Lost Will

[Higglings]

I'm hopi g someone can help.

My husband died 4 years ago and I didn't need to go to Probate as everything was in joint names. As well, in his Will written up some years before he died, he left everything to me.

As I understand it, we each have £500,000 of tax free threshold each. This can be combined so it totals £1million. As my house/savings value comes under that, there will be no IT to pay.

But, I cannot now find his Will, I think it may have got destroyed when we had a clear out. Does that matter when it comes to my death, as everything g is now in my sole name anyway, will it complicate things not having his Will?

Did you have the will drawn up by a solicitor? If so they would usually hold the original and you would have a copy.

The solicitors are long gone, so no copy.

Another practice should be storing the Wills etc that original solicitor held. Ring round a few local practices?
Not sure if it will matter so long as house now registered in your name only.

Contact the solicitors regulation authority, they will likely have all documents stored at previous solicitors

When my mother in law died, everything passed to him, joint bank accounts, so very easy. When father in law died, we submitted probate using both of their thresholds, we only had to submit his Will.

No, it doesn't matter. Not having his will does not complicate matters when you die. Indeed, as everything was in joint names (and assuming the house was held as joint tenants), he didn't have any estate so his will is irrelevant.

For clarity, the £1M IHT threshold only applies if your house is worth at least £350k after paying off any mortgage and you leave it to your children or their direct descendants.

Thanks that's very clear.

My whole estate, incl house worth over £400k, is left to the kids. But it's not worded, "I gift the house" - should it be precise - it should say I gift it to them?

I’ve just done iht and probate for one parent, other parent already dead, we did need to provide a copy of the first parent’s will.

The precise wording doesn't matter as long as it is clear that you are leaving everything, including the house, to your children.

Check the national Will register and also HM courts and tribunal service for the will. Get proper advice and get yours updated.

HMCTS won't be able to help as there was no probate. Most wills are not on the National Will Register.

As long as you have your marriage certificate and your husband’s death certificate, you are in the same position as if he had died intestate. In which case, you would have inherited his entire estate and his IHT allowance. So a copy of the will/probate is irrelevant, I think.
(IANAL)