Simple Probate - Is there such a thing ?

[Helping Hand]

My dad died last year and spent the last 6 months of his life getting his affairs in order. Where possible he put accounts into joint names so my mum has been able to access all of these without any difficulty. Their house is also in joint names. There is a will in place.
However, there are 3 specific accounts that are solely in his name and my mum has been advised that probate will be required before these accounts can be accessed or put into her name.
I offered to look into this for her because I thought it would be straightforward process with just 3 accounts in scope. Unfortunately, i'm after coming unstuck already on the statement of affairs form S.A 2. My question is if I need to include any joint assets (bank accounts, family home etc) in this form and if so, do these need to be submitted with value on date of death or on the date of form completion?
I'm sure that this is all doable with a bit of time but am wondering now if I've bitten off more than I can chew before I even start the process.
Any guidance on the joint assets inclusion would be very much welcomed

 

[DannyBoyD]

IANAL

I don't believe you can extract Grant of Probate for a portion of the estate; everything has to be listed, even if it passes 'outside' the estate (e.g. Credit Union benefit).

DiY probate is possible if you are methodical and organised.

Pretty much everything in probate land is from date of death.

 

[Tadaima]

The bank allowed all my dad's bank accounts to be transferred into my mother's name after he died. All was in his name but the will stated he wanted everything to go into her name. I oversaw this process, (my mother signing forms in the bank with bank officials as witnesses), and once all was in my mother's name and all bills were paid, her solicitor said no probate was needed. That was 14 year's ago and never heard anything since.

 

[ClubMan]

That was 14 year's ago and never heard anything since.

Nobody is going to chase you about this. But there could still potentially be issues when it comes to eventually dealing with your mother's estate. That was our family's experience when my father predeceased my mother by 20 years and no probate was done after his death and we had to do it as part of doing my mother's leading to additional delays, complications and costs. (Further complicated by the fact that the family home had remained in his sole name from the time of purchase in the 50s until my mother's death).

 

[Helping Hand]

I’ve had a read of the Revenue SA.2 notes this evening and hopefully have answered my own question. It appears that anything under joint names where there is a surviving spouse, doesn’t need to be included. Hopefully this makes the task a bit more straightforward

 

[The Ghoul]

Not having to include assets held jointly with a surviving spouse should make things a lot simpler. However the SA.2 form allows you to include such assets - you can select spouse, enter their share etc. Puzzling that it lets you do this given how emphatic the guidance document is.

Also, I read somewhere that if the deceased was in nursing home under the Fair Deal, documentation on assets needs to be sent to the HSE before anything is distributed. Assets held jointly with one's spouse are part of the Fair Deal application yet they may not appear in the Asset section of the SA.2?

 

[Ravima]

I really like the title - Simple Probate.

I'm beneficiary of an estate. There are two others. All that is in the estate is cash and we are nearly three years post death and nothing done until I threatened to apply to High Court to have executor removed. Then lo and behold, action!