The 'Estate Kit' review for Probate- fantastic kit
As a person who has been in the Justice business for 20 years, I was very skeptical as to whether this 'Estate Kit' would meet my expectation, considering I am doing it prior to passing over, as I don't know if I'll have the time when I get to where I'm going.
After reading the first guide, I found the detail within was comprehensive, and above all easy to follow.
The guide has taken a lot of difficulty out of the probate process.
Right, I said to myself "let's see how the documentation stacks up against the guide", by applying the detail to the 'Family Folder'.
I found it easy to follow how each part of the 'Family Folder' was coming together by following the 3-stage process.
Once you get going, you want to go through to the end but remember that there is a fair bit of detective work in stage 2, tracking down documents, when you don't know where they are.
Not all people are nerds like me, and store statements and anything else which helps fill the forms in.
Keep on the lookout for anything which has an account number, address or the probate person's name on it, and keep the most up to date copy in a file.
The others you have found may have a different address or account number so be careful what you throw away at this point.
Above all don't rush the process - At this point you should have completed the 1st milestone (5 days) by registering the death, dealing with the funeral and prepare to move to stage 2, which is the 'hunt the documents stage'.
If you do this before the person passes over, this will be a great help. That's why I'm doing the work before I go, so that my kids have a straightforward time through probate.
During this 28-day stage 2, it's a good time to review your will and see if any changes need to be made. A probate solicitor is good value for money in checking your will and 'statement of wishes' to see if its tax efficient and what you want to happen after your death. I would also suggest you talk the probate process over with your solicitor and decide on what you can do and what's more complex for the solicitor to do.
Back to the Family Folder - I'm finding as much of the paperwork the folder says should be included. Some of it was months old but gave me enough detail to get up to date copies. I'm slowly working through stage 2.
I'll provide an update as I move to Stage 3 - towards the IHT 400 form to submit for probate. The estate kit takes you through the whole process in an easy step by step way and even I was happy to follow the guidance to the end and enjoyed the experience.