Probate question

[ansi41]

Good afternoon everybody, hope you're having a restful Sunday.
Unfortunately my mum died unexpectedly 2 weeks before Christmas She made a will with my dad and so everything is passed to him. My sister and I have sorted most of the money out (mum and dad have money all over the place) as my dad is awaiting a diagnosis of dementia so he has no idea what's going on.
Most of the accounts and savings were in joint names so my mum's name was removed from these accounts and that's all fine. However, my mum had a couple of growth bonds with the Post Office which were quite a few thousand pounds worth. They asked for a copy of the will and death certificate which we sent but they have now said it needs to be passed to probate. In the meantime they have frozen these accounts and they will accrue no interest
So sorry for waffling but my question is this...do we actually have to pass this to probate? Could we just do nothing? The reason I say this is because my dad is quite unwell, so without putting too finer point on it, may only last another 6 to 12 months or so, so everything will have to go through probate when he passes anyway. By the sounds of it, probate takes months so it all seems a little pointless. But if we have things in mum's name still, will this complicate things?
I realise I will have to seek advice from a solicitor but just thought some of your knowledgeable dibbers may know a bit about this.
Thanks for any help

[dubletrub]

Originally Posted by ansi41

Good afternoon everybody, hope you're having a restful Sunday.
Unfortunately my mum died unexpectedly 2 weeks before Christmas She made a will with my dad and so everything is passed to him. My sister and I have sorted most of the money out (mum and dad have money all over the place) as my dad is awaiting a diagnosis of dementia so he has no idea what's going on.
Most of the accounts and savings were in joint names so my mum's name was removed from these accounts and that's all fine. However, my mum had a couple of growth bonds with the Post Office which were quite a few thousand pounds worth. They asked for a copy of the will and death certificate which we sent but they have now said it needs to be passed to probate. In the meantime they have frozen these accounts and they will accrue no interest
So sorry for waffling but my question is this...do we actually have to pass this to probate? Could we just do nothing? The reason I say this is because my dad is quite unwell, so without putting too finer point on it, may only last another 6 to 12 months or so, so everything will have to go through probate when he passes anyway. By the sounds of it, probate takes months so it all seems a little pointless. But if we have things in mum's name still, will this complicate things?
I realise I will have to seek advice from a solicitor but just thought some of your knowledgeable dibbers may know a bit about this.
Thanks for any help

See more...

My dad didn't have much apart from his house which is in a very poor part of town but the solicitor who had his will advised us to do it.
We did it on our own through the government website, easy to do. Was back within a couple of weeks, possibly because he didn't have much.
Think it was around £250 doing it on our own

[ansi41]

Originally Posted by dubletrub

My dad didn't have much apart from his house which is in a very poor part of town but the solicitor who had his will advised us to do it.
We did it on our own through the government website, easy to do. Was back within a couple of weeks, possibly because he didn't have much.
Think it was around £250 doing it on our own

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Thank you, I did have a quick look on that website. That would be much cheaper than a solicitor doing it

[Momofboys]

I did probate for my Mom, she died without a will and unexpectedly
It wasnt difficult to do and all the post office need is the certificate of probate and then they release the funds immediately.

It seemed to us that different building societies have different limits on the amounts they will transfer without probate.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. Sorry to hear about your Mum.
Probate if you do it yourself is £215 and if the Estate is straightforward which it is in your case then it's very easy to do. I have done it many times sadly.

Make sure though you apply for quite a few copies of the Probate which are only £1.50p each. they cost quite a bit more if you ask for extra copies later on.

What the Post office has done is standard practice as they are just ensuring that Dad is the beneficiary. Better to be safe than sorry.

However to freeze the interest is somewhat mercenary in my view but probably in their T & C's.

[ansi41]

Originally Posted by Momofboys

I did probate for my Mom, she died without a will and unexpectedly
It wasnt difficult to do and all the post office need is the certificate of probate and then they release the funds immediately.

It seemed to us that different building societies have different limits on the amounts they will transfer without probate.

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Thank you and yes I agree, different banks seem to have different procedures as Lloyds sorted it out with no problems at all x

[ansi41]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

OP. Sorry to hear about your Mum.
Probate if you do it yourself is £215 and if the Estate is straightforward which it is in your case then it's very easy to do. I have done it many times sadly.

Make sure though you apply for quite a few copies of the Probate which are only £1.50p each. they cost quite a bit more if you ask for extra copies later on.

What the Post office has done is standard practice as they are just ensuring that Dad is the beneficiary. Better to be safe than sorry.

However to freeze the interest is somewhat mercenary in my view but probably in their T & C's.

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Thank you for your advice, from what you and others are saying, it doesn't seem such a nightmare as I first thought. I'll speak to my sis tomorrow and get the ball rolling x

[mitch84]

Out of interest, those who did do it yourselves, how long did it take? Was any property involved?

[DisneyDaffodil]

I applied for probate myself when my mum died. It was straightforward and much cheaper than a solicitor. As others have said, have a few more copies of the probate than you think you will need as it’s cheaper to get them together. It’s was surprising how many we needed, any insurance companies, banks, pensions, benefits will all ask for a copy before they will deal with you.

[Pussycat Doll]

My dads probate took 8 days.