UK shares & probate issues

Hello.

My father died a few months back and had about €1400 in Standard Life Shares. ComputerShare were sent a copy of the will (appointing my mother as sole beneficiary + executor) + the death cert.

However before the release the money to her they are requiring a UK Grant of Representation/Probate

Is there any way around this?

As my mother is the sole beneficiary - there should be no inhertiance Tax issues and no financial institution in Ireland required probate for any other parts of the estate (investment policies, life ass policies, credit union a/c etc).

Any thoughts welcome.

Thank u

Depending on circumstances it may be possible to circumvent the need for a grant of probate by getting something called (something like) a small estates letter of indemnity and returning that instead. Ask ComputerShare about it. My mother was in the same position with regard to my father's Vodafone shares and several years on they are still not released from his name because of various problems in following this up and processing the transfer at their end and a bit of inertia at our (my!) end in chasing it up...

If Computershare is the registrar they do not require a UK Grant of Probate if the entire UK estate is less than £285,000 and the value of the shareholdings is less than £15,000. Therefore the shares should be transferred on production of the Original Irish Grant of Probate together with the Original Share Certificates and a small estates declaration.
If Lloyds TSB is the registrar, in order to transfer these two collections of shares a UK Grant will have to be extracted only where the limit for Lloyds TSB is £285,000 for the entire UK estate, but have a limit of £10,000 for the shareholding. If a UK grant is required, the same executor must appear on the UK grant as on the Irish grant to avoid any confusion.
Stock Transfer forms must be signed in both situations – one per company per beneficiary.

I presume that the issue here (as in my father's estate case) is that things did not go to probate at all? We were told that only the small estates declaration (indemnity?) form would be necessary in that case (along with the original share certs).

Thanks Clubman & Satsuma

Yes there was no need to go to probate at all and in fairness everything has been sorted pretty quickly - except for these shares.

The UK estate is just these shares - €1400 ish.

If I hadn't already told Computershare I probably would just go online and sell them myself and pass the cheque to my mother. But I suspect they have already tagged them.

I'll google the small estates declaration idea and see where that leads me.

No share certs were issued - they are held in a nominee a/c with Computershare I think.

Thanks again!

hi...can anyone help me regarding probate issue? Firstly im from malaysia and my father pass away quite ago and he left me some share in computershare around 40k pound. im the only granted Administrator but computershare told me to get UK extracted Grant of Probate. whats that?? what should i do next?? can someone pls help..

If you are now resident in Malaysia you would probably be better off instructing a UK firm of solicitors to extract a UK grant of probate for you. Contact the english law society for recommendations. If you are resident in the UK this is something you may be able to do yourself depending on the circumstances. The only thing I would be wary of is the tax treatment between UK and Malaysia.

Hi. We have a similar issue with an inheritance from our uncle (domiciled and resident in Ireland) except the total value of the UK shares is £550,000 (approx €620k) out of a total estate valued at €2m.

We originally thought that all we needed was UK probate, but we are now told that we will also have to pay UK inheritance tax, and re-claim from the Irish Revenue.

Is this correct?

Can we use the tax-free threshold in both countries?

thanks

paddytt

UK sited assets are liable to UK inheritance tax. The UK rates etc will be used for this calculation.

If you as benificiary are resident in Ireland, there will be a liability to Irish CAT, but you will get a credit for any UK inheritance tax paid, and can claim the relevant tax free threshold here.

This means in effect that you will pay the higher liability overall, but will not be doubly taxed.

Thanks.

It appears that any UK assets are taxed at 40%, but there is a £325k tax-free threshold on the estate. You have to make a UK tax return on Form IHT400, unless it's just shares & cash valued at under £150k or a few other exceptions. For UK Grant of Probate, you need to get it in addition to your Irish one unless the UK estate is under £15k.

The main point in the UK is that you have to pay up within 6 months or you will be charged interest, and you unless you register within 12 months you will have to pay a penalty. Also, it's the Estate that is taxed, not the beneficiaries as in Ireland.

The lesson here is to move your UK assets back to Ireland before you pass on....

I know a little more now about the UK position if anyone needs any help.

regards

TT

paddytt said:

Thanks.

It appears that any UK assets are taxed at 40%, but there is a £325k tax-free threshold on the estate. You have to make a UK tax return on Form IHT400, unless it's just shares & cash valued at under £150k or a few other exceptions. For UK Grant of Probate, you need to get it in addition to your Irish one unless the UK estate is under £15k.

The main point in the UK is that you have to pay up within 6 months or you will be charged interest, and you unless you register within 12 months you will have to pay a penalty. Also, it's the Estate that is taxed, not the beneficiaries as in Ireland.

The lesson here is to move your UK assets back to Ireland before you pass on....

I know a little more now about the UK position if anyone needs any help.

regards

TT

Click to expand...

paddytt said:

Thanks.

It appears that any UK assets are taxed at 40%, but there is a £325k tax-free threshold on the estate. You have to make a UK tax return on Form IHT400, unless it's just shares & cash valued at under £150k or a few other exceptions. For UK Grant of Probate, you need to get it in addition to your Irish one unless the UK estate is under £15k.

The main point in the UK is that you have to pay up within 6 months or you will be charged interest, and you unless you register within 12 months you will have to pay a penalty. Also, it's the Estate that is taxed, not the beneficiaries as in Ireland.

The lesson here is to move your UK assets back to Ireland before you pass on....

I know a little more now about the UK position if anyone needs any help.

regards

TT

Click to expand...