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Parcel delivery insurance is prohibited under section 57 – Consumer Rights Act – Read about It Here and in The Times.

Ethel Street

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Everything posted by Ethel Street

  1. Ethel Street
    When I got probate when I was executor for my mother and an uncle I didn't pay a penny for a valuation. Just got a local Estate Agent round to say I would be selling, what should I put it on market for, and got them to confirm in writing. "Standard" and "Enhanced" reports means nothing. They aren't a generally accepted industry term that means anything, just something the agent you spoke to has invented to take your money! In practice it all depends what the Estate value will be. If the net value of the whole Estate (ie after the money owing for equity release) will be £250k or less then HMRC won't usually ask for detailed professional valuations providing the Gross property value you put on the IHT return is more or less in line with what HMRC's database of local property values. Have a lok at the IHT form guidance notes. The closer the Estate value is to IHT threshold (or if it's over it) the more likely it is HMRC will expect say 3 valuations. Or if the gross value you state (before equity release repayment) is out of line with local sale process. And assuming the equity release money wasn't ued to make lifetime gifts that HMRC add back into estate value for IHT. I got Probate valuations for my mother's jewellery. About 20% of the Insurance replacement values done at same time by same jeweller! I've done Executor 3 times myself without using a solicitor. If Estate is straightforward and you've time to read up on it all there's no need to use a solicitor.
  2. Ethel Street
    AFAIK Royal Mail charge exactly the same to anywhere in the UK. Whether sent 1st/2nd letter post or Parcel force packages. Certainly for letters, it's one of their fundamental obligations under their 'universal service obligation'. So the retailers explanation is wrong. Private courier/delivery companies though routinely charge higher prices for Highlands and Islands. Maybe they use private companies sometimes? But even if the retailer is wrong about RM they are entitled to set whatever P&P charge they want. They aren't obliged only to charge what RM charge.
  3. Ethel Street
    I doubt they have a heart, although they've identified that their borrower is a vulnerable person and backed off for the moment. But they won't stay backed off for ever unless there is a plan how you are going to repay this. If you are looking at equity release as the only way to raise capital to pay off the mortgage do take professional advice before you commit. And I'd think you would have to be a court appointed Deputy to go down this route on your mother's behalf.
  4. Ethel Street
    Is your mother's dementia such that she no longer has mental capacity? if so have you considered applying to the Court of Protection to be her Deputy? https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy You say she stayed with you for the summer. Is she likely to continue living in the house on her own or will she be moving elsewhere, whether that's to live with you/another relative. or into sheltered accommodation, or to move in a care home? If so you would presumably sell the house? On your figures the house is worth more than £450,000 so (depending where in the country it is) sounds like there is scope for downsizing and moving into sheltered housing. If that is appropriate (I realise I know nothing about your mother's condition, I'm just speculating). If Barclays knew that was the plan they may be happy to wait for you to sell rather than them seeking repossession. There's no other source of funds your mother could access for the £79k? Loan from a family member etc?
  5. Ethel Street
    Is the address on the V5C (log book)/SORN the same as where you now live, ie do DVLA have your current address on their records for the vehicle?
  6. Ethel Street
    Sorry to hear about your troubles. One possibility is that you mention "We believe it’s possible she coerced him into a will". Undue influence is one of the legal grounds for challenging the validity of a Will. More info here. https://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/knowledge/legal-articles/2013/05/24/disputing-will-undue-influence/ Another possibility is that you have a claim for "reasonable financial provision" under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. More info here https://www.lawdonut.co.uk/personal/claiming-an-inheritance/dependants-claims-against-an-estate Note that a claim for Undue Influence challenges the validity of the Will itself, and if the claim were successful the Will would be void and your father's Estate would then be dealt with under Intestacy law. But a claim under the 1975 Act accepts the validity of the Will but seeks a variation of it so family or dependants can, in some circumstances, receive funds from the Estate which were not left to them in the Will. Whether you could use either of these approaches I can't say. It's a complex area of law and needs legal advice from a solicitor specialising in this. From what you've said it seems unlikely you have sufficient evidence to meet the high standard of proof needed to establish 'undue influence'. I fear that, in any event, you may have left it far too late to pursue either of these routes. Generally action needs to be taken within 6 months of Probate being granted. I doubt it's possible to get loan secured on the house until the property actually passes to you. You don't have a legal interest that would allow a lender to use the house as security, your interest is only 'contingent'. That would be my first thought but it's not something I know much about. Good luck.
  7. Ethel Street
    Maybe if you had they'd have come to the same conclusion!
  8. Ethel Street
    Did you authorise OH to discuss with your GP? Your GP's sign off takes precedence in the sense of entitlement to statutory sick pay, but being signed off doesn't stop your employer starting sickness capability proceedings in line with their sickness absence policy. And ultimately they could dismiss you although it sounds as if there's a way to go before it got to that point.
  9. Ethel Street
    Yes student exemption existed in 2005. Can you recover it? I suspect not, but you could contact the council and ask. Have you got evidence, other than your bank statements, of what your council tax was? And that you were a full time student? And who else lived in the property? And whether they were also full time students? From a quick look online it seems that you can go back that far if your claim is that the house was placed in the wrong Band, but that it's up to individual councils how far you can go back if you failed to claim an exemption or discount.
  10. Ethel Street
    Just to be devil's advocate LMT1, they might respond by saying that the PDI contains no personal information about you anyway so they still won't release it. It depends what else you have asked for. But you can only use a GDPR/data protection act Subject Access Request to obtain data about you personally. You can't use it to get information about your vehicle. So you may need to think about alternative ways of pursuing your complaint.
  11. Ethel Street
    Sounds like a smokescreen. It's not even true. Data about an "entity" isn't covered by GDPR/data protection law, nor is data about interdepartmental procedures. They simply aren't within the scope of GDPR. GDPR can only cover data about individual living people. And just because someone can be identified from the PDI doesn't automatically mean it can't be released. Although a person's name is 'personal data' that on its own isn't sufficient to prevent its release. And anyway, as dx says, if they do think that the name of, eg the person who signed the PDI, shouldn't be released they are required to release it to you anyway but with the name removed ("redacted"). I'd make clear that I don't accept their GDPR explanation, request they review their refusal, otherwise you will be referring it to the Information Commissioner.
  12. Ethel Street
    Citizens Advice also seem to think you need to have worked for the employer for 2 years before you can bring a CD claim to an Employment Tribunal https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/dismissal/claiming-constructive-dismissal/ How long have you worked for them for? I don't understand what you mean by "...because I refused to turn my back on a man who was threatening me, I am on a final written warning..". Could you explain a bit more?
  13. Ethel Street
    Once Probate has been granted a Will is a public document and anyone can download a copy of it from this government site (as long as they are willing to pay the £10 fee). A Will isn't a private or confidential document after Probate. You don't have to have any connection with the deceased to get a copy of the Will, plain old nosey-parker is fine. https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate As executor after you have Probate you are required to give information to anyone who is an actual or potential beneficiary, or if ordered to do so by a court. But not to anyone else. If family members who are not beneficiaries want to know what's in the Will you are entitled to tell them to go to the online site and pay for their own copy. Although personally I'd find it less hassle to just give them a copy. The total value of the Estate is stated in the Probate document so again anyone can see it if they download the Will. But the Executor is only required to give details about how the value of the Estate was calculated and how it was paid out - ie the Estate accounts - to beneficiaries.
  14. Ethel Street
    You are clutching at straws. Nothing you have posted suggests the police have not disclosed evidence that they held. Your claim is that the evidence the police held was false. Not because of anything the police did, but because the complainant and witness deliberately lied in their statements to the police.
  15. Ethel Street
    It's not relevant to your case though. The article is about the police having evidence but failing to disclose it in court. Your issue is that the police did disclose the evidence given by the complainant and the witness but the evidence both of them had given to the police was false. If there is any possibility of overturning the conviction you will need specialist legal advice. This government site suggests that if you pleaded guilty in court you cannot appeal against conviction (only against the sentence). https://www.gov.uk/appeal-against-sentence-conviction
  16. Ethel Street
    I'm pretty sure the Field Force Officers are direct employees of HMRC, not a debt collecting agency, and the debt management (DMB) unit is part of HMRC itself.
  17. Ethel Street
    Sorry, don't know answer to your question, but re solicitor having paid the money to Anchor anyway. My experience recently selling my mother's leasehold retirement flat was that the property couldn't be sold without the formal approval and agreement to transfer lease from the lessor. And the lessor will withhold that agreement until all the charges due under the lease are paid. So if your solicitor had not paid the 'sinking fund' payment that Anchor said was due you wouldn't have been able to sell the bungalow. I assume that a copy of the actual lease signed by your Aunt in 2011 couldn't be found in her papers? The solicitor who acted for her in the purchase didn't have a copy?
  18. Ethel Street
    That is why I said 'In OP's case...'.
  19. Ethel Street
    But not in OP's case as his Latvian licence was suspended when he got banned from driving in Latvia.....
  20. Ethel Street
    You need a UK Provisional Licence to drive with a driving instructor. As advised above the application form for a Provisional Licence asks if you have been disqualified in another country. But the application form doesn't explain what happens if you answer 'Yes'. Speak to DVLA and see what they say. Make sure they understand that you are not asking for your Latvian licence to be exchanged for a UK one - that will definitely be refused - but that you are planning to start as a UK Provisional licence holder and take a UK driving test.
  21. Ethel Street
    If solicitors have already given you conflicting advice I really don't think you can expect a highly complex matter like this, potentially involving the inheritance laws of two countries, to be resolved here! I don't think there are nay international tax and trust lawyers posting on this forum. Maybe you need to research solicitors who specialise in international inheritance and tax? It's not just a matter of how the property gets to the beneficiary of your choice but also how English Inheritance Tax (and any French equivalent) will operate. Do you have assets in France as well? In principle you can write a Will that leaves a life interest in a house to your spouse, if you die before them, and then on their death it passes to your children. If the asset is in the UK and you are resident in the UK I don't think it matters where the beneficiaries are as far as English law is concerned, but it might matter in French law. I know nothing at all about French law. But I assume there are other complications. If it were that straightforward you presumably wouldn't have got conflicting advice from solicitors.
  22. Ethel Street
    Reminds me of the story (probably apocryphal) of the bloke who's boiler breaks down in the middle of winter, freezing cold, no hot water. Calls out plumber. Plumber presses a button, boiler starts, everything fixed, only there one minute. Bill is £100. Bloke is outraged and demands an itemised bill. Plumbers gives him this itemised bill: (1) For pressing button on boiler: ……………….…...…….£1 (2) For knowing which button to press: ………………..£99
  23. Ethel Street
    I suspect what is happening here is that if someone's Estate is insolvent there are strict rules about the order any debts are paid in. And if there are, for example, several credit cards or loans and not enough to pay them all then they all have to paid in the same proportion. You can't pay some debts in full and nothing to others. There's a fuller explanation of it here. https://www.bereavementadvice.org/topics/probate-and-legal/insolvent-estates/ My guess is you have told RBS there is no money in the Estate to settle the £2k owing RBS and RBS are trying to find out whether the other organisations your late husband owed money to have been paid in accordance with the rules for insolvent Estates. That is why they are asking the information they have listed. It includes the cost of the funeral because under the insolvency rules the cost of the funeral must be "reasonable". As I understand it they are only asking for financial information about your late husband, not your own income and debts. Was there enough money in the Estate to pay for the funeral or was the funeral paid for by you (or other family members) personally, from your own money? If you paid for it yourself you don't have to give any information about it to RBS, just say the family paid not the Estate. If you had been formally appointed by the Probate office as Administrator under Letters of Administration I would advise that you do have to provide this information. It would be part of your legal duties, and not doing it could result in you being held personally liable for all or part of the money owing to RBS. But you are only acting informally and I am really not sure where that leaves you legally. You could just reply and say you aren't formally appointed as Administrator or Executor and were just trying to help them out, and see what happens. You are unable to help with the questions they asked. £2k is a relatively small amount, they might well just write it off at that point. Otherwise come back here and let us know what happens.
  24. Ethel Street
    Are you the official Administrator of your late husbands Estate, ie have the probate office issued you with Letters of Administration? Or are you just dealing with it informally as next of kin
  25. Ethel Street
    hallowitch, Are you appointed as the official Administrator of your late husbands Estate, ie have the Probate office issued you with Letters of Administration? Or are you just dealing with it informally as next of kin? Did your late husband have some sort of repayment plan in place with RBS before his death? ie because he had defaulted on his repayments at some point?

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