Funds needed before grant of probate,I'm the executor and sole beneficiary

[wilko73]

I'm the executor and sole beneficiary of my late mother's estate I have engaged a solicitor, basically they are going to apply for me on a mainly form filling basis and putting forward the relevant forms and apply for the grant and I'm going to do everything else.I need to give them some figures next week then they will apply for me.

I only have a small amount in my account to pay them and any unexpected fees

My mum's funds have already been released to me from my mum's bank to my account as they were beneath the banks amount for releasing without the probate grant and then I put them in a savings account as that was the easiest account to open

I'm wondering now if I can use any of this money to live on and pay any legal bills I'm the sole beneficiary and will pay outstanding debts beforehand quickly .I just wonder now that I'm in the solicitors world if they will be worried about where those funds are and if I'm using them?

Their remit doesn't include looking after her money or distributing it or anything like that so I hope they don't ask about the money beyond how much the amount was so they can input that value on forms for date of death value of funds held

I do know this would leave me liable for any debts that appear but I know she didn't have any besides a small care bill and her tax etc is in order

I'm in the UK

[wilko73]

I forgot to say the work being done is a fixed fee to be paid up front rather than a fee at the end that's taken when a solicitor is holding the money

[atticus]

If the solicitors' engagement is limited to obtaining the grant of Probate then they should have no interest or concern beyond that.

[Pezza54]

As you are the sole beneficiary I don't see a problem with you spending estate money before probate
Had there been other beneficiaries you would have been advised to open an executor's bank account and maintain strict records of all income and outgoings from the executor account

[wilko73]

Thank you Pezza54 and atticus
I hope it works out ok,I'm very short of money as I was my mum's carer for many years

[wilko73]

Hi folks,I have a solicitors app to use before I pay them and this verifies my id it's called Thirdfort it's also used I believe to check source of payments by looking at your bank statements and bank account to see where your funds have come from.If they see funds have come from my mum's estate and they won't accept that I don't know what I will do as I will be stuck with a debt from the solicitor with a daily interest charge.

[PallasAthena]

That shouldn't be an issue because paying for the costs of probate, including cost of using a solicitor, is a legitimate expense payable from the Estate. Of necessity probate fees always have to be paid before probate is issued. It's a standard procedure to pay from the Estate monies.

In any case they may not bother to check source of funds just for paying their bill of a few hundred £. Those checks are normally used when transferring large sums of money, eg buying a house.

[wilko73]

That shouldn't be an issue because paying for the costs of probate, including cost of using a solicitor, is a legitimate expense payable from the Estate. Of necessity probate fees always have to be paid before probate is issued. It's a standard procedure to pay from the Estate monies.

In any case they may not bother to check source of funds just for paying their bill of a few hundred £. Those checks are normally used when transferring large sums of money, eg buying a house.

Hi thank you,yes I think those apps and source of funds inquiries are usually used to check source of funds to check if it's money laundering,my up front fee is £1200 plus vat and then £300 for the standard probate fee so not a huge amount

[scoobydoo1]

my mother passed away last year and i also had a choice of spending just over a grand on solicitors fees to get probate or do it myself online for £300, i did the latter, its pretty straight forward to do it yourself, i had no expertise or knowledge about probate but found a couple of guides which helped me doing it online,

[wilko73]

my mother passed away last year and i also had a choice of spending just over a grand on solicitors fees to get probate or do it myself online for £300, i did the latter, its pretty straight forward to do it yourself, i had no expertise or knowledge about probate but found a couple of guides which helped me doing it online,

Thanks I wish I had done that but it's all been done now,I was feeling really unwell and moved too quick and got the solicitor to do a lot of the work,it's a lesson learned though