I did put this to legal but they weren't very specific and wondered if anyone had been in this situation. I am a bit stuck. Relative died recently. No husband ( died four years ago). No children. I knew I was next of kin. She died without a will and I am supposed to be the sole inheritor.
Can someone tell me how much you are allowed to get under the rules before paying tax etc? On some web sites it says £250K on others £450K. None are very clear. She had a house ( paid for) but its not the property that's worth so much. Its the other things she had and her money. She had rather more money than I had realised ( not that it matters - I would rather she were here).
Anyone know what I am allowed before paying tax and what not?
"Supposed" by whom? If there was no will, then intestacy rules apply no matter what wishes the deceased may have expressed informally. If you are "next of kin" you will only be the sole heir if there is no other relative of equal or closer degree to the deceased.
You will need to get yourself appointed executor of her estate. You need to apply to the County (Sheriff in Scotland) Court for this. I'm not sure, but the size of the estate may require the application to be made through a solicitor. If everything else is simple enough, and you wish to do most of the donkey work yourself, do try to avoid getting the solicitors to persuade you to opt for their standard executry package, because it tends to involve a fee based on a percentage of the value. It's often better to go for hourly rate.
Once you are executor you then draw up an inventory of the estate and then youy apply for probate. This may involve purchasing an insurance policy against your accidentally omitting some other relative who might be entitled to inherit. The procedure involves sending the inventory to the taxman and you will then get an IHT bill. Once this is paid, you will then get probate, which is the document which will give you access to the loot.
The IHT threshold according to the HMRC website has been £325k since April 2009; it has probably not changed in April 2010. The estate pays
40% on the rest.
The threshold can be up to twice that amount in some circumstances. This is because of a recent rule which allows unused IHT nil rate bands to be themselves "inherited". It works like this:
Suppose a married couple own £300k worth of stuff jointly, and also £300k each in their own names, i.e. their joint estate is £900k.
Husband dies and leaves everything to wife. The widow's estate is then £900k. Since inter-spousal transfers are exempt from IHT, the husband's IHT threshold (nil rate band) was 100% unused and can now be added to the widow's, so that £650k (i.e. 200% of £325k) of her estate is tax free, and you only pay 40% on the remaining £250k.
Slightly different circumstances: The husband leaves £150k of his £450k estate to a relative and the rest to his wife. There is still no IHT due on his estate because the £450k chunk to the wife is exempt and the £150k chunk to the relative is below the IHT threshold. If at the time of his death, the threshold was £250k, then £100k (i.e. 40%) was unused. When the wife dies later, her estate's nil rate band is increased by 40% so if the usual threshold then is £325k, it becomes £455k.
So you will need to dig into the way the husband's estate was handled, to discover how much of his IHT NRB was unused.
I am the sole inheritor. l I didnt like to be so rude as to say it that way. This is exactly what I got from legal - who says. Well, the law says. I know that much.
If there was no will, then intestacy rules apply no
Thyere are no other relatives. I am her sister. No parents. No other siblings. No one at all in fact.
I am not in Scotland.
I'm not sure,
Thanks, This is what I need to know.
that amount in some circumstances. This
It isnt that much. Its more than 250K though.
you will need to dig into the way the husband's estate was handled, to
Her husband was also intestate. She had his half ( as all was in joint names). I take it I do not have to sell everything? She left me some jewelry although she only specified verbally I was to have it. She also left me to pay some money to charities but of course if the tax man has it all, there wont be anything for them either.
. I didnt want to part with the jewelry. It was her half of what our grandmother left.
You can act as executor without going through any court as long as your executorship isn't contested. Doing that does mean you won't get access to the funds until probate is granted. Getting probate dont isnt really a hard process, it just comes at a hard time. You personally don't need to pay the estate's bills, those will come out of the estate once probate is done, creditors will wait upto 6 months.
Yes, if you need their input.
Don't forget to place an ad in a national paper advertising the death so that any creditors can make their claim, otherwise you're left liable.
You can act as executor without going through any court as long as your executorship isn't contested. Doing that does mean you won't get access to the funds until probate is granted. Getting probate dont isnt really a hard process, it just comes at a hard time. You personally don't need to pay the estate's bills, those will come out of the estate once probate is done, creditors will wait upto 6 months.
Yes, if you need their input.
I am reluctant to get a solicitor since I suspect after their fees at £200 an hour I will end up paying more than I get! Its mostly bank accounts and the house.
She didnt have much furniture. She did have some jewelry.
The reality is she left more money that I thought. I knew about the house but she didnt pay any tax etc. because she owned half of everything when her husband died. Now its all in one lump as it all became hers.
Stupid really. She never went on holiday, didnt have a car, didnt do anything at all so the money seems to have mounted up.
Right then, the husband's allowance that is left is fully transferable.
Engage a solicitor, and settle on fees BEFORE you sign, and get to be executor. Don't let the solicitor be that: its a license to print money.
Expect it to cost a fair bit though.
It will be legally complex. Not in principle, but in terms of there being a lot of paperwork.
IANAL but I think that in these case you can apply with legal assistance, for probate, and to be made execeutor.
I suspect that you will have to sign indemnity in case a long lost 13th cousin 75 times removed turns up from Wollagong, and you will need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you are the closest relative etc.
So lots of affidavits and signed copies of birth certificates etc etc.
I can see I am going to end up with nothing again here ( had a problem not so long back where I found out I was supposed to have got some money from the death of another relative some 20 odd years ago.
That was more complicated but in the end the solicitor involved made damn sure I got nothing by declaring my relatives estate bankrupt! I mean it. It cost me £500 to get a solicitor just to tell me how they did it! The woman who got it all did so just by sitting on it.
The never had probate or letters of administration granted. They never went there. I dont know how people seem to think I have to do this.
What if I leave it all for 20 years? Can I do the same?
According to what I was told you dont actually have to get letters of administration. There is no time limit.
I was minded to try and change everything I could without a solicitor because thats another thing - no solicitor where I live would do a deal! You pay up properly or you simply dont get and you have to be careful, the good solicitors will charge you, the rubbish will be cheaper but wont get it right. I had this too the last time.
I am not good at negotiating and I can see that after I pay out fees and everything else I wont even be able to afford this winters electric bill despite the jokes here. As far as I can add up, she left about 300K including the house ( which she did have transferred into her sole name). There are no significant debts ( utility bills were DD and I will have to pay the under taker.)
I may as well just give it all to the government now.
There were none. She was my only sister and no brothers. I am a "sister of the whole blood" as the records say (there are no siblings of any other blood or anyone else) . Parents dead. No children.
If you are absolutely sure that there is no other relative who can make a legitimate claim then you can do everything yourself (as described in the books that you have already been told about)
All of the relatives belongings can be transferred to you either as goods or be sold and transferred for their value (except for a few financial instruments which must be sold).
You will, of course, have to have items valued professionally for probate so that the tax bill can be calculated.
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