Inheritance and Probate help

[Shuttheblinds]

My father recently passed away and we are just in the process of applying for probate. He left a will and his estate is to be shared between his children.

I have entered all the figures into the probate form and it tells me that there is inheritance tax to pay as the estate is over the 325k threshold. However the house is a large proportion of his estate and I understand that the threshold goes up to 500k if leaving a house to a direct descendant, and the total including his house doesn’t amount to that. The house is in the region of 340k and we will be selling it. But how do I apply for this? I have looked all over the government website and cannot find anything. I have also tried to call hmrc but gave up after being in a queue almost 2 hours! What do I need to do to inform hmrc about it and claim the increased threshold? Has anybody done this before who could point me in the right direction? I am so confused and overwhelmed with it all.
i am also one of the executors so I am dealing with all of his estate.

The property allowance is £175k which is on top of the inheritance tax allowance of £325k.

if your mum died first, her £500k allowance was passed to your dad.

You don't need to phone and claim it, you just put all the details on the probate forms and it is then clear what allowances are being claimed.

First step. Breathe….

Second Step, use the Gov.U.K. IHT calculator to double check all your sums, from there you will be able to access the information about applying for an IHT reference and completing Form IHT435 which is the form you need to submit to claim the nil band rate.

It’s not the quickest process in the world, and when you’re in the initial scramble to arrange your grief and administering an estate, it all seems like an uphill battle.

And, as others have rightly pointed out, if mum passed first, you can also transfer any unused nil band rate if you need it. There’s another form for that (of course there is!).

Having had to go through this I know how overwhelming and complicated it feels. There are so many forms but if you do them in the right order ( follow the advice they give about that as my memory suggests it is not in numerical order) they start to link up and get easier. Perhaps complete them in pencil first, so you can easily amend as needed ? Also could you work through them with someone else ? It is so helpful if you can talk it through and double check each step with someone else. When we had the forms correctly completed we then used the calculator and were within a few pence of the final sum required. Good luck. A miserable time and process.

I applied for probate after my dad died recently, so I know it can be daunting. Not daunting enough that I wanted to pay a solicitor though 😂

It’s an exercise in extremely organised admin. Get everything listed and to hand before you start. Including a valuation of the property.

I don’t know how long it’s taking atm, but my application was accepted at the end of May and we are still waiting.

Thanks for all the useful info. My mum and dad were divorced years and she has already passed away so can’t transfer unused nil band rate.

I have applied for an inheritance tax ref number and will then send IHT435.

Hopefully it goes smoothly, current timescales are around 8 weeks they say.

So sorry for your loss.

Wow, that’s a long time? I assume he left a will? Wonder why it takes so long?

I'd popped on Mumsnet to ask this exact same question! Does anyone know if I need to complete an IHT400 form as well as the IHT435?
I've already requested and received an Inheritance Tax reference number
And do I send in the IHT435 by post before completing the probate application?
Thanks