Wills and executors

IOW, not even he knew what the procedure was. This is one of the things that has mightily pissed me off about being executor for my MIL. All the institutions are different and most of their staff are not familiar with their own processes.

Total crap. The share of a joint tenant who dies goes to the surviving joint tenant(s). Similarly, the money in a joint bank account goes to the surviving account holder (without the need for probate).

How is anyone expected to know what the deceased wanted if they didn't put their wishes in writing? Could have been scribbled on a piece of toilet paper and witnessed by a drunk on a park bench. It would still be a valid will

Do you need your missus to write everything down in order to know what she wants?

So, just to be clear, you're now suggesting a will is straightforward, and a good thing to have?

By "your missus" you mean my wife, or my latest girlfriend?

It's straightforward if nobody challenges it*, and it's an essential thing to have if the intestacy rules don't cover your requirements. If you have a wife and kids, then why would you need a will? (unless you're Bill Gates or Warren Buffet)

• "I leave all the furniture in the dining to the barmaid at the Lamb and Flag". Imagine the fun you could have with that if it was worth anyone's while

Are you a joint tenant or a tenant in common?

Correct

Hum, I pay a lot of my mum's bills online from my account and buy her shopping. She pays me back by cheque periodially, and I don't keep recods of what each one was for afterwards. I could see that being a problem?

My solution wouldn't suit everyone, but I set up a joint account with my mother. Everything got paid from there, and the account continued working after her death.

These kinds of arrangements can bite you.

Our previous next door neighbour became virtually housebound; we had moved, but only 100 yards or so.

She visited the Post Office to get her pension occasionally (a short distance again). But she needed to pay it into her bank account to pay bills.

The arrangement we had was that she would give me cash and I would electronically transfer that amount to her bank account. It saved me going to the ATM and it helped her.

At some point the council made her show her bank statements (I think because she wans claiming rent rebate). They queried this extra 'income' she had and tried to remove the rent rebate.

No, because you can match her cheques with what you have paid for her.

My father never made a will. When he died thirty years ago I expect he assume that it would all go to my mother. But that's not what the intestacy rules laid down. It took a deed of arrangement to prevent things getting even more complicated when my mother dies a few years later. Needless to say having sorted out the problems on my father's death getting my mother to write a will was something I insisted upon. If you have a wife and kids you most certainly need a will.

Not easily. A cheque typically covers 3 months of barclaycard, gas, etc bills, and several loads of shopping, which were only ever added up on back of an envelope, and not kept.

Sure, but everything except the shopping is easy to prove and the difference which is the shopping would be reasonable. You have proven that you are paying for her and getting that back with a cheque, that is all you have to do, not prove the amount spent on the shopping as long as the difference is reasonable. And even if they want to be bloody minded and ignore the shopping, it wouldn't make much difference to the value of the estate which has to be substantial for there to be an inheritance tax due.

How did the money not go to your father's wife then?

Because the rules state (current values) that the first £250,000 goes to the widow, and she also gets half of the remainder. The rest is divided equally among children. Can be a problem if the estate includes the house that the widow is living in, and the children want their share now.

Precisely. 'Wanting share now' not the problem. The problem is the tax and other implications (or was at that time) of a life interest in 'half the remainder' when practically the whole estate was the family home.

I note the rules were changed in Oct 2014, but it is still probably not as simple as most people assume.

Not true these days. Professional guidance states that a professional executor should renounce if all the beneficiaries request it and there is no special reason for not doing so. There is even a High Court ruling saying so in a particular case, though the profession has kept quiet about it :)

See

Since the beneficiaries are bound to benefit to a lesser degree with solicitors involved, that's good news indeed