Will not accepted by Probate.

[Leslandes]

Hi All, this is my first forum - I need advice please.
I am 89. My husband died 13 years ago in 2002. At the time he died he was in considerable debt and only had our family home to his name (in his name only, I did not apply for probate at that time, I had no money to pay a solicitor to do this for me and this situation has not changed.
I now need to move nearer my daughter, but as the house in in my husbands name, I thought that I would need probate to get my home into my name. Is this correct please ?
My husband left a handwritten will (written in 1994) leaving me as the sole beneficiary, however when he had it witnessed by two nurses in the
hospital he was in at the time, he did not make the attestation stating that he and the witnesses were all witnessing each others signing the will.
I have recently applied for probate myself, and the probate people will not grant probate because of there not being an attestation, however it is clearly a letter of his wishes. The Probate Office have challenged me to find the witnesses to question them. Although I am trying to do this, it is a long shot, and I have little hope. Can anyone tell me if there is anyway to get my home into my name. I have lived there since my husbands death.
Or, if the will is not provable, does this mean I will have to pay inheritance tax which (how can I pay this without selling the house ?) Thank you in advance for any advice given.

[stevemLS]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

If the Will can't be proved it will be as though he died intestate.

As his spouse, you will inherit, I think the 1st £250k and half of whatever else there is left over that value, or the entire estate if there is no-one else to make a claim.

ETA: Meant to also say I don't think there is any way you can sell the house without getting probate.

[Leslandes]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

If the Will can't be proved it will be as though he died intestate.

As his spouse, you will inherit, I think the 1st £250k and half of whatever else there is left over that value, or the entire estate if there is no-one else to make a claim.

ETA: Meant to also say I don't think there is any way you can sell the house without getting probate.

Thank you StevemLS - if the will is improvable, do you know if I would have to pay inheritance tax please, and if so, would they allow me to sell the house to raise the tax money, or would I have to pay prior to this? Also, assuming any children would get equal shares of anything over the £250,000, they would pay inheritance tax. If this is the case, I would not be able to move as there would not be enough funds left over to do so.
The estate at the time of my husbands death in 2002 was about £300,000,

[enaid]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

Married partners and civil partners

Married partners or civil partners inherit under the rules of intestacy only if they are actually married or in a civil partnership at the time of death. So if you are divorced or if your civil partnership has been legally ended, you can’t inherit under the rules of intestacy. But partners who separated informally can still inherit under the rules of intestacy.
If there are surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of the person who died and the estate is valued at more than £250,000, the partner will inherit:

• all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died, and
• the first £250,000 of the estate, and
• half of the remaining estate.

It may be worth having the house valued by a couple estate agents as this would be the value on the probate forms I would imagine.

[Leslandes]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

Married partners and civil partners

Married partners or civil partners inherit under the rules of intestacy only if they are actually married or in a civil partnership at the time of death. So if you are divorced or if your civil partnership has been legally ended, you can’t inherit under the rules of intestacy. But partners who separated informally can still inherit under the rules of intestacy.
If there are surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of the person who died and the estate is valued at more than £250,000, the partner will inherit:

• all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died, and
• the first £250,000 of the estate, and
• half of the remaining estate.

It may be worth having the house valued by a couple estate agents as this would be the value on the probate forms I would imagine.

Hi Enaid
Thank you for your reply.
There is no doubt that I was married to my late husband, he died in 2002, we married in 1957. His will is dated 1994 but at present improvable - I am trying to find the witnesses, to prove it, but have very little hope.
Do you know if I inherit the figures you quote under intestacy, is this backdated to 2002 rules or present day rules and would I have to pay inheritance tax please ? Would children have to pay inheritance tax. Also, as I can not pay inheritance tax unless I sell the property, would this be allowed? If I should die before all this is sorted (being 89) this will be an absolute nightmare for my children to sort out later.
Many thanks

[MissFM]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

Hi Leslandes,

The IT threshold (nil band) was £250K in 2002, and unless your husband had other assets of considerable value (unlikely in view of the large debts you mention), the value of the house at the time (300K) falls above that band by £50K which, on the face of it, would appear to make his Estate liable for tax on the £50K. BUT

If someone leaves everything to their husband, wife or civil partner when they die, it is exempt from IHT – assuming the partner lives in the UK.

This means their inheritance tax allowance hasn't been used and can be transferred to their partner's estate when they die, even if they remarry. In other words, they would have an IHT threshold of up to £650,000. The allowance from the first partner to die is transferred to the second partner only after the second partner's death.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/201...-reduce-amount

Some of your late husband's debt may be secured against the property and there may be a charge/charges against it, which you will have to pay from proceeds when it's sold. You can look on the Land Registry.

I really think you could do with some specialised professional advice on all this - sometimes a suitable accountant is as much help as a solicitor.

Some helpful links:
https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inh...t-leave-a-will

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-th...ssues/probate/

And well worth ringing the Government helpline for advice on your immediate next steps:

Probate and Inheritance Tax helpline on 0300 1231072, Mon-Fri, 09:00-17:00.

HTH x

[stevemLS]

Re: Will not accepted by Probate.

The probate helpline are really helpful.

The "unused" IHT transfer only applies on the second death, so it doesn't matter here.

The estate pays the tax rather than the beneficiaries - it has to be paid before probate will be granted - banks are usually quite helpful at assisting with an arrangement if you do not have the funds available.

I agree though that you could really do with some professional help in sorting this out.

Good luck.