Inheritance advice

[Sanderling]

First time posting. I'm looking for some ideas.

My dad died a couple of weeks ago. I'm in the thick of sorting out his affairs, but I'm trying to plan ahead financially. I stand to inherit some cash and a property and I'm interested to hear any sensible places I can most effectively store the cash and potential proceeds from the sale of his property, and how I can do things in the most tax effecient way.

For background, I'm in my late 30's. I have a modest house, which I own outright. I have been saving for the last 5 years or so to upsize in the next couple of years. I've maxed out my premium bonds and ISA allowance for this year. I have a final salary pension and a concurrent 1% matched pension. I don't have any debts.

I've looked into letting out the property, but as a higher rate tax payer it seems to make little sense for the potential headache. I'm not interested in paying more into my pension. I don't want to put the money anywhere volatile as I'm looking to use it within the next 2 or 3 years. Does anyone have any bright ideas what I can do with it other than stick in in a bunch of savings accounts?

Any advice is much appreciated.

[BoRED S2upid]

Why not upsize now? You probably won’t get all the funds until next year these things take ages by which time it will be a new tax year so max out another ISA and buy yourself the dream home. Keep a chunk back in cash in case new house needs work.


Sorry to hear your loss. Lost my dad this year.

[skyebear]

I had a look on here previously when I was after some financial advice and a few people had recommended the "Meaningful Money" website and YouTube channel.

[Dimebars]

Sorry for your loss

I can't offer much advice, but as mentioned, the time to iron everything out can be painfully slow. My elderly Aunt passed away last March and it looks like it will be at least August before her probate lawyer will be in a position to release anything - around 18 months.

[Sanderling]

Thanks for the condolences. Sorry to hear about your father too BS. It's a very good point you raise BS and DB. I haven't really factored in processing and selling time. It is a simple estate, but even so I suppose it could easily take a year to work through everything. The market around here looks really flat at the moment too.

Why don't I sell up now? There are a couple of reasons/ excuses. I bought a parcel of land opposite my house last year and turned it into some additional parking for me and my neighbours. I need to wait for that to finalise with the land registry, which can take up to 18 months apparently. I'm also not sure I have the mental fortitude after the last 6 months to deal with everything simultaneously. It's bad enough trying to sell stuff on Facebook or Ebay these days!

My current house needed a lot of work, so I suppose if I found a wreck with a lot of potential I could be swayed.

Thanks SB, I've not heard of that channel. I see he has done some stuff with Damien Talks Money, who I've seen before. I will give it a look.

[Whistle]

Probably doesn’t help but I gave my kids a lump sum and bought a nice Porsche with about half of my recent inheritance.

[The Gauge]

Is probate really taking 18months or is that just for complex instances?

I’ll be going through the process soon.

[Whistle]

The Gauge said:

Is probate really taking 18months or is that just for complex instances?

I ll be going through the process soon.

Me and my sister did ours it was really simple Will split 50/50 cost us just over. £300.00 and was done in 10 days.

I was quite shocked to be honest.

[Actual]

Whistle said:

The Gauge said:

Is probate really taking 18months or is that just for complex instances?

I ll be going through the process soon.

Me and my sister did ours it was really simple Will split 50/50 cost us just over. £300.00 and was done in 10 days.

I was quite shocked to be honest.

It is crucial to write your will so that your beneficiaries are Executor for your estate as professional will take a lifetime to complete the task.

I was executor for a relation and as power of attorney I was able to streamline their finances during their lifetime which was a necessity for their situation and not just to benefit me as executor. IHT was paid and Grant of Probate was obtained at 6 months with the actual grant only taking 2 days after IHT. A professional executor would have then sat on the funds for a year in case a long lost spouse or offspring materialised.

Edited by Actual on Wednesday 18th June 22:21

[alscar]

Actual said:

It is crucial to write your will so that your beneficiaries are Executor for your estate as professional will take a lifetime to complete the task.

I was executor for a relation and as power of attorney I was able to streamline their finances during their lifetime which was a necessity for their situation and not just to benefit me as executor. IHT was paid and Grant of Probate was obtained at 6 months with the actual grant only taking 2 days after IHT. A professional executor would have then sat on the funds for a year in case a long lost spouse or offspring materialised.

Edited by Actual on Wednesday 18th June 22:21

Slight exaggeration but take your point.
The other issue with Solicitors being appointed as Executors is the cost that will get added - excessively so.
I believe the average time for probate and then disbursement of the estate averages anywhere from 12 -18 months from dod but as ever this depends on the complexity or otherwise of the deceased's affairs.
Whilst not necessarily law it is usually recommended that an advert be placed in the Gazette for a period of 2 months just in case any Creditors or indeed lost potential beneficiaries come along - I imagine the odds are long but Executors can be held personally liable should the estate be dispersed and then something happens !
I've been Executor 3 times and each time it hasn't been straightforward and each time I have had Solicitor assistance which in terms of stress and time saved was worth the money.

[BoRED S2upid]

Whistle said:

The Gauge said:

Is probate really taking 18months or is that just for complex instances?

I ll be going through the process soon.

Me and my sister did ours it was really simple Will split 50/50 cost us just over. £300.00 and was done in 10 days.

I was quite shocked to be honest.

10 days is exceptionally quick the death certificate takes longer than that and you can’t do anything without that first. I’m guessing no property sort out with that one. The property takes time.

[FiF]

I'm going through this now with my wife's estate.

Trouble is we had old wills, and were in the process of updating them, had discussed everything what to do, differences of wishes in case one or other died first. Never got to signing stage before she had her accident.

Now I've updated mine. But her old will still stands, I wish to honour her latest expressed wishes with a deed of variation, have two years to do it, as I'm sole beneficiary it shouldn't be an issue. Just know with a solicitor it will take a year or more, I don't understand why or how they're so slow about things.

[The Leaper]

alscar said:

Actual said:

It is crucial to write your will so that your beneficiaries are Executor for your estate as professional will take a lifetime to complete the task.

I was executor for a relation and as power of attorney I was able to streamline their finances during their lifetime which was a necessity for their situation and not just to benefit me as executor. IHT was paid and Grant of Probate was obtained at 6 months with the actual grant only taking 2 days after IHT. A professional executor would have then sat on the funds for a year in case a long lost spouse or offspring materialised.

Edited by Actual on Wednesday 18th June 22:21

Slight exaggeration but take your point.
The other issue with Solicitors being appointed as Executors is the cost that will get added - excessively so.
I believe the average time for probate and then disbursement of the estate averages anywhere from 12 -18 months from dod but as ever this depends on the complexity or otherwise of the deceased's affairs.
Whilst not necessarily law it is usually recommended that an advert be placed in the Gazette for a period of 2 months just in case any Creditors or indeed lost potential beneficiaries come along - I imagine the odds are long but Executors can be held personally liable should the estate be dispersed and then something happens !
I've been Executor 3 times and each time it hasn't been straightforward and each time I have had Solicitor assistance which in terms of stress and time saved was worth the money.

I agree with all of the above comments.

Currently I am one of two executors regarding a deceased friend's Will. This is maybe the 6th time I have been an executor. The friend's estate is not particularly complicated; there is a house to be sold by the executors. The following is our timeline:

08.08.24: date of death
17.12.24: applied for Probate
19.01.25: received Probate
07.04.25: published a notice of death etc in The Gazette.

So, we got Probate pretty quickly after the application and since then we have been capturing the financial values of all assets. We have two bank accounts with Barclays: one for receipts and another for payments, all working well (so far!).

The notice in The Gazette is essential, otherwise if a third party arises after the distribution of assets there will be massive problems, all the executors' responsibility to sort out. The notice lasts for two months, so after that and assuming there has been no contact, the executors are free to proceed etc. It cost £120.00.... well worth it for the peace of mind.

We will very shortly be putting the house on the market and appointing a solicitor to deal with the sale legalities.

We are hoping to do a distribution of residual assets to the three residual beneficiaries some time like October/November 2025.

R.

[alscar]

FiF said:

I'm going through this now with my wife's estate.

Now I've updated mine. But her old will still stands, I wish to honour her latest expressed wishes with a deed of variation, have two years to do it, as I'm sole beneficiary it shouldn't be an issue. Just know with a solicitor it will take a year or more, I don't understand why or how they're so slow about things.

I did a DOV on an inheritance in favour of my 3 children -it was done and dusted in terms of paperwork by a Solicitor within a couple of weeks way before probate in the case was even achieved.
The 2 year is a legal maximum it isn't a target for the solicitor.

[silentbrown]

Sorry to hear that, OP.

If you do go down the savings account route, the least hassle is probably NS&I. No worries about exceeding the FCA compensation limit, so no faffing with multiple accounts.

[KobayashiMaru86]

Getting the letter of Admin took no time really, despite everyone saying it would take ages. Took almost as long for a doctor to sign off the COD as Dad died at home after a hospital stay so his doctor wouldn't and the last doctor who saw him went on holiday. Get the death cert at the registrar and the tell me once cancelled 90% of his things. Then I held off until after the funeral, thinking it will take ages so what was a few extra days, which turned into a few months as other things came up. But got all the finances together, put down an amount and within a week it was back. Wish I'd just done it sooner. The slow bit was conveyancers selling the house. Boiled my piss at every stage of it. The sheer incompetence was amazing.

[ntiz]

Sanderling said:

Why don't I sell up now? There are a couple of reasons/ excuses. I bought a parcel of land opposite my house last year and turned it into some additional parking for me and my neighbours. I need to wait for that to finalise with the land registry, which can take up to 18 months apparently. I'm also not sure I have the mental fortitude after the last 6 months to deal with everything simultaneously. It's bad enough trying to sell stuff on Facebook or Ebay these days!

My current house needed a lot of work, so I suppose if I found a wreck with a lot of potential I could be swayed.

Thanks SB, I've not heard of that channel. I see he has done some stuff with Damien Talks Money, who I've seen before. I will give it a look.

I can't help with what to do with your money. But regarding the land registry give them a call tell them its need to be put down as a priority.

My parents passed me a bit of land with a barn on it. Got a solicitor to do everything as far as we were concerned it was all sorted it was just a matter of time with land registry. Converted the barn moved in and everything. Had a realisation one night I didn't actually have anything the said I owned it. Checked the land registry it was still in the queue to be processed after 3.5 years!!

Called the land registry they basically told me everyone just calls asking for it to be done as a priority otherwise you just forever get pushed down the queue by everyone else being processed as priority. Got it flagged as a priority got notification after a couple of weeks.

[Sanderling]

ntiz said:

I can't help with what to do with your money. But regarding the land registry give them a call tell them its need to be put down as a priority.

My parents passed me a bit of land with a barn on it. Got a solicitor to do everything as far as we were concerned it was all sorted it was just a matter of time with land registry. Converted the barn moved in and everything. Had a realisation one night I didn't actually have anything the said I owned it. Checked the land registry it was still in the queue to be processed after 3.5 years!!

Called the land registry they basically told me everyone just calls asking for it to be done as a priority otherwise you just forever get pushed down the queue by everyone else being processed as priority. Got it flagged as a priority got notification after a couple of weeks.

Wow, I can't believe that! Well maybe I can. I thought 18 months was really the top end for a TP1. Did you get your solicitor to push them along or did you call up yourself?

[Sanderling]

silentbrown said:

Sorry to hear that, OP.

If you do go down the savings account route, the least hassle is probably NS&I. No worries about exceeding the FCA compensation limit, so no faffing with multiple accounts.

I didn't know this. Exactly the sort of infomation I was after. Thanks!

[Sanderling]

It's interesting to hear about all of the different probate experiences. On a side note, I did my driving license renewal online the other day and had the new one in my hand 3 days later. It seems some things have really improved recently and others not so much.

In my case, I was helping my dad at home for the last 5 years or so. I submitted an application to the court of protection 2 days before he died, so I have a good handle on how he was managing things. Thankfully I'm the executor too, so fingers crossed it is granted as swiftly as some of the posters here.