Probate

Cryptocurrency estate planning: lessons from QuadrigaCX

In a plot line worthy of a Dan Brown novel, the 30 year old CEO and founder of QuadrigaCX, Gerald Cotton, was reported as having died in India at the end of last year, seemingly having taken the passwords to the company’s cold storage wallets with him to his grave.

How to manage UK probate fee increases

Currently most applications made by solicitors for a UK grant of representation for a deceased’s estate incur a flat fee of £155 payable to the Probate Registry. However, perhaps within a little over two months’ time, a grant could cost as much as £20,000! How did we get here and, more importantly, what can be […]

Probate fee increases: a death tax by any other name?

Probate fees do not, on the whole, cause much consternation. After someone dies, an application to the Probate Registry is often needed to obtain a grant – proof acceptable to English financial institutions that they can safely pay over the deceased’s assets to the personal representatives (PRs) named on the grant. This exercise, one of […]

Executors: it’s time to turn detective or risk a penalty

An essential part of any executor’s job is to work out the assets and liabilities of the estate that they are administering. An executor also owes a statutory duty to HMRC to correctly report the value of the estate to it so that, if any Inheritance Tax is due on the estate, the right amount […]

Do I have to accept an executorship?

A good friend (or client) of yours has sadly passed away and has named you as an executor of his Will. What do you do now? Must you act? It is always flattering to be trusted with such a responsible role. In some respects, you may feel morally obligated to act. However, it is always […]

IHT related penalties: a warning for PRs and beneficiaries

The recent case of Hutchings v HMRC [2015] UKFTT 0009 (TC) will be of interest to anyone acting as executor/administrator of an estate and anyone who is a beneficiary.  Like the sword of Damocles, HMRC was dangling a tax penalty of £87,000 over the heads of both the executors and one of the beneficiaries – […]