on completion by the vendors solicitors.