There's nothing stopping the sellers solicitor from drawing up contracts and getting the buyer to sign them. The seller cant sign the contract until probate is granted.Grant of probate first, then offered for sale. Cart before horse here IMHO. You cannot sign contracts on a property that is not available for sale. Talk to your solicitor.
JohnJay, what tax advantages could there be in not applying for grant of probate until the property is sale agreed?In my opinion as a buyer, most solicitors/executors don't apply for probate until the property is Sale Agreed. I believe there are tax advantages of doing this.
Yes John Luc, CGT is the only tax I could be liable for. I won't be liable for any CAT as my inheritance is well within the threshold and no gifts worth talking about over the past 25 years.Only thing on tax I can think of is that if the sale price is higher than the probate value then a capital gain tax will apply to the higher difference
Elacto, I was in the Probate Office to get the forms to fill and so start the process of applying for Grant of Probate without using a solicitor. I was told that the waiting time for an appointment was 6 months from when they receive the correctly completed forms (CA24) and a further 5 months after that before Grant of Probate. I asked them about putting the house up for sale before GOP and would this shorten the process. The clear answer is no. The implication was that in the past a sale agreed on the property would expedite GOP but that they have taken a decision to discourage it now. I asked if I used a solicitor to handle the GOP application would speed things up and again it appears not to be the case where the estate is simple. So as a result I'm not going to put the house on the market until GOP or until I get a clear indication that it's imminent.I believe solicitors are first in line for probate i.e. they're protecting the interests. If the vendor solicitor is willing to push it through to help his client then why not use it ?
FWIW we went sale agreed on 30 Oct 2015 for a property with probate involved and got keys on 16 March 2016 so it took 4.5 months overall.
Do you know when the vendor actually started the probate application process. For example they may have not put the property up for sale until they had the appointment with the probate office. It currently takes 6 months from the time you start the process to the appointment date and from then I've been told it could be about another 4 to 5 months to achieve the Grant of Probate.
The Probate Office are now saying that they will not expedite the grant of probate due to a "sale agreed". Apparently a lot of people have been putting properties on the market before GOP and then they put the probate office under a lot of pressure to expedite the granting of GOP. Maybe a solicitor who they are used to dealing with will get it done a lot faster but for a simple estate such a solicitor will probably charge 8 to 10k. So the question is do you use a solicitor to handle the GOP application and incur that cost without any guarantee that he will be able to get the Probate Office to expedite for a sale agreed. I'm going to continue with the personal application and put the house on the market only when I get the feeling that GOP is imminent.from memory when we went sale agreed
I had heard that a solicitor can make an application can be made to expedite the probate once contract signed (e.g. for reasons such as sale will fall through if not issued promptly etc due to loan approval expiring )
I did DIY probate last year; they were guiding 26 weeks for appointment date at the time, in the end it took 20 weeks; meeting took around 30 mins and I had my grant on the door step with in a week.It currently takes 6 months from the time you start the process to the appointment date and from then I've been told it could be about another 4 to 5 months to achieve the Grant of Probate.
If the poor solicitor has to extend 3 or 4 year's credit for each piece of work, I'm not surprised at bills in that order.
I did DIY probate last year; they were guiding 26 weeks for appointment date at the time, in the end it took 20 weeks; meeting took around 30 mins and I had my grant on the door step with in a week.
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