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How To Apply For Probate

Posted: Thursday, 10 October 2019 @ 15:03

When you are faced with someone close passing away it is bound to be stressful. but here are some tips if you are going to deal with someone passing away and the probate.   

Be Practical

Dealing with this situation is difficult but before you burden yourself too much focus on these fundamentals:

A checklist of things to obtain or do include: ·         

  • Register the death ·Obtain the medical certificate of death from the doctor go to the register office for the area where the death happened.  
  • Arrange and carry out the funeral. ·        
  • Report a death to all Government organisations. In most areas, you can use the Government's Tell Us Once  ·        
  • Report a death to banks, building societies and other financial firms in one go ·        
  • Use The Death Notification Service works UK-wide and has been set up by trade association UK Finance and the major banks. It aims to make it quicker and easier for anyone who's suffered a bereavement to notify banks and building societies in one step.
  • Check if you can get bereavement benefits .

 Focus On The Will 

if there's a will. you can look through the deceased’s personal affairs.to see if you can find it.

If you have difficult check out local solicitors or check organisations like the London Probate Registry or Certainty.  :  

If there is no valid will has been left, the deceased has died 'intestate'. In this scenario, laws known as intestacy rules govern how their estate should be distributed. Unmarried or divorced partners normally don't inherit anything under intestacy rules.

Do You Need Probate?

You do not necessarily need probate .You do need probate or letters of administration to deal with an estate if it includes property such as a flat or a house in the sole name of the deceased..

Otherwise, you may not need probate or letters of administration if: the estate is just made up of cash and personal possessions such as a car, furniture, and jewellery all the property in the estate is owned as beneficial joint tenants This property automatically becomes wholly owned by the other owner you had a joint bank account.

How Do You Apply for Probate?

If you do need probate bear these fundamentals in mind... 

1. Complete a probate application form application form 'PA1P' yourself.

2. Complete an inheritance tax form. At the same time as submitting the probate application form, you have to submit a form to HMRC to see if the estate is liable for inheritance tax. If it's below the IHT threshold (£325,000), use form IHT205, or IHT400 if it's above.

3. Go Online If You Want.  The Probate Service is now accepting online applications from personal applicants based where up to 4 executors are applying there is an original will available even if the person who died made changes to that will. Generally going online is preferable.

Be Careful of New Tax Rules

A new allowance was introduced in the 2017/18 tax year that will gradually raise inheritance tax thresholds on main residences going to certain family members.  

This is called the residence nil rate band and more details are in our Guide to Inheritance Tax. In this case you would have to fill in an IHT400 and an IHT435.

Even if you think there's no tax to pay, you need to make sure you fill out the form.

There won't be tax to pay if assets are being transferred to a surviving spouse If there is tax to pay, you will need to settle this before the grant is issued to you. You have six months from the end of the month in which the person died to do so.

You can defer tax and pay in instalments on some types of assets, including land, some shares and the value of any business owned (not the assets). If there's enough money in a bank account. 

  

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