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01/06/2011 13:43:27 pinklips Posts: 1	I am one of the executors of my fathers will and was also his next of kin. The house that he half owned is already on the market as it was put up for sale last year when he split up with his partner. Am I right in thinking I need a grant of probate for a sale of the house to be completed and to get this do I first need to fill in a form for inheritance tax? Also his ex partner is asking me for copies of my fathers death certificate to give to the building society who they had their mortgage with and also to the council tax office and electricity company, as although she moved out of the property when they split up she was still paying for things. Should I give her the copies or should it be me that informs these companies with being his next of kin?
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13/07/2011 12:17:51 www.clicklegalservices.co.uk Administrator Posts: 374	It depends on how the house was held. If held jointly, it passes on survivorship to the other owner. If held as "tenants in common", your father's share passes in accordance with his Will. You will only find this out by looking at the land register for the property. I believe that if the property passes automatically on survivorship (i.e. they held as beneficial joint tenants) then it does not form part of the estate - it belongs automatically to the other owner. If there was a split, then he may well have needed to sever the joint tenancy - so as to ensure that his share did not pass automatically. Obviously whether this was done is something we do not know. To advise properly though we would need to see the land register. If there are small amounts held in building societies/banks,. then if £5000 or under, banks will normally release the funds on production of a statutory declaration and without a formal grant of probate. It is slightly different with payments to third parties. I think they would be looking to her in the first instance for payment but I think that she would be entitled to some form of an indemnity from the "estate" if the debts were in fact your late fathers - i.e. after she had left.
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