Putting house into widow's name - grant of probate and solicitor's fees

A

Angiee

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A seemingly straightforward problem but can't get a straight answer: My Dad died last year and the house he and my mother lived in was just in his name. He made a will with his solicitor leaving everything to Mam . . . All he had was house and some bank ac's, credit union savings and pension.

We have been able to sort out pension, bank accounts & credit union ourselves so it's just getting the house transferred to Mam thats the issue . . . The solicitor is recommending probate to do this at a cost of €3000 ! Is it possible to do this ourselves without probate?
 
"The solicitor is recommending probate to do this at a cost of €3000 ! Is it possible to do this ourselves without probate?"

It is possible to do the Probate without a solicitor but it is not possible to transfer your father's interest in the house to your mother without Probate. Probate is, essentially, a Court Order authorising/enabling an executor to legally deal with the affairs of the deceased.

It is possible also simply to leave matters as they are - with the house in your late father's name but, at some stage, perhaps in the not too distant future, you will need Probate to in any way deal with the house.

mf
 
Probate is not impossible to do yourself, without a solicitor. If the only assets are the family home and some bank accounts, you could probably organise Probate yourself.
Go into the Probate Office and they will tell you what's required and help you with the process - I speak from personal experience.
Otherwise €3k does not seem outrageous as a cost to get a Solicitor to do the work.
 
You could spend a lot of time figuring out what to do, get it completed but still not be 100% sure that it's done correctly. Or you can pay a professional to do it for you and all you do is sign forms.

It comes down to whether you'd prefer to spend your time learning the rules of probate or do something more enjoyable yourself.


Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)
 
1) It is very easy to take out a Grant of Probate yourselves. I am not sure that there is a huge advantage in using a solicitor.
It will take at least 6 months as there are long delays in the Probate Office.
2) You will then have a Grant of Probate but you will need a solicitor to move the house from your father's name into your mother's name.

I would suggest that you do 1 yourself and then get a quote from different solicitors for 2)

Brendan
 
A few things I see in this. Does your mother want to take out probate so she herself can leave the house to one particular person? If this is what she wants to do she will need to take out probate. If there's more than one child involved and she wants everyone to share in the house equally then I don't see any reason for your mother to spend money on probate as the children will inherit anyway from the original will, unless your father had something in his will stopping this from happening. You've got the banks, money, etc, sorted from your dads will so your mum can do what she wants with that.
 
Thanks everyone . . There is a trend in all your advice that I think we will take. First time to use this forum. I'll be back!
 
SBarrett said:
You could spend a lot of time figuring out what to do, get it completed but still not be 100% sure that it's done correctly. Or you can pay a professional to do it for you and all you do is sign forms.

It comes down to whether you'd prefer to spend your time learning the rules of probate or do something more enjoyable yourself.
Click to expand...

Because if you get a professional to do it you can be certain that it is done correctly. No professional has ever made a mess of a simple transaction like this before. :):):) Naive questions are fair enough but from a regular poster this faith in the professions is touching.
 
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