Please Note: Household and personal goods, such as items of jewellery valued at less than £500, furniture and other domestic items do not need to be listed within the Assets & Liability records. However, any items that are individually listed on the Deceased’s household insurance policy should be included here, even if they are valued less than £500.
Types of Assets & Liabilities #
There are 16 categories to choose from to list an assets or liability. This will make adding, editing and finding records easier for you. These 16 categories provide every necessary option to add an asset or liability.
Property – Houses / Buildings including their main residence (if owned) where they normally lived.
Mortgage – Any mortgages relating to any property that you has been listed.
Pension – Private pensions held at the date of death
Bank or Building Society – Details of any bank or building society accounts held, whether with money in the account or overdrawn.
National Savings, ISAs or Premium Bonds
Shareholding – Any holding of shares, whether private or quoted on a stock exchange. Government stocks. Other share investment and share trusts.
Loan – Personal loans to bank or financial institution including secured loans. Personal loans from a relative or friend. Personal loans to a relative or friend.
Credit Card – Credit cards. Store Cards.
Life Protection Policy – Life Policies. Purchased Life Annuities.
Insurance – Household. Vehicle. Personal Possession. Gadget. Other.
Utility – Council Tax. Energy. Water & Drainage. Television & Communication (Telephone / Internet / Mobile). Other.
Personal Possessions – Items such Jewellery. Antiques. Works of Art. Collections. etc.
Vehicle – Car (including classic). Motorcycle or other vehicle. Boat. Aircraft.
Cash – Notes & Coins. Uncashed traveller’s cheques.
Money owed to/From Estate – Any other monies owed to or from estate, for example; HMRC tax rebate. Money owed to / from state pension. Money back from a membership. Money spent on the deceased’ behalf, during their lifetime, which is now being claimed back, e.g. paying domestic bills.
Other – Any other miscellaneous assets or liabilities that are not applicable to any of the above. Partnership and Business Interests.
Useful Information #
Property #
It is acceptable to carry out your own research to establish the market price of the property using websites such as Zoopla or Rightmove.
If the deceased owned a share in a house, building or land with anyone other than the spouse or civil partner through joint ownership or tenant in common, you can reduce the value of the deceased’s share by 10%. When entering the property’s value, please enter 90% of the whole asset value. If the house, land or building is wholly owned by husband and wife or civil partners, do not reduce the property’s value.
Mortgaged Property #
Before listing a mortgage you must have listed the associated property. If you have already entered the property on which there is a mortgage this will appear in the list for selection, and and will automatically take the ownership status from the property listed.
Pension #
You should only enter details of any private pension scheme and the amount owed to or from the estate.
You will need to include a valuation for any pension that makes a lump sum payment on death. A pension that provides for an ongoing annuity to a surviving partner will not need to be included.
A pension may be a workplace pension, sometimes called ‘occupational’, ‘works’, ‘company’ or ‘work- based’ pensions, which are arranged by an employer. Alternatively, a pension may be a private pension, sometimes called a ‘personal’ or ‘stakeholder’ pension which is usually arranged by the individual.
Please Note: Any state pension funds due should be listed under the “Money Owed To/From the Estate” category.
Shareholding #
Listed Stock and Shares are shares in public companies that trade on the London or other recognised Stock Exchange. If the deceased had a fund manager, you should inform them and request a valuation of the fund for probate purposes as at the date of death.
You can calculate the value of the shares yourself. It is now much easier to carry out by looking at various websites. These include the Stock Exchange Daily Official List, Bloomberg and Google Finance.
To value the shares, you should use the closing price on the nearest date available.
Once you have the share price you should multiply that by the number of shares to arrive at the value of a particular shareholding. Companies may make a bonus payment to their shareholders once or twice a year. This payment is made usually in the form of cash but may also be offered as additional shares in the company (called a ‘scrip payment).
If a dividend was due when the person died, this needs to be included in the value of the shares. The dividend will be indicated by one of a series of markings (for example, ‘xd’, ‘xc’, ‘xr’ or ‘xe’) next to the quoted share price in the financial website or newspaper.
The dividend will usually be given as a cash amount and will be shown on a ‘per share’ basis so to calculate the full amount you will need to multiply the bonus shown by the total number of shares held.
Alternatively, the figure for the dividend may be given as a percentage. This will be a percentage of the nominal or ‘face value’ of the share. You will need to check the share certificate to find out the nominal value of the shares. Once ascertained, you will need to multiply the amount of the dividend by the total number of shares to calculate the total size of the bonus.
In calculating a dividend, the ‘net’ price should be used. This means after income tax has been deducted. Financial websites and newspapers will show the net price for UK companies.
Valuing Government Bonds
A government bond is a debt security issued by a national government, which will usually pay periodic interest payments and repay the face value of the security on the stated maturity date.
In the UK, the generic term for bonds issued by the government is ‘gilts’ and covers almost all government bonds and index-linked debt instruments. The term originates from the first ownership certificates which had gilded edges.
As with listed shares, the value of gilts is taken as the closing price on the day the person died.
For a free valuation, you should contact Computershare at the UK Debt Management Office. Computershare is the private company which administers the government’s sale and purchase of gilts and maintains the ownership register. They will need to see a copy of the death certificate in order to give you a valuation.
Valuing Unit Trusts
You may find it difficult to value a unit trust as the price may not be readily available on a financial website or in a newspaper. You will need to contact the fund manager of the unit trust.
Valuing Unlisted Shares
Unlisted shares are shares in private companies that are not traded on a recognised stock exchange and not offered sale to the public. To value these shares you should contact the company secretary or the accountant at the company to request a valuation.
Life Protection Policy #
A pay-out from a life insurance policy will need to be included in the estate. You will need to check whether the deceased had life insurance and whether there was provision for a pay-out on death.
Please Note: If a life policy doesn’t have a pay-out on death but is written in trust for a named beneficiary, the policy does not form part of the deceased’s estate and will not be included in the valuation.
If the life policy was written in trust for a beneficiary, then the payment due under the policy can usually be made to that person right away.