Probate DIY vs Professional Input

[TAllen]

Further to my previous thread, my widowed friend has sadly passed away, leaving two teenage children as beneficiaries. There are two executors (including me), and the other will also be acting as a Guardian.

I have assembled all the paperwork and a spreadsheet of assets (no debts) broadly:

Current accounts, savings accounts (fixed-interest bonds), premium bonds, shares, house and assets (inside IHT): £1.3m
[IHT threshold is £1m (I believe) due to the inherited widows allowances].
Life insurance and pensions with the kids as named beneficiaries (outside IHT): £400k
Existing trusts and bonds for kids (outside IHT) already in kids names: £350k each (£100k aged 18, £250k aged 25)

I have done some early notification to the pension companies, insurers, etc., but, given the size of the estate, need to understand how much I can do before leaning on professional probate solicitors, accountants (for IHT calcs), and financial advisors (for wealth management). I am reasonably financially savvy, so could save some costs (and time) by doing the groundwork and having it prepared for professional input. On the other hand, we can go directly to the professionals if that is the safest route. My initial concern is ensuring early continuity of household finances for the Guardian.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[tacpot12]

I doubt that your preparing the data for the professionals will be unsafe. You might mis-categorise something, or omit something, but the professionals should check everything anyway. Your work will give them a headstart and this should mean that the job can be done sooner and at less cost to the estate.

[TAllen]

I doubt that your preparing the data for the professionals will be unsafe. You might mis-categorise something, or omit something, but the professionals should check everything anyway. Your work will give them a headstart and this should mean that the job can be done sooner and at less cost to the estate.

Thanks @tacpot12. One concern is any 'traps', for example where an account might be closed/reimbursed but could have been transferred into other accounts or trusts that would benefit the kids in the medium term (for more of wealth management, rather than IHT at this stage). Could there be traps like this that professionals would help us avoid?

[tacpot12]

Every action you take has the potential for a 'trap', so involving a professional before you do anything that can't be undone would seem sensible.

You have the option to either develop a plan yourself and ask a professional to review it before implementing it, or pay the professional to develop the plan, and implement it yourself or with their help. If you develop the plan yourself, there is a risk that you take your planning to greater levels of detail, and as a result, become very wedded to your plan such that when a professional reviews it, you find it very hard to take on their feedback.

A good financial planner would probably be able to work with you and the other executor/guardian to create a initial/high-level plan on a joint basis. There is potential to split detailed planning between you and the professional providing you have clear areas of responsibility. I would recommend involving the other exectutor as much as you can to develop the high-level plan. They might not have your capacity to deal with the details, but it could be important in the future for someone else to know what the plan was AND why it was that way.

[TAllen]

That's super advice, thank you @tacpot12.