Probate process and sale of former family home

A

ArbourHillBilly

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Looking for a bit of guidance, I’m the Executor of my fathers estate and have begun the probate process (the Personal Application has been filed and currently awaiting the appointment). In the meantime, my fathers siblings are looking to sell the former family home.

The house was left equally to the three of them (father and his two siblings), so one third of the house would form part of his estate. They’re quite keen to sell the house and have a potential buyer lined up but given how long the probate process can take, I’m worried I might delay the sale, is there any legal mechanism we could use to enable the sale?
No one is contesting any aspect of this and the beneficiaries of my fathers estate (my sisters) would support in any way required.
 
Firstly, you can't sell the house until probate is done. end to end, from death to conclusion, I'd allow 9 months to a year for the process. Bear in mind you probably will have to get a tax clearance cert after probate is complete as well. That can take another month.
 
ClubMan said:
You can list it and get the sale process going as far as I know?
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Correct, and I've done that in the past. Danger is that the prospective buyer gets fed up waiting if there are issues and delays. I'd only suggest doing it once probate is close to being complete and a lot of EA's wont accept it until towards the tail end of the probate process
 
Who is the executor dealing with your grandparents estate?
My fathers brother (my uncle)
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Until this leg is complete you cannot access all the funds your father may have been due.

You may be able to do a partial distribution of the parts of your father's "estate" not tied up in your grandfathers house.

then,
They’re quite keen to sell the house and have a potential buyer lined up
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Once its sold distribute the rest.
 
ArbourHillBilly said:
My fathers brother (my uncle)
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Was the former family home actually put into the names of your father and two uncles?

If yes, you need to wait until the grant of probate has actually issued for your father's estate. Only a fool would agree a purchase subject to issue of probate which could take years for all they know.

If no, the uncle who is the grandparent's executor can probably sell now (assuming that probate has already issued) and hold your father's share in trust for his estate. Not 100% on this though, and may depend on the wording of the will- was the house left equally to the 3 of them, or was the house just the primary asset of the estate which was left to the 3 of them?
 
Thanks, yes, that's the issue, the house was put into their names, so looks like they'll have to wait before the house can be sold unfortunately.

The house was left equally to the three of them.
 
I sold my deceased parent's house in early 2020 and was fortunate enough to go sale-agreed before applying for probate, which came through a couple of weeks before we closed. I now think that was pretty exceptional. I paid a solicitor to do the probate application to speed the process and due to the fee doubling for a personal application (although I still think he ripped me off as I completed the forms!)
 
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