How difficult is probate?

[Hoardasaurusterf]

I am named as executor in my parents wills. These are mirror wills and they have a small house currently worth approx £110,000 and around £20,000 in savings. No behests of jewellery or other items in the will. Assets to be shared between 4 siblings.
They have now bought a prepaid probate plan costing £4000 & have paid £500 deposit yesterday. I need to work out if this is worth it or if I should advise them to cancel. with in the 14 days. I know for such a small straightforward estate a solicitor is not legally required but it can be a difficult, lengthy process so we may end up using a solicitor rather than diy.
Any experience/ advice re expense & stress? Parents are mid 70s, independent & fit for their age. TIA!

FCA warning

I agree with others. Cancel.

It's a ridiculous amount for what will be a very simple process (I've done it twice)

Agree with the views to cancel. I’ve posted before about my probate woes. We are dealing with an official/ professional executor and it’s a nightmare. Complaint currently being considered by Ombudsman- lost documents, incorrect advice and terrible communication. The executor bill is significantly higher than what your parents have been quoted and the estate is less than £350k. I’ve done all the admin work and provided all necessary details, and still ended up dealing with creditors. They are currently affecting the house sale as they operate on their own time- and it ain’t quick.

Yes do it yourself on a small estate it's not difficult.

That's a complete rip off. They should cancel I've dealt with it several
Times unfortunately. One of them in extremely complicated circumstances but it's not difficult

I'm a will writer and always suggest that the Executors apply for probate unless IHT needs to be calculated or it's a complex will.

If they get stuck they can always get a few hours' assistance from a probate solicitor.

Tell them to cancel it ASAP.

@Mumblechum0
Quick Q if you don’t mind.
You did my mums POA, sadly she’s passed away. Do I need to do anything with it specifically? Also my sdads names her then me as Secondary - I am not invoking it yet but do I need to do anything about that?
Thats actually 2 questions, sorry

Thank you

Cancel it, such a rip off
Really easy to do probate for a small estate with no Inheritance tax
Get PoA set up instead.

Cancel it OP.

I did the probate application for my parents’ estate. It cost me the application fee which I think was £475. The solicitor that had their wills wanted £5k to do the same 🤨

It’s incredibly simple, just an exercise in administration. Ditto the inheritance tax process.

We went through probate with no will and property abroad and it was easy in this country. Fucking nightmare abroad, but easy here. Just a form to fill out.

This is helpful as my dad died a month ago & we need to sort out the estate. House was gifted to children with reservation some years ago but believe it still forms part of the estate. House maybe £300k & £30k odd cash.

I've messaged my siblings suggesting we sort it ourselves & off to read up.

Any other links that might be useful -particularly a detailed timeline would be gratefully received, (my 3 brothers are likely to think me incapable )

The probate site itself has useful guidance.

Get all your documents together before you start. Do your inheritance tax calculation to show there won’t be any.

You have to send off the original wills and pay a fee.

Mine took 6 months, but I’ve heard it can be much quicker. I don’t know why mine took so long, it was a simple estate and just under the threshold for inheritance tax for 2 people.

@buckeejit on timelines, my df died late March 2020, and literally there was a house full of paper with nothing organised at all, so it took me a few weeks to get everything together, and had to contact pension people, get the house valued and so on (plus my mum died). I submitted probate on May 15th and it was issued June 27th. Mums I obviously had the vast majority of the information already, but just had to wait on the pension info, and submitted hers the day dads was issued, and it came back 10 days later. Everything including the house sale was done by the October. Dads IHT submission was all online, mums I had to fill out forms as the house value took them over threshold but transfers between them meant nothing to pay.

I had a spreadsheet and put everything in, and kept track on there of sending off death certificates, wills, and then probate certs to all the different people. The bereavement teams were incredibly helpful

Thanks all!

I’ve advised my mum to cancel asap. Going to see her tomorrow so will get her to email while I’m there! Appreciate all the replies. It did seem very expensive to me but I have very little experience of solicitors, legal fees etc!

A quick google brought up a FCA warning about this industry which is new and seems to be connected to prepaid funeral plans. It is unregulated and there is no rules forcing the company to protect your money . So even if the price was reasonable you are taking a risk that they go out of business and you get nothing! I have forwarded this to my parents so I think they will probably heed my advice & cancel. Thanks again for sharing your experiences!

Cancel it! I have done probate for both my parents, my MIL and brother in law. It's not difficult at all. Lots of info online about how to do it.

Even if you don't feel you can do it the cost of paying a solicitor wouldn't be anywhere near that. Though solicitor would still expect you to do all the donkey work and they would just fill in the forms and take months

POA is also perfectly easy to DIY. When I did it for mum I also set it up for DH and me.

I did it for my dad. Was really straightforward in this case, one house, mirror wills, assets to go to mum. Made it easier that he had meticulous records for banks so I didn't have to arse around finding accounts. If they can keep good records and have nothing complex j wouldn't. We asked a solictor and were told anywhere between £2000 and £6000 depending on hours worked and it could take 6-9months!! It took no time and was really straightforward

Thanks @CMOTDibbler that's helpful. All the info we need is organised thankfully.

@Hoardasaurusterf I wonder if you could ask for the deposit back as they've basically targeted & exploited your parents. I'd be tempted to at least make a formal complaint or take to a regulator if there is one. Good luck!

Am currently doing forms myself for my late mother. Does anyone know if I need to declare gifts in the past seven years if the value of the estate (and gifts) is under IHT threshold?

I did probate for a similar sized estate for a relative and found it very easy. People were extremely helpful and kind especially the banks. The person who died had a couple of hundred pound credit with one of the big betting firms and even they were helpful and kind and the credit was returned quickly.

The person who died thoughtfully left all their passwords for me which made everything even easier. The person who died wasn't the most thoughtful person in the world so it was nice that they did that for me as it helped so much.

We did my MIL’s. Estate was under inheritance tax limit, was very easy.

Update! My parents cancelled the plan 3 days after signing up. Website says deposits will be returned within 14 days. Still waiting! Latest update last week was that their refund was being processed and would take up to 28 days! So more like 8 weeks! Not impressed to say the least! So a wee warning to others -stay away from Trust Family Associates!

Good news @Hoardasaurusterf Keep dates of communications & updates for your records & keep on them!

Cancel. Very straightforward from the information you've given. You'd still need to give this firm the financial information needed so not saving yourselves anything there, plus you 'll have no control over how long they'll take.

Just read your post, I am surprised you had probate through in 7 weeks can you tell me when this was done please? I have submitted an application in February and still waiting . Thanks