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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet

Selling Items before Probate is Granted

SH94
Posts:1
Joined:Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:40 am
Selling Items before Probate is Granted

Postby SH94 » Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:50 am

We are in the process of completing probate for my late fathers estate.

Part of this estate includes a small art collection. These items were purchased jointly with my mother on a 50:50 basis.

In a hypothetical - the art has been valued at total £100. Therefore this would mean my mother owns £50 and my father owned £50 worth of art.

We have been approached by a private individual to purchase one of the paintings - lets say valued at £25. Is my mother able to sell this painting before probate has been granted?

Or would she have to wait until probate is completed before the transaction can be completed?

Many thanks

Lee Young
Posts:2707
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Selling Items before Probate is Granted

Postby Lee Young » Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:58 pm

If the items are jointly owned then the terms of the will, and therefore probate, are irrelevant, as they now belong to your mother. They are hers to sell as she wishes.

If the items were entirely owned by the your father, then it is more of an issue for the buyer to establish that the seller has good title to sell the item. Probate is proof of the executor's rights to sell, but in practice the sales will go ahead without the grant having been issued. Inevitably the higher the value, the more the buyer would want to be concerned about title.
Lee Young
Solicitor, Chartered Tax Adviser and Trust and Estate Practitioner


Partner, Frettens LLP
lyoung@frettens.co.uk
01202 491701


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