deceased wife obligations cgt probate rtc

[ohdearme]

Hello All

Difficult when your in mourning, we have a joint house, some BT joint shares, she has a few premium bonds, two ISAs and a joint current bank with me. Do I need probate
and what about IHT Please

I would be so grateful if some kind person could point me in the right direction.

[AGoodman]

Sorry for your loss.

The most important aspect of this is that there is no rush to do any of the below. It can all wait until you have dealt with family issues and the funeral.

You haven't mentioned a will, so I will assume that the premium bonds and ISAs are collectively worth less than £322,000 so everything is passing to you, via a will or the intestacy rules. That also means it would all be exempt from inheritance tax.

Probate is merely a tool so you will only need it it is required to claim assets.

You won't need it for joint asset (house, shares and current account), where you should be able to get them into your joint name using only a death certificate:

- info on registering with the Land Registry is here: https://www.gov.uk/update-property-records-someone-dies
- the shares can be sorted by equiniti, the registrar, here: https://www.bt.com/about/investors/individual-shareholders/shareholder-administration
- the bank will sort the account for you. Google and call their bereavement team and they can tell you what to do.

You will only need it for the premium bonds if they are worth over £5,000.

You will need to speak to the ISA provider to find out if they will require a grant, many will not but it depends on the value. If she had a private pension, you should speak to the pension provider, it is unlikely they will require a grant, but inform them anyway.

You should be able to deal with a lot of other Govt issues such as driving licence, state pension using the "Tell Us Once" service.

The only other thing that comes to mind is a tax return - if your wife usually filed one then you should complete one on her behalf to the date of her death.

There's some more info here: https://www.gov.uk/probate-estate

If it turns out that you do need probate, then you can apply online here: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate It is unfortunately a slow process, so expect them to take 3-4 months from application.

[ohdearme]

I am sorry that I haven't got back to you, I have been ill for three days, but better now and I will have a read of your email tomorrow.

So very kind of you, thank you.

Best
Alan

[ohdearme]

Hello Agoodman,

Just to say thank you. I'm struggling through it all and slowly getting there and it was you who started me off.

It's web site forums like this one and others that show that people do have generosity.

Now, with a cup of tea, I struggle on!

Best
Alan