Posts Tagged ‘Estate Administration’
How long does probate take to get?
Online applications for grants of probate should be processed within eight weeks, the government now says. But don’t forget that a huge amount of work has to be completed beforehand. The estate must be valued. That means contacting the deceased person’s bank, building society and any other financial institutions to discover their work at time…
Read MoreWhat is Intestacy?
Rules of intestacy kick in if you die without leaving a will. How your money and possessions are distributed is strictly laid down in law and may not be what you wanted. First in the pecking order is your spouse or civil partner. Then your children, followed by your parents, brothers or sisters, and then…
Read MoreWhat happens if we all die together?
Tragedies happen, I’m afraid. Just pick up any newspaper or watch the news on TV. Yes, the chances of you personally being involved are low. But planning for all eventualities can at least ease some of the pain of those you leave behind. Something often overlooked in do-it-yourself wills is a residue clause. But it’s…
Read MoreWhat is an Executor and what do they do?
We often say we’d trust someone with our life. Well, an executor is the person we trust with our death – or at least what happens after our demise. An executor is the friend or relative or professional that we nominate to carry out the instructions in our will. It can be a great honour…
Read MoreWhen do I have to complete form IHT400?
Life presents us with many challenges. And so, sadly, does death. At a time when we are struggling to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, we must also deal with the red tape. Stripping away the emotion, we have to reduce the deceased’s life to numbers. To us, he or she…
Read MoreHow to Minimise Inheritance Tax
Giving it all away, as The Who’s frontman Roger Daltrey sang in 1973, is one way to stop your estate being clobbered by the taxman. Not surprisingly, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are wise to that ruse and have rules in place to ensure the flow of inheritance tax they receive is not reduced to…
Read MoreIs Capital Gains Tax due on my House after I Die?
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) was introduced by Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan in 1965 to plug a loophole. It means you are taxed on the profit you make from selling an asset that has increased in value. CGT applies to things like land, shares, personal belongings and property. But it is not due…
Read MoreYou can’t hide from the Taxman
Even estates valued below the inheritance tax threshold are sometimes investigated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. So it’s vital that a realistic valuation is sought for something like a house, which in many cases forms the bulk of the estate. The taxman insists on an open market valuation, which is described as the “price…
Read MoreWhat have Amazon, Uber and Kings Court Trust got in common?
Amazon began doing it by selling books online. Uber began doing it by using smartphone technology to undercut London’s traditional black cabs. And now Kings Court Trust is doing it in estate administration. It’s all about disruption. This word has been used, some say incorrectly, to describe new businesses that enter a market and displace…
Read MoreWhat Happens to Estate Accounts?
Estate accounts must be retained for the length of time that Franklin D Roosevelt was president of the United States of America. History buffs will know that was 12 years, a period covering a large part of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Let’s hope the 12 years you keep your estate accounts…
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