(1) Roughly how long should the probate take to complete in full, recognizing that there is a reasonably well located house in Dublin to be disposed off?
Piece of string, I'm afraid. Easily minimum 4-8 months.
(2) Is it my job as executor or the solicitors job to document / sign off on what inheritances the beneficiaries have already received for inheritance tax threshold purposes?
Best that the executor does that.
(3) Does Irish inheritance tax provisions apply to people tax resident in UK / Holland , or is it local provisions?
Both?
(4) Do people typically use the same solicitor for both probate and the conveyance on the sale of the house, or can you use separate solicitors?
Personally, I'd stick with one solicitor and don't really understand why anyone would use two? Unless going for the absolute cheapest deal all round- but that would probably be the one solicitor anyway.
(5) Do you first have to have physically sold the house before applying for probate or do you simply have to have it valued?
Before Covid, typically , you'd put the property on the market and once you found a buyer, you'd have fixed the value for Probate. Given the delays though that are likely going to be encountered to obtain Probate currently, a long closing date may not be very attractive to a purchaser.
But if you fix a value for property, you may/may not end up with the property selling for more than the Probate value, potentially triggering a CGT liability.
mf