My probate question: I wonder if you could help me my wife passed away on the 18th January – we separated 12 years ago but never divorced.My son had a joint bank account with her, which I have been told its frozen but he has taken money for funeral costs out.My wife has other bank accounts just in her name but don’t know which banks or building society they are from what I would like to know I am I entitled to anything, I am very hard up and 87? I was wondering if I could get legal aid to help?JM (details changed to protect identity)Probate Question reply (made on the information given, and will not always apply).The first thing anyone should do when separating to write a new Last Will. However, it is too late for that sadly.Chances are that you will be entitled to all or most of your wife’s estate as you were still legally married. UNLESS there was a formal judicial separation, which is unusual.There is no issue with funeral costs coming out of the bank account, but the chances are that bank account may pass automatically to you son outside the estate if he was listed as joint owner rather than just as a signatory. This is a common mistake, usually made unintentionally, but in some cases it disinherits all the other beneficiaries as a joint account (rather than one with signing rights for a third party) passes automatically to the surviving joint owner.I don’t believe you can get legal aid for probate work, but we do provide a low cost service or offer our www.DIYprobateUK.com site.You could also make an appointment to talk to Citizens Advice, but it may be that all that is necessary is to write to your son enclosing a copy of our Intestacy Guide which I have attached asking for the full details of her estate so that you can obtain probate, assuming it is needed.If you feel that he might attempt to deal with probate improperly, you can make arrangements to enter a note at the Probate Registry to prevent that (we can help with the formal process). As the legal next of kin, you have the right to apply for probate, not your son.You probably could do with help, but it does depend on the value of your wife’s estate as to whether it is worth it.Our fees are much below most lawyers, so do feel free to come back to us should you wish to. Nothing in this email should be taken as advice without a full paid review of your situation. Probate disputes.
]]>Over the last 10 years, DIY Probate has taken market share from solicitors.In 2011, nearly 16,000 people whose Last Wills came up for probate didn’t appoint an executor to sort out the estate, or appointed executors who were unwilling or unable to get involved, say the latest data from the Probate Service. This is a 5% worse than 2010. More on Probate Disputes. Probate Claim Checker.Kevin Cole, Head of Research at Title Research seemed to think this indicated a need for greater regulation of Will Writers, but we can’t see the relevance and think he was just jumping on a bandwagon. The real problem is two fold:1) People writing DIY Wills and2) Wills not being reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that the executors (and everything else) remain appropriate. What is relevant when you are 20 or 40 or 60 won’t be the same 20 years later, and may change within months. We are great fans of the system at Will Custodian Ltd, which is designed to prevent this problem, as well as the problem of Lost Wills. Will Custodian also offer a Will Checking Service to new members.
The 2011 statistics also show that 86,470 grants of probate were issued to private individuals, mostly doing DIY Probate.Mr Cole said: “The Legal Services Board’s plans to regulate estate administration will not affect the thousands of people who don’t use a probate service provider to administer an estate. The risks of mistakes will remain with complex DIY probate such as undervaluing the estate, under paying tax or missing out entitled heirs.”That is why we offer our hand holding service at the Probate Department Ltd – we recognise that many people do want to cut costs and DIY probate. But we also understand that most of them would like a little help here and there and maybe for a quick check at the end. Unlike most probate firms, we’re happy to do as little as 15 minutes work, and we charge by the minute, not in units of 6 minutes which can substantially increase fees. Nor do we charge a percentage of the value of the gross estate as a “responsibility allowance.”Solicitors share of the probate market has dropped by 30% between 2006 and 2010. In 2011 that decline has slowed with 148 more solicitor grants being issued than in 2010. Grants to individuals for DIY Probate remained at the same level for the period.The Probate Department Ltd offers a range of services from doing everything to helping for 15 minutes. And our fees are VERY sensible. Why not give us a call?
To Probate A Will, the executors of that Last Will need to go through the process of gathering all the information about the assets and liabilities of the person whose Will needs a grant of probate. Once they have all that information, and have settled any Inheritance Tax Liabilities with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the executors can apply to probate a Will though a Probate Registry. A grant of probate is an official document which the executors may need to administer the estate. It is issued by a section of the court known as the probate registry.
Once the Probate Registry is satisfied that the forms have been completed correctly, that the Last Will presented for Probate is properly constructed and signed, and the relevant fee has been paid, they will normally call in the executors seeking to probate the Will to swear an oath that the forms are a true and correct reflection of the deceased’s’ estate.Executors who seek to probate a Will without full and detailed care and attention and who lie about this under oath are liable to find themselves in very expensive and very hot water!But it is not always necessary to probate a Will, as many estates pass automatically under the survivorship rules where assets are owned jointly, and other estates are sufficiently small that banks etc may not require that the Will be probated. We have a leaflet on that too. Do I need to probate a Will?Many people do find they are flummoxed by the paper work surrounding probate of a Will, and hand the job over lock stock and barrel to a solicitor or bank. Generally speaking, we offer a much lower cost alternative way to probate a Will, so do get in touch with us before you commit to any other professional dealing with the probate of a Will. Unlike many, we are quite happy for you to do some or all of the legwork yourself, and we even offer an assisted route to probate a Will through DIY Probate UK.com – see the link to the right.