A question regarding Inheritance Tax

[retiredgoth2]

....if further money is left to a deceased person's estate, for which the spouse and a solicitor hold letters of administration, is it subject to inheritance tax, or is it exempt as passing from spouse to spouse? The total will exceed the 0% band.

The interweb gives conflicting advice, even the Inland Revenue site is ambiguous....

Do you mean that after their death they have been left money by someone else, thereby increasing the size of the estate?

Yes, that is exactly it.

I thought money from a will could be changed/re-directed so as to avoid paying IHT twice, ie. the second person who died could pass the money directly to the remaining person, therefore IHT would only be payable once. Worth asking the solicitor.

Asked dh who does this sort of work.

The solicitor who is one of the two administrators must be informed (s/he is responsible together with the spouse for dealing with estate assets and liabilities and must therefore be informed in that role) and can advise in the wider context of the estate how this squares with the statutory intestacy provisions (if that's the case here) and can also explain to the survivor things like the transferable nil rate band ...

This is potentially quite involved and you must get proper advice.

Thank you for your advice.

I will speak to the solicitor on Monday and let him sort it out....

(at his own, sweet, glacial pace I imagine....!)

....again, thank you all.