Probate-doing it yourself?

[Cannedheat1999]

Has anyone had any experience of applying for probate without a solicitor. The estate is in the region of £900,000. One, sole beneficiary (house and one investment account) plus pension etc. No legal training, but fairly confident in admin matters etc. How bad a job will this be ?!

as pp have said if you use a solicitor you will still need to gather together all the information. I completed probate documents for both my parents and it was straightforward, if time consuming.

It is simple. Or at least I thought so. My dad had everything in order for me before he passed though and I really just had to fill in the forms. I had considered getting a solicitor but I’m glad I didn’t as it really wasn’t necessary. His estate was just under 400k. No inheritance tax.

Thanks to everyone. I’m going to do it myself but I’ve fallen at the first hurdle 🤦‍♀️ Do I still have to report the estate to HMRC if it comes in under the inheritance tax boundary?

You said the estate was worth about 900k. How come no iht is due? Is it because it's going to a spouse? Or is it because the value was the family home, they were the surviving spouse and inherited their spouses iht & residence nil rate band?

When you start a probate account online there is a questionnaire to fill in that tells you if you need to pay IHT and/or what forms you need to complete.

My brother and I just did my dad’s probate and it was very straightforward.

We had to fill in loads of IHT forms which was an arse (even though there was no tax to pay as everything went to Mum) because my dad owned property abroad. So I guess that counts as reporting the estate to HMRC?

Once those forms were done though we just used those figures for the probate and that bit was pretty easy.

Yes. You need a code from HMRC before you can submit the forms to the probate office. It takes about a month to come through.

I had to do this for my father's estate even though it was IHT exempt as everything was going to my mother.

I agree with this. Our solicitor is very knowledgeable concerning inheritance tax laws, it’s a minefield.

What do you mean by under the IHT boundary? There are a number of different IHT thresholds.

You do not need to submit an IHT return to HMRC if the estate is an ‘excepted estate’. An estate of £900k all going to a single beneficiary can only be an excepted estate if the beneficiary is the surviving spouse.

I was under the understanding that when my FIL died-his tax allowance passed to my MIL so that was his 325,000 plus residence allowance of 175,000. Added to hers that makes 1 mil allowance. Therefore. As the estate is being passed on their child, there will be no IHT

If you’re ever in doubt about anything, ring the HMRC. I always found them incredibly helpful on all queries related to IHT. Ring them sooner rather than later so you start on the right track. I used to call as close to 9am as I could to avoid being kept waiting for too long.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/probate-and-inheritance-tax-enquiries

I've recently done this for a relative. Most of the estate was left to the spouse and other gifts were well below the IHT threshold so no tax to pay. I assume you are in a similar situation OP, or that there is inherited nil rate band and residence nil rate band and/or charitable gifts.

Once you are absolutely sure you have identified and valued all the assets and are ready to apply for probate, you can fill in the IHT checker tool on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/estimate-estate-value. Screenshot the confirmation that there is no tax to pay. The checker tool also helpfully generates some of the estate values totals you need for the probate application, so is a sense check on you maths! You no longer automatically have to report estates on which there is no IHTto pay to HMRC, but there are a few specifuc situations where you would still have to so check the list to confirm none applies https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/check-type-of-estate

Your understanding is correct provided your FIL left everything to your MIL, owned the house (either solely or jointly with your MIL) and the house is worth at least £350k. If your FIL left anything to anyone else, that would have used some of his allowance, reducing the amount he could pass on to your MIL.

In answer to your earlier question, yes, you have to fill in all the IHT forms even if there is no IHT to pay.

Ah I cross posted, OP. Just check if your FIL left any gifts in his will to anyone other than your MIL, or during the 7 years before his death outside the allowances for small gifts, as these would all come off his IHT nil rate band - it's only the unused part your MIL inherited. You'll need to find a copy of his will and the accounts prepared for his estate, to check, unless memories are absolutely infallible.

@prh47bridge the rules changed in 2021 so I believe you no longer have to for all excepted estates. I've just been through this for a relative, estate c£750k but mostly going to the spouse so there was no IHT to pay and no need to report separately to HMRC. I was really surprised, as I remembered having to fill in HMRC forms and get a code for my DGM's estate (before 2021) which was much smaller and well below the IHT threshold. The probate application process was simpler too, all online and very quick whereas with DGM I remember having to visit solicitors to swear oaths etc.

Yes, you don't need to complete the IHT forms for an excepted estate. However, an estate isn't excepted just because there is no IHT to pay. If the deceased leaves everything to their spouse or civil partner and the estate is worth less than £3M, as in your case, it is excepted and IHT forms are not required. You also don't need to fill in the forms if there is no IHT to pay and:

• the estate is worth less than £325k (the IHT threshold), or
• the estate is worth less than £650k and any unused threshold is being transferred from a spouse of civil partner who died first, or
• the deceased was living permanently outside the UK when they died and the value of their UK assets is below £150k

In all other circumstances, you need to complete the IHT forms even if there is no IHT to pay. Given that OP says the estate is around £900k, an IHT return will be required.

There is no tax to pay but as previous posters have mentioned you still need to complete iht400 and the associated supplementary forms. You will need the details re your fil’s death and grant of probate for his estate. It’s relatively straightforward if a little time consuming to gather all the information.

To simplify:

If you need to claim the residential nil rate band, it is not an excepted estate, and an HMRC return IHT400 etc is required.

I’ve just done my sisters. I did it all on a ‘test’ printed version (just as well as there were mistakes!) then filled final version and sent off. It’s time consuming but certainly doable.