Getting started with British inheritance and tax

November 10, 2013 5:44 PM

Would a standard solicitor be the best person to advise? A specialist of some sort? A tax accountant? How to avoid unnecessary fees for work on this that the family can do--for instance, they are already tracking down all the banks with investments.

Would a standard solicitor be the best person to advise? A specialist of some sort? A tax accountant? How to avoid unnecessary fees for work on this that the family can do--for instance, they are already tracking down all the banks with investments.

Mr. Anwan's dad passed away and the family is thinking of hiring...someone...to help sort things out. They don't even know if one-half of a jointly-owned home counts towards the inheritance 325,000 allowance? Depending on that answer, the estate may or may not be above 325,000. All goes to the spouse except for cash amounts to the kids.

Thanks

posted by Anwan to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Whether this is Canada or the UK, the answer is the same: a solicitor who is familiar with estates.
posted by yclipse at 5:47 PM on November 10, 2013

A decent-sized local full-service firm is going to have a department for wills, probate, tax and trusts, made up of solicitors who work exclusively in that field. The initial consultation can be used to work out where direct professional assistance is needed and what can be handled by the family.

The UK government site has decent, resources in non-legalese to get some grounding before that initial meeting.
posted by holgate at 7:29 PM on November 10, 2013

When I asked a lawyer friend to recommend me a firm they pointed me in the direction of these guys: Godwins, who I used for some property matters and would also recommend. They do tax and have probate specialists.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2013

If the executor has time on their hands, it's possible to do it all or mostly by yourself. If you want to try going down this route at least to start with, the tax office were extremely helpful to us. There are many resources available from the tax office also - searching for inheritance tax and for probate will get your loads of info. You may well want a probate solicitor.
posted by kadia_a at 10:47 AM on November 11, 2013

Thanks, everyone.
posted by Anwan at 12:54 AM on November 13, 2013