Will, probate and equity release advice

Soldato
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hi there,

My wife lost her step grandad last week, she was the only person in his life and has been for around 10 years. There are no real other family at all, in his will which he did a while ago he left everything to my wife and her sister and left me as executor.

The problem and confusion I have at the moment is how to proceed next, basically he owned a bungalow but had taken equity release many years ago. That value now is just shy of 99,000 that he owes them. Similar bungalows have been sold for 135k but they were in saleable condition. His bungalow is far from saleable and is an utter mess inside, it would basically be sold to a developer to be gutted out, may even just go to auction.

So we don’t really know what to do next, and assuming it may be worth around 100k that would mean it would pay the equity release of and that’s it however if I get a solicitor involved which I would assume I would need to then we would be liable for their fees if there was no money left after equity is paid back. We would also be liable for the estate agents fees.

So we just don’t know what to do. I have yet to contact a solicitor and we haven’t registered the death yet but from what I can see online it seems I have to apply for probate to deal with his estate. Do I have to get a solicitor involved to do that? We’re were also thinking that if we try and get an idea of it’s value and it’s around or less then 100k could we dissolve the will and let the government/ local council sort it out?

Anyone got any advice?
 
Soldato
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You are the executor of the estate. This means that you are personally liable! You need proper legal advice. Go see a solicitor. In fact, interview several.
 
Soldato
OP
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You can do it yourself but I would definitely get a solicitor involved.

Getting a solicitor involved would be the standard thing yes but assuming their costs came off the estate at the end. If there isn’t enough to cover their costs we don’t have the money to pay them ourselves as I would assume it’s goign to be around the £500 mark.
 
Soldato
OP
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You are the executor of the estate. This means that you are personally liable! You need proper legal advice. Go see a solicitor. In fact, interview several.

The executor isn’t personally liable for the deceased persons debts, only if they distribute the money and ignore someone that is due like say a credit card, then they can be but by default they aren’t.
 
Soldato
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I've no idea how equity release works but can you get an estate agent round to value the property? You might be surprised how much it is worth.
It's been a few years since I've been an executor but there are certain steps you need to take, such as a notice in the local paper (there's a set format online) and various other things.
I had a solicitor but there are things you can do yourself to cut costs. I took it very seriously and made sure I was covered legally.
 
Associate
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We used a company called Fiddler and Pepper for the probate for 2 relatives we lost. They had been reviewed in a national newspaper as a low cost probare solution. For one relative, the solicitor who had drawn up her will quoted 10k to deal with her estate...FandP was about 3k plus vat I think.

Obviously the more you do yourself the cheaper it will be. It's a slow process...2 years down the line we still haven't had the accounts finalised due to inheritance tax refunds I think - my brother was the executor so its all more arms length for me

What happens if there isn't enough in the estate to cover debts and solicitors fees I don't know, as we weren't in that position .I would imagine the solicitors have first slice though, much like administrators when companies go down.
 
Associate
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If you are reasonably organised and have the time (it's quite a commitment), I would consider doing the bulk of it yourself but with a solicitor giving specific advice on the equity release, general advice and perhaps compiling/submitting the grant of probate and possibly inheritance tax forms as required. You could ask a couple of solicitors if they would give a free initial consultation and go armed with a set of questions.
For your immediate next step of registering the death, I suggest you get several copies of the death certificate (and get a receipt) and use the TellUsOnce service. You (or someone) will need to send original certificates to banks, pension companies, etc. and if you've only got one or two copies you won't be able to send them out in parallel.
Good luck and drop me a line if you think I can help with a few more pointers.
 
Soldato
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Apply for probate, you can do this yourself. Open an executors account in a local bank.
Make up a list of possible debtors and creditors for example utilities, bank statements, pensions etc.
Go through all his papers, write letters to all on the list asking for completion statements and any monies to be forwarded to the executors account on grant of probate. You will probably need copies of the death certificate to do this.
You can pay off his lawful debts from this account but the equity release will have to wait on the sale of the property I would think. That would probably require a solicitor.

Note I am not a lawyer, but that is basically what we did for my fathers estate.
 
Associate
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Good advice from @nkata above. I've just completed probate for my dad's estate. He didn't have equity release but I did everything without a solicitor (including applying for additional inheritance allowances to keep the estate below the inheritance tax threshold). He died in October, got the grant of probate just after Christmas.

The HMRC and probate office guidance on filling out the forms is good - you can do it yourself, just will take some time. Would recommend speaking to the equity release company to see what the deal is.

I got 10 copies of the death certificate when I registered it. I think I was up to 7 being used concurrently at one point .Companies generally return the copies but can take some time, and most want a certificated copy when you write to them (available from the registrar when you register the death, £4 each).
 
Soldato
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If you don't want to deal with the estate yourself and solicitors are coming up expensive, accountants can now perform probate services subject to some limitations (e.g. they can't provide if there is a disputed will). May be worth checking out accountants in your local area to see if any will provide, they would normally be much cheaper than a solicitor.
 
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