When a person dies somebody has to deal with their estate (money property
and possessions left) by collecting in all the money, paying any debts and
distributing what is left to those people entitled to it. Probate is the
court’s authority; given to a person or persons to administer a deceased
person’s estate and the document issued by the Probate Service is called a
Grant of Representation. This document is usually required by the asset
holders as proof to show the correct person or persons have the Probate
Service’s authority to administer a deceased person’s estate.
What is the Probate Service?
The Probate Service forms part of the Family Division of the High
Court. It deals with ‘non-contentious’ probate business (where there is
no dispute about the validity of a will or entitlement to take a grant),
and issues
grants of representation, either:
Probate (when the deceased person left a valid will and an executor
is acting)
Letters of administration with will (when a person has left a valid
will but no executor is acting)
or
- Letters of administration (usually when there is no valid will).
These grants appoint people known as personal representatives to
administer the deceased person’s estate.
What types of
remortgage are available?
The mortgage
and probate market changes daily and it
is therefore advisable to do
your home-work to see what
is currently available.
Below are the typical types
of remortgage available in the
UK.
Variable rate
mortgages
With a
variable rate mortgage the
interest may go up or down
during the life of the
mortgage depending on what
the bank base rate is doing.
The benefits of a variable
rate mortgage are that there
is not usually a ‘tie in’
period so you can repay the
mortgage whenever you wish
and if interest rates go
down you will get the
benefit. However, if
interest rates rise you will
pay more.
Fixed rate
mortgages
With a fixed
rate remortgage the interest
rate is fixed for a set
period of time – usually 2,
3 or 5 years but sometimes
longer. During the fixed
rate period the interest
rate will not go up or down
whatever the bank base rate
does. There is usually a
penalty clause which applies
during the fixed rate in
which you have to pay a lump
sum to the lender if you
want to repay the remortgage
during the probate fixed rate
period. So you are
effectively ‘tied in’ to the
remortgage for the period of
the fixed rate and sometimes
longer. You have the
advantage of knowing how
much your monthly payments
will be during the fixed
rate, but you are tied to
the remortgage unless you want
to pay a penalty and if
interest rates go down then
you will still pay the
higher rate.
Tracker
A tracker
remortgage tracks a stipulated
bank base rate and usually
guarantees not to rise
beyond a certain percentage
above the bank base rate.
This means that your
mortgage can go up or down
depending on what the base
rate does. You have the
benefit of paying less if
the mortgage rates go down
but you will pay more if
they go up.
Interest only
mortgages
If you are
trying to keep your monthly
costs down you may opt to
pay only the interest on
your remortgage. This means
that at the end of the
remortgage you will still owe
the amount you borrowed ‘the
Capital’. Most lenders will
insist that you take out a
‘repayment vehicle’ i.e. an
insurance policy, pension
etc. to repay the remortgage
at the end of the term.
Capital
repayment mortgages
With a
capital repayment remortgage
you pay the interest plus
part of the loan off each
month. In the early years it
is mostly the interest which
is paid but over the life of
the remortgage you gradually
reduce the loan until it is
all paid off at the end of
the term.
Self-Certified Mortgages
With a
self-certified remortgage the
lender trusts you to certify
how much income you earn.
This can be beneficial to
self-employed people or
people whose income cannot
be certified in the usual
way. Few lenders now offer
these types of remortgages and
they usually cost far more
in interest than a standard
mortgage.
Probate and Equity
release
This type of
remortgage was set up so that
home owners could release
equity from their properties
in order to raise funds to
supplement their income, pay
for home improvements or
residential care etc. The
idea is that the funds are
advanced by the lender and
the money is re-paid from
the proceeds of sale of the
probate property once the home-owner
has passed on. The home
owner needs specialised
advice on this type of
mortgage and CMS can provide
a quotation for this. Please
call us on 0845 060 33 55
for a quote.
Conveyancing is the legal process carried out by solicitors that transfers shared equity
or property from
one owner to another. Your probate conveyancing will be carried out by
probate conveyancing solicitors specialist employed by one of the CMS
probate panel
solicitors / probate licensed conveyancers. All of our panel
of probate solicitors
are approved for probate and regularly checked by CMS. All
probate solicitors firms are
members of the Law Society or Council for Licensed Conveyancers
(you will find their contact details in our Links section) and
all carry at least £1,000,000 worth of indemnity insurance for the
protection of their clients.
All of our fully
qualified probate conveyancing solicitors nationwide who undertake property
probate law sign a legal agreement to abide by the quotes we
provide, not to charge "hidden extras" and also to provide the level of service
published in our Service Charter - which you will find in the left hand menu. In
a nutshell good probate conveyancing solicitors will be qualified, experienced,
pro-active and IT literate. The CMS solicitors probate panel is constantly under
review.
From 25.3.10 until 25.3.12 First Time Buyers buying a property at less than
£250,000 will be exempt from stamp duty. Please note that your quote will still
display and include the stamp duty BUT if you are a first time buyer then stamp
duty will not be charged. If you are buying a property in excess of £1,000,000
the stamp duty rate will increase to 5% for all property purchases completed
after 6th April 2011.
