My father is recently deceased. As his son I had power of attorney over his affairs and all financial assets are in our joint names. There is a will and I am the executor.I need to know if there is anything official I have to do before settling her estate which does not involve any property.We have registered her death and carried out a funeral.
Only genuinely joint accounts pass automatically. It sounds as if you were not a contributor to the accounts, just the person managing them. On this basis, the accounts belong to the estate and not to you. Whether probate is required will be a matter for the institutions holding the assets, provided there is no requirement for probate – see the article on excepted estates.Are you the sole beneficiary?If so, then just presenting the death certificate to all concerned may be enough. This will normally remove the deceased persons’ name from the account leaving you as the sole owner. Having said that:Doing would mean that there were no assets left to be disposed of in the Will thus disinheriting anyone else mentioned in the Will, as long as everything is in joint names, which may not go down too well! And in these circumstances, that may well not be legally correct. Hope that helps – see also the Probate Guide attached.
]]>Dear Sir,My mother’s mom Owns a property in Manchester, it was bought by my mother’s father and after his death it was transferred to my mother’s mom.My mother has two sisters in Pakistan and three brothers in Manchester. Two brothers are living separate and one brother is living in that property.I want to ask that I am also eligible to take share from this property on behalf of my mother as my mother has also passed away.if yes then can you help me how?How can I check status of this property in legals record?Will my uncle need MY SIGNATURES ( Will my signatures be compulsory) for transferring or selling this property to his name?If this is possible then will it be easy for me to get my entitlement.I am afraid that my uncle will snatch my all entitlement or share. Please advise and help me in this?Probate AnswerIf the property was held in her sole name, her Last Will and Testament will decide where it goes.That is the most likely option.If it was in joint names, there are two options:1) The part of the property she owns will pass by her Will. Or – more likely (if ownership is joint)2) the whole property will pass automatically to the surviving owner.You need the title deeds which you can obtain for a few pounds at:http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/online-servicesIf only her name appears on the deeds, then the house passes firstly under her Last Will, or if there isn’t one, then it passes on under the Rules of Intestacy: http://www.theprobatedepartment.co.uk/rules-of-intestacy/I hope that helps, after you have checked that, we can act for you but would have to charge at our usual fairly modest rates.If you have a Probate Question, we try to answer as many as we have time for: any published on the site have been changed beyond recognition SteveStephen Pett https://www.theprobatedepartment.co.uk/contact-us-for-probate-help.The Probate Department Ltd2 The Triangle, Willingdon, Eastbourne BN20 9PJGA private company registered in England number 07682081.We are NOT a Government Department nor in anyway associated with the Probate REGISTRIES which are part of HM Courts Service.More on Probate Disputes. Probate Claim Checker.
]]>Hi Steve,just a quick question, my friend and his sister were left 70 acres of agricultural land and a farm house each, both in a state of disrepair. My friend, wanting to stay in his house decided to approach building firms in order to sell some of his land so he could do up his house. However upon telling his sister his plans, she said she didn’t want him to sell any of the agricultural land and that he couldn’t do so without her signature, thus preventing him doing so. My friends grandmother has the deeds and has always been awkward about him selling any land as she lives on the edge of this land and so would see any new building work.Can my friend claim his share and do what he wants with it, i.e. partition the agricultural land as it was supposed to have been split 35 acres each, or does he have to be dictated to by his sister and struggle to pay bills etc and not make safe the house for him, his girlfriend and twin baby sons.
There are several questions here.1) What were the terms of the Will? It could be that the brothers were left a lifetime right to use the agricultural property rather than the freehold.2) The agricultural land should be registered as it seems to have been transferred on the death – check it out at www.landregistry.gov.uk (could be in Trust though – see below.)3) The fact that the grandfather holds the deeds should be irrelevant as the land should be registered.4) I am not expert on agricultural land, we work with one of the UKs leading experts, but he does charge and doesn’t answer questions free, but if the land is owned jointly, and I’m not sure why it would be, it should be possible to sever the ownership to half each.It is possible that the land is help on a long standing trust, as many farms are. The Land Registry entry would probably show this.Agricultural Property Law is a complex area, which requires specialist advice, and the chances are we would need to involve a specialist agricultural land expert if we were called upon to deal with this situation, which is sadly probably not a quick question! But at least we have the expertise on hand to deal with agricultural land issues. More on Probate Disputes. Probate Claim Checker.
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