*URGENT* Grant of Probate

[swifty]

Got a problem, my wife's late aunt left the family £9000 in her building Society account (there was no will) We've already given the Building Society a signed and witnessed statutory declaration last week and now out of the blue we've recieved a letter from the Building Society stating they won't close the account without a Grant of Probate/Letters of administration/Certificate of Confirmation.
We called our Solicitor who told us for a Grant of Probate will cost £750 plus VAT (£900), we called the Building Society back and they said they're not sure which one we need (Grant of Probate or Letter of Administration) and we'd be better off speaking to our Solicitor to find out which one we need.
We told the Building Society that we don't have that amount of money lying around so cant afford to get it, they said that we can't touch the account to have the Solicitors fees paid.

What do we need and how do we go about it??

It seems the Building Society is throwing every thing it can to stop us closing the account down

[wales01man]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

I think you will find that the Building Society wont release the money without Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration after all how do they cover themselfs and its the Law you can do it yourselfs or if you use a solicitor they should take costs and fees out ot the estate before money is distributed, we have just gone through the process not hard to do bit time consuming but it has to be done

[wales01man]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Another thing if she was your wifes aunt does she have any chuldren of her own or grand children if so the estate goes to them not your wife take a look at the probate rules on the net for clarification

[Inca]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

You definitely need to see a solicitor Swifty,,it's a nightmare otherwise..I'm not 100% on this but we had to get Letters of Administration (OH had to swear an Oath to declare and prove who he was) (it was £10) .All fees (except the £10) were taken from the estate..
As I say (and totally agree with wales here) ,you have to be sure there are no other relatives in the frame.
Time consuming and frustrating Yes,,worth it in the long run Yes.

[Sapphire]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Have a read here, if the estate is under a certain amount you can do it yourself and its pretty straightforward https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inh...representation

[swifty]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Another thing if she was your wifes aunt does she have any chuldren of her own or grand children if so the estate goes to them not your wife take a look at the probate rules on the net for clarification

No! she didn't have any children and her next of kin was her brother (my wife's dad) but he's to ill to deal with it and asked my wife to sort it

[swifty]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

It's for £9000 only, we've filled in the PA1 form and the IHT205 form just need to post it now.
So all it will cost is £105? that's a lot better than the £750 plus VAT quote we got from the Solicitors

[alham]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

It's for £9000 only, we've filled in the PA1 form and the IHT205 form just need to post it now.
So all it will cost is £105? that's a lot better than the £750 plus VAT quote we got from the Solicitors

Correct. We've been dealing with my left father-in-law's estate and that all you need. Make sure that you supply the BS with a death certificate whilst you are waiting for the grant of probate/letter of administration to come through so that the account is closed/frozen, otherwise if she had direct debits, etc going out they will still be paid. Should take about a month for your grant to arrive. You (your father) may have to go to the probate office to swear an oath.

[swifty]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

The BS already has an original copy of the death certificate, we're prepared for the probate office, my wife has to take two forms of identity with her then it takes 10 working days from then before we get to close the account.
I just wish the BS had informed us about this when we went in to see them early last week..
We went and put a deposit down on a camper van this morning before the post arrived, luckily for us the insurance has put a cheque in the post for £2500 so that'll cover the van (I got it really cheap off a garage that didn't have the space for it and it's only been half converted so needs a little more work on it before re-registering from a van to a camper van), they've got to order a rear lens then put it through it's MOT so it should be ready this time next week.

[alham]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Unfortunately we had the same problem with BS, they have no ideas about correct procedures and everyone seems to be making things up as they go along. On another hand, one of the banks that we had to deal with sent us a little booklet with correct rules and other useful information which we found very helpful.

[CleverClogs]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

We've been dealing with my left father-in-law's estate

Hasn't the right father in law died yet?

[MissFM]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Agree with the above - Probate is not difficult (if I can do it anyone can). Having both done it myself and had a solicitor do it (on different occassions) the big difference is that the solicitor will relieve you of an enormous sum of money with little benefit to you or any other beneficiaries. It's also unlikely to be necessary if the Estate of the deceased is less than £325,000 (IT threshhold) and not particularly complicated or contested as to distribution. There is further info on this site under "bereavement".

[CleverClogs]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Unfortunately we had the same problem with BS, they have no ideas about correct procedures and everyone seems to be making things up as they go along. On another hand, one of the banks that we had to deal with sent us a little booklet with correct rules and other useful information which we found very helpful.

National Savings and Investments (National / Post Office Savings Bank, Saving Certificates, Premium Bonds) were also very helpful after pater croaked.

[MissFM]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

No! she didn't have any children and her next of kin was her brother (my wife's dad) but he's to ill to deal with it and asked my wife to sort it

Possibly it would ease things if he put this in writing? Maybe an EPA? Not just for now but for the future.

[swifty]

Re: *URGENT* Grant of Probate

Possibly it would ease things if he put this in writing? Maybe an EPA? Not just for now but for the future.

The only problem there is my OH's father has the latter stages of parkinsons, he can't even hold a cup let alone a pen