Inheritance Tax: Some questions?

I have recently inherited my family house, value 600000. Inheritance tax about 25.000ish. There are outstanding judgements on the home to the value of 28.000ish, is this amount relevant to my claim, can it be deducted from house vaue to reduce the Inheritance tax value? My mother passed away in September and I have only now been able to bring myself to start processing all the information, am I in danger of recieveing a larger tax bill because I will have gone passed the 4month period? By the time I get all the bits sorted I will have.
My parent suffered with Parkinsons and I was also looking after her is there an allowance for this, I moved out 3 years ago but have been living in two houses for the past few years.
On a final note is there anyway I can check to see how many/where my parent had bank/post office/building soceity accounts, it is the conversation we ment to have but never got around to, I have found some bank information but I am sure there is more out there.
Sorry just one final question, my parent worked for a large solicitor group in Dublin, just off Stephens Green, she was recieving a pension from them I have tried to get in touch with there HR dept for some time now, is there a payment upon death on these sort of pension plans, if not it would have been nice to recieve a letter/phone call saying sorry for you loss. (sorry that was a little rant as much as a question).

Any help in any of the above would be much appreciated,

Regards,
The DoGg.

Sorry to hear about your loss. You need to go back to square 1 as you are jumping around the place, from a/c's to tax.
You first of all need to establish did your mother leave a will? Are there any other next of kin? Go through her papers and write to every bank or institute with as much information as you have an ask them to repond with details of any a/c she may have had with them & what the balance was on the date of her death (keep a cross check list). Most companies will want proof you are the executor of the estate so phone call won't suffice. Her debts will come out of her estate before you recieve anything so tax will be calculated after these are taken into account.

Not sure what the 4 month part is as most estates take the best part of 6 to 12 months to sort (probably 4 months after grant of probate).
Also not sure about any allowance - surely you would have had to claim this when she was alive?
Not all pensions have a pay out at death, again, write to the company to establish this.

Contact the Probate office as they are very helpful.
Probate Office Address1st Floor
15/24 Phoenix Street North
Smithfield
Dublin 7Phone+353 (0) 1 888 6174 / 6728Fax+353 (0) 1 873 0306EmailProbateGeneralOffice@courts.ieHead of OfficeMs. Annette O'Connell Probate Officer

Alternatively, you can get a solicitor to do the probate for you but you will probably still have to do alot of the leg work yourself.

Its possible to do your own Probate but, as a practising solicitor, unless the estate is very simple, you have plenty of time, there are no taxation issues and you have a reasonable grasp of where to go and what to look for, I personally don't recommend it.

The inheritance tax should be reduced by the cost of paying off the judgment mortgages, you do need to start work on this or get someone to start to avoid finding yourself in a tax situation, you may be entitled to some form of Carers Allowance ( Social Welfare?), all you can do about bank accounts is trawl through the family papers or make contact with any bank you suspect your parent may have an account with, write formally to your parent's employer and ask about a Death in Service payment or Death Grant.

You probably also need to consider whether you are keeping the house or selling it. If keeping it, how are you going to pay the IT? If selling, is there a good time?

mf

Thanks folks, you have given me a starting point.
I am the sole inheritor, the will leaves everthing to me, i will send letter to each bank and a letter to mt mams employer.

regards,
The DoGg

Again, Sorry to hear about your loss. You were obviously close to your late mother and after being through this type of thing in recent times (mother 4 years and father 18 months), it can be quite painful as it is like an open wound. Believe me, time is the best healer, but the memory never goes, just becomes a little lighter.

As you are raw so to speak, and without knowing your personal circumstances, I would suggest using a firm of solicitors to act on yur behalf. The most important thing to do is to NEGOTIATE AND AGREE CHARGES BEFORE HANDING THE MATTER TO A LEGAL FIRM. If you don't do this the set rate is prohibitive. Why not try the firm where your late mother worked - they might have some compassion and deal with matters fairly. You could even try the member of this site MF1. I have been reading his posts and he is very helpful - he is like a free information guru.

What a legal practice will do is save you an awful lot of time. Just hand them details and thoughts and they will write the letters for you and amass the information and work out the Tax Liability. Believe me its a lot easier than doing it yourself.

Did you get a death certificate as this is vital. Did you know yu are entitled to a Funeral Grant ? There are loads of things to do.

The best of luck. Any questions at this difficult time send me a private message.