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Value of an estate for probate

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wilbobob
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Value of an estate for probate

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Postby wilbobob » June 11th, 2021, 4:39 pm

I will be starting the process of applying for letters of administration soon. I've read the guidance on the gov.uk website and elsewhere. I thought it was a fairly simple process. Tot up all the assets and debts, report to HMRC pay the tax and proceed to the next step.
Today a friend has shown me the final accounts for a probate arranged through a financial advisor. The value declared to and accepted by the probate office is near £160,000.
The value of the estate in the accounts is £309,000 gross, £302,000 net. Half a house and investments
Am I missing something here? I can't make the declared value from combinations of any of the quoted assets. Or does the Probate office not worry much as long as there's no tax to be paid?
By my back-of-a-fag=packet estimate there will be tax to be paid on the estate I'm looking at. I'm tempted to appoint a FA, but don't think I can be patient to wait for the glacial pace of progress.

SalvorHardin
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Re: Value of an estate for probate

#418885

Postby SalvorHardin » June 11th, 2021, 5:06 pm

wilbobob wrote:I will be starting the process of applying for letters of administration soon. I've read the guidance on the gov.uk website and elsewhere. I thought it was a fairly simple process. Tot up all the assets and debts, report to HMRC pay the tax and proceed to the next step.
Today a friend has shown me the final accounts for a probate arranged through a financial advisor. The value declared to and accepted by the probate office is near £160,000.
The value of the estate in the accounts is £309,000 gross, £302,000 net. Half a house and investments
Am I missing something here? I can't make the declared value from combinations of any of the quoted assets. Or does the Probate office not worry much as long as there's no tax to be paid?
By my back-of-a-fag=packet estimate there will be tax to be paid on the estate I'm looking at. I'm tempted to appoint a FA, but don't think I can be patient to wait for the glacial pace of progress.

The probate office isn't bothered about the exact value of the estate if everything is left to the spouse. This is because the spouse's exemption applies which means that no inheritance tax is payable regardless of the size of the estate. In these cases they're not fussed about precise valuations, even for houses, "roughly right" figures are acceptable.

However, if the assets are to be distributed amongst other beneficiaries the probate office will pay more attention even if the total value of the estate is below the inheritance tax threshold (£325,000), but is close to it (or if there are assets for which the valuation can be disputed).

If there is tax due, they will pay much more attention. However, from experience if the valuations are fairly straight forward then it isn't too difficult to deal with the process yourself. It just takes time, there's a lot of waiting for replies from the probate office and obtaining valuations at date of death from insurers (e.g. for investment bonds).

wilbobob
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Re: Value of an estate for probate

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Postby wilbobob » June 11th, 2021, 5:46 pm

Thank you Salvor. In this case it is next of kin rather than a spouse so I can see that there would be a different attitude. The estate is simple and I have nearly all the information apart from one figure from life insurance. Should be OK to go then.


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