The Lemon Fool

Bouleversee wrote:Lootman -
What about your house? Surely at some point your sprogs would have to fill in the form to get probate to sell that and then they would have to declare previous gifts. Better sell up now and go and live in a monastery.

Yes, the great irony is that the investments that are the most tax-friendly when you are alive (ISA's, pensions and primary residences) suddenly become the least tax-friendly upon death.

Which is exactly why I said that the best tax avoidance strategy is knowing when you will die, as you can then immediately liquidate and distribute.

Lootman wrote:

Bouleversee wrote:Lootman -
What about your house? Surely at some point your sprogs would have to fill in the form to get probate to sell that and then they would have to declare previous gifts. Better sell up now and go and live in a monastery.

Yes, the great irony is that the investments that are the most tax-friendly when you are alive (ISA's, pensions and primary residences) suddenly become the least tax-friendly upon death.

Which is exactly why I said that the best tax avoidance strategy is knowing when you will die, as you can then immediately liquidate and distribute.

Well, you can sell your house and liquidate all your assets, give away all the cash and then decide when you are going to do that. All you have to do is keep back enough cash for that ticket to Switzerland and the clinic fees. I might even join you if I ever get sufficiently straight to put the house on the market and achieve a sale despite the increase in stamp duty. In the meantime, in the real world, I still have to deal with my husband's estate so which damn form do I have to fill in???? I was supposed to be reading it all up this evening but the diversion has been quite entertaining.

Bouleversee wrote: I still have to deal with my husband's estate so which damn form do I have to fill in???? I was supposed to be reading it all up this evening but the diversion has been quite entertaining.

I did not intend to distract you with my whimsy, and I greatly sympathise with your situation.

I am also very angry that people like you are subjected to the indignities of probate which, far from being designed to help the families of a recently deceased are actually specifically designed to fraught the immediate families of a deceased.

If it were up to me, I would repeal all laws relating to probate.

I'd say "Lootman for Chancellor" but PD would politely chide me for being off topic.

Bouleversee wrote:I'd say "Lootman for Chancellor" but PD would politely chide me for being off topic.

You know, as much as I find PinkDalek's "Just the fact ma'am" routine to be a tad on the wrong side of petty tediousness, I do respect his impeccable ability to be literal. If it was my job to hire a googler-in-chief, it would be a hard choice between Pink and Gengulphus.

Bouleversee wrote:In the meantime, in the real world, I still have to deal with my husband's estate so which damn form do I have to fill in???? I was supposed to be reading it all up this evening but the diversion has been quite entertaining.

At the risk of being accused of promoting the interests of my professional colleagues have you considered getting a solicitor to help you? From what you've said it seems a fairly simple estate, so it shouldn't cost much. Anyway, you can always get a quote before you instruct them to go ahead.

I accept that some weird people actually seem to enjoy dealing with probate themselves, and that many more do it simply to save money, which makes sense, particularly if it's a small and/or simple estate where they are the sole or main beneficiary. However, there are many things that I could do myself but I'd far rather pay someone else to do it because (1) it's work I don't enjoy; (2) it's work that needs some technical expertise that I have no wish to acquire; but most importantly (3) I'm in the fortunate position of being able to afford to pay someone to do jobs that I dislike, so that the financial cost is far more than outweighed by the pleasure of being able to spend that time doing something I want to do.

Doing my tax return is a classic example. I'm intelligent enough to be able to deal with it if I had to, but it's the type of tedious, mind-numbing, box-ticking work that drives me bonkers, so I'm more than happy to pay my accountants to relieve me of the task.

Bear in mind that the problems that you're encountering are just routine, everyday tasks to a probate solicitor, who could probably sort them out very quickly so that all you would have to do would be to sign on the dotted line.

Sometimes it's worth paying a professional just to get rid of the hassle.

Sometimes it's worth paying a professional just to get rid of the hassle.

Absolutely. Any idea of rough cost for say a straightforward £1 million estate consisting of 500k house and 500k investments all to be sold into cash. The new probate fee would be £8000, but what extra for legals?

DrBunsenHoneydew wrote:

Sometimes it's worth paying a professional just to get rid of the hassle.

I would recommend this if possible, but you should, perhaps contact Clitheroekid.
This is not an advert. Just thinking about YOU (Bouleversee)
Instep

Thanks for all the replies and my sympathies to Bouleversee who is in a similar position to me. As you can imagine I have had other things on my mind so to clarify belatedly - It looks like the value of the estate will be well above the nil rate band but below £1million and it comprises roughly 50% being my late wife's half share in our property and the rest is her shares ISA that I funded for a number of years.
Can someone please clarify the £3,000 gift exemption.eg last year we gifted £15,240 to our son for his ISA. If my wife's share of this is £7,620 as it came out of our joint account can this then be reduced by £3,000 so that I declare an effective gift of £4,620. In earlier years can I take her 50% share of similar gifts, reduce it by tapering relief and then deduct the £3,000. Also she has a small SIPP that I had funded for a number of years.I understand that SIPPS are exempt from Inheritance Tax as they are held in the name of a Trustee (correct me if I'm wrong) so if that is the case should I be declaring the value of the SIPP on the various Probate and HMRC forms.