will

[muttlymoo]

am i entitled to see a copy of my fathers will? His wife is the executer and she isnt telling me anything. All his assets have been frozen and the solicitor has said she cant tell us anything at the moment

[Peter Pedant]

At present from what you sssay, things seem to be going as they should.

The executors go around and freeze everything using the death certificate and then they apply for probate on the will.

IF your father left more than �285 000 then IHT has to be paid up front and then the estate can be distributed according to the will.

The solicitor will see everyting is done according to the will but obviously there will be a charge for that.

Once probate is granted, you can get a opy from the public records office

so basically the answer is yes - but not now

Basicallywhen I was doing my mother's will, I actually didnt ccare who saw the will - the more the better,
but I am aware that people tend to think this sort of thing is private.

You could write to the soicitor and ask nicely for a copy - but then he could write back and tell you to apply to the Records Office after probate....

As for you pitchinng in and helping - if you are not an executor, then you can't....

[muttlymoo]

At present from what you sssay, things seem to be going as they should.

The executors go around and freeze everything using the death certificate and then they apply for probate on the will.

IF your father left more than �285 000 then IHT has to be paid up front and then the estate can be distributed according to the will.

The solicitor will see everyting is done according to the will but obviously there will be a charge for that.

Once probate is granted, you can get a opy from the public records office

so basically the answer is yes - but not now

Basicallywhen I was doing my mother's will, I actually didnt ccare who saw the will - the more the better,
but I am aware that people tend to think this sort of thing is private.

You could write to the soicitor and ask nicely for a copy - but then he could write back and tell you to apply to the Records Office after probate....

As for you pitchinng in and helping - if you are not an executor, then you can't.

Thanks for your help :)

How long would this take would you think.

The reason I want to know is 2 yrs ago my father gave me a gift of �50k and I believe I will have to pay IT on this (40%) which i don;t have. Hoping there is something in the will for me so i can cover this cost...

[dzug]

As long as it takes - traditionally executors have a year to sort things out but there's no real legal basis for this. It depends on how complex things are. Two or three months minimum.

As to the IHT, in the first place I think the estate has to pay this. You then owe it to them. If you haven't got it they have to wait until you have.

[Nether Edge]

The IHT has to be paid as a pre-condition for obtaining Probate. Chicken & egg- no funds until Probate, but no Probate unless IHT paid.

[themas]

dzug - I agree the estate has to pay the IHT, but what is your basis for saying the person who received the gift then owes it to the estate? I've always understood that the estate bears the liability unless there is insufficient money in the estate. Is there something in IHT law about this? If not, I would be surprised if there is always a liability unless it was a condition of the gift when it was made.

[dzug]

You may well be right themas - not sure of the finer detail on this.

Slightly tongue in cheek - if no-one administering the estate knows about the gift, and for 'privacy' reasons decline to involve you so that you can tell them about it, then the IHT on it may never be paid anyway....