A This is Money reader has asked the popular financial website to give advice on the duties of an executor, questioning whether probate is required for premium bonds.

The reader from Cambridge, was engaged in executor duties for his Father’s estate. As well as a house and other financial assets, the deceased had £30,000 worth of premium bonds, which were bought a number of years before his death.

Daniel Howard from the financial advice site answered this probate query, reiterating to the reader that probate was required. Mr Howard commented that probate is not required if the deceased’s estate is worth less than 5,000, or if they shared all their possessions with another person – in that case, the estate would be passed over to the remaining joint owner.

Nevertheless this case, Mr Howard, a financial adviser by trade, stated that a grant of representation may be required, instructing the executor to send a letter to each individual institution, letting them know about the deceased, as well as attaching proof such as a photocopy of the death certificate and if present, a copy of the will.

This is Money also informs the reader that National Savings may be taken advantage of in order to pay hefty inheritance tax costs or to put towards funeral expenditure, prior to probate being granted. However, as with everything, proof of bills will need to be provided, to ensure that expenses were valid.

Overseas buyers are looking to make inroads in to the UK property market via unclaimed properties held in the UK’s probate service, according to Whitehotproperty.co.uk.

One of the biggest areas of the probate service’s work in the UK is dealing with the properties of those who die intestate, without anyone easily identifiable as a likely candidate to take responsibility for the duties of an executor. If no beneficiary for a deceased person’s estate can be found, then wills and probate law dictates that the property be placed upon the probate market.

“Probate properties” also refers to when a beneficiary or heir to an estate inherits a property that they don’t really want, or when a deceased person’s estate must be sold to raise funds for paying creditors with a valid claim to the estate or even just to make it easier to divide amongst beneficiaries.

According to WhiteHotProperty’s figures, this area of the housing market is seeing increasing interests from overseas investors. Nearly 10% of the sites visits from prospective buyers between January and March come from abroad, with the majority originating from the US, Spain, France, Australia and Germany.

Robin King, the director of Whitehotproperty says that he has seen “thousands of prospective buyers searching our probate, part exchanged and repossessed properties which suggests a familiarity with the housing market in this country.”

Mr King says that is the current comparative strength of foreign currencies against the pound that has attracted overseas investors.

An article from The Daily Telegraph has helped a family of a deceased former Royal Navy airman net repayments of nearly £53,000 in inheritance tax.

Although it refers to a little known statute in the Inheritance tax act, The Telegraph’s advice should be extremely useful for anyone who has to probate a will from a deceased member of the UK’s armed forces. Under section 154 of the Inheritance Tax Act, if injuries suffered during military service are a contributory factor in an individuals death then their estate could be entirely free from inheritance tax.

The injuries do not necessarily have to be an immediate factor in the individuals death. In the case of the aforementioned family, the Navy airman had become ill in the 1990 Gulf War after a bad reaction to the NAPS tablets used to protect against nerve gas attacks. After 15 years of treatment for kidney failure, the man died in 2006.

An error in the HMRC and honest ignorance of statute 154 from the person fulfilling the executor duties for the man’s estate meant that some £53,000 in inheritance tax was taken from the deceased’s estate. Accountants from the Grant Thornton firm, who helped the family claim the money back have called upon the MoD and the HMRC to be more lenient in the current time-limit for claims – six years – given that many people are either unaware of the law or that the deceased’s passing could have been partially caused by old injuries suffered in active service.

A spokesman from the MoD said the statue was something that any wills and probate solicitor fulfilling the duties of an executor should be aware of. They stated that since 2005, the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) “automatically considers whether section 154 of the IHT Act might apply when a member of the Armed Forces dies as a result of active service.”

The Scotsman reports that the last wishes of Sir Ludovic Kennedy, the iconic former presenter of BBC’s Panorama programme, have been revealed by newly released probate records.

Sir Kennedy passed away in October 2009 aged 89, following a long battle with pneumonia he developed after a fall in 2008. Thankfully for the family of Mr Kennedy, he appeared to have been familiar with the importance of preparing for his estates entry into wills and probate law, avoiding the disputes which would have arisen if he died intestate.

In his will, Sir Kennedy left the bulk of his estate to his son and three daughters. The Scotsman reports that this sum was around £323,092.

His final requests asked for his body to be cremated and his ashes to be scattered on the water of the river Leith, near his Scottish birthplace and where he had played as a child. He asked that his remains should go on a stretch of the river which flowed by the garden of his nephew Richard Calvocoressi’s home in Edinburgh.

Although this cannot be confirmed, it is believed that this was his likely final resting place though Sir Kennedy also made preparation for the event that his nephew’s family had moved from this spot before his executor was able to clear his will through the probate service. In this case, he asked that his ashes be scattered “at any convenient” place where the river flows through Ann Street Gardens – a spot midway between the house where he once lived and the place where has born.

Rather than the more attention grabbing probate disputes, Sir Kennedy’s estate simply illustrates how the probate service is not necessarily an unpleasant part of the legal service. With proper preparation and without the pressure of squabbling beneficiaries, the duties of an executor can simply be a case of fulfilling the last wishes of the deceased to benefit their surviving family and loved ones.

The estate of Dr Norman De Bruyne, the inventor of Araldite glue, is perhaps one of the most contentious probate cases in recent history for the UK’s legal system.

Dr De Bruyne’s family are engaged in eight separate cases currently in the courts, with probate solicitors working for the inventor’s son, daughter-in-law and his grandchildren engaged in legal battles over various claims, appeals and counter claims to the De Bruyne estate.

The family is engaged in a feud over an estate worth nearly £2.5 million in investments – and the family home of Anstey Hall, a 17th century country manor in Cambridge.

The Daily Telegraph reports that this case has already demonstrated the staggering cost of probate disputes where wills and probate law offers no clear recourse. Legal costs alone are estimated to have exceeded £300,000 already and at the moment there is no clear end in sight.

According to the Telegraph, the complicated dispute has arisen from a trust fund set up by the deceased in 1971 which was to provide for his wife Elma and their children. It comprised of shares in Dr de Bruyne’s company, Techne, worth several million pounds. In 1991 however, Dr De Bruyne’s son, Mr John De Bruyne, assumed the duties of an executor and gained control of the trust.

Mr De Bruyne altered the terms of the trust for it to be held for the benefit of the five grandchildren of Dr De Bruyne; Abigail and Leila from Mr de Bruyne’s first marriage and Anita, Jessica and Johnny from his second wife.

Sadly this affair was complicated when Mr de Bruyne and his second wife, Tracey, sold the shares for a total of £5.43m and invested in antiques, art, property and their own investment business. Soon after the value of the investments almost halved and Mr and Mrs de Bruyne divorced - leaving nearly every surviving member of the family to engage a wills and probate solicitor and stake a legal claim to maximise their inheritance to the now-myriad assets of the estate.

The Telegraph reports that the case is ongoing.

The number of people given a ‘pre-inheritance’ has outgrown the number of people who are left money in wills, partially freeing beneficiaries from the probate process, according to the Telegraph.

A study by Aviva found that 46% of people had been given money from their parents or other relatives before they died, compared to only 37% who had been left an inheritance in a will.

A third of people who gave a ‘pre-inheritance’ made suggestions on how the money should be used. Some left specific instructions, with 7% insisting the money was used to buy property and 2% stipulating it be used to pay for education.

The majority of people who had received a ‘pre-inheritance’ used it to invest in the future. The popular ways the money was spent include paying off debts, funding home improvements and paying off the mortgage.

“We are seeing a number of shifts in how people use their money in retirement,” said Clive Bolton, Aviva’s retirement director. “The pre-inheritance is a fairly new initiative. Alongside the obvious benefits of cutting the amount of money liable for inheritance tax, it also seems many benefactors like to see their money being enjoyed whilst they are still alive… It also allows benefactors, if they wish, to have some input into how the money is spent.”

According to inheritance tax rules, a person can give up to £3,000 in gifts each year. If the amount exceeds this, and the person dies, then inheritance must be taxed on the sum. A person can also make small gifts of £250 to as many people as they like without incurring inheritance tax.

‘Pre-inheritance’ can bypass inheritance tax because it is classed as a potentially exempt transfer. This means that a person can give any amount of money as a gift and, providing they stay alive for seven years after doing so, the money is exempt from inheritance tax.

Consumer magazine This Is Money has offered some simple advice to a woman engaged in a contentious probate related situation regarding a family will.

In the letter “I’m being ignored over my aunt’s will” in the magazine’s Ask An Expert column, a reader asks for advice from probate solicitor Phillippa Bruce-Kerr over how she can find out the contents of her aunt’s will.

The reader says that her cousin, the son of her aunt, has been given the duties of an executor for his mother’s estate but that he is not replying to either letters or calls from the reader. The deceased’s friend, who also has been given executor duties in the will, has also been sidelined by the son.

Mrs Bruce-Kerr offers some simple probate assistance as well as providing a rough probate definition for the bewildered reader. Explaining that part of the duties of an executor is to go to court to probate a will and obtain the legal authority to execute the estate, she advises that anyone can ask for a copy of this Grant of Representation and the related will by writing to the probate service.

Of course, before the probate grant is issued the only people who have a clear right to see the will are those named as bearing the duties of an executor – such as the deceased’s friend. Mrs Kerr points out that all named executors have the right to a copy of the will, “unless they have given a written indication that they do not wish to be involved in the administration of the estate.”

If an executor feels they are being excluded then Mrs Bruce-Kerr says they should write to the other party – as well as any probate solicitors providing legal advice – and clearly state that they wish to be involved.

Contentious probate cases often have a family element to them and the latest case to be reported in the STEP Journal is no exception. Nevertheless, this case is slightly different from the normal situation; here, a woman from the Isle of Wight is suing her father for failing to fulfil the duties of an executor.

STEP Journal, a publication from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, reports that Anna Marie Jeffery has sued her father in the high court for failing to maximise the proceeds of an estate where he acted as an executor and trustee.

The dispute is over the state of Mrs Paula Beken, who passed away in 2001. Mrs Beken divided her assets – which included a Georgian seaside house in Cowes – between her son, Dennis Gretton, her Grandson Nicholas Gretton and her grand-daughter, Mrs Jeffery. Her will was subject to a life interest in favour of her husband Keith Beken, who was to be allowed to live in the house until the time of his death.

Mr Beken passed away in 2007 and the house was duly sold the next year for £885,000, with the proceeds divided equally among the three beneficiaries.

Dennis Gretton, who was trustee of the property, has been sued by his daughter over this sum after she discovered that Mr Beken had already renounced his life interest in the house in 2002 when he executed a deed of variation.

Mrs Jeffery claims that because of this deed, her father could have sold or let the property immediately at that point and by not doing so, he has lost the estate a considerable sum in potential rentals as well as due to the property’s loss of value in the past two years. She claims it would have fetched £1.1m if sold in 2002 and is seeking £165,000 in compensation from the High court, as well as £30,000 for loss of rent and £91,000 for the reduced sale proceeds.

The Independent reports that Mr Beken’s probate solicitors have informed the court that the house needed extensive renovations between 2002 and the point of sale and that Mrs Jeffery was aware of this at the time.

A recent survey from insurance firm Aviva has revealed some interesting details about how families in the UK bequest money to their children in their wills.

Although some people are unaware of the dangers of dying intestate and don’t consider the importance of establishing their wishes for their estate in wills and probate law, many make preparations by engaging the services of probate solicitors.

Aviva’s research reveals that out of those people who do make such preparations, the vast majority are making fairly straightforward arrangements when it comes to leaving their beneficiaries with cash funds.

Two-thirds of people who give away money as an inheritance do not place any restrictions on how it can be spent. However, a third said that they made suggestions in the draft of their last will and testament on how their beneficiaries should make use of the cash.

Others still have left specific instructions, meaning that the one of the key duties of an executor of the deceased’s estate is to ensure that these measures are met by the beneficiaries. 7% of those surveyed by Aviva said that they would require the bequeathed cash to be used to buy a property, whilst 2% would require it be used to pay for education.

Even without such requirements though, it appears that a significant number of beneficiaries are making sensible use of inherited funds. One in four people who had received money from a relative said that they had used it to invest for the future. 19% said they had used the money to pay off debts, 12% used it to pay for home and property improvements, whilst 11% said that they had used the money to pay off their mortgage.

Probate solicitors and other legal professionals were told that in order to offer a better service to clients and expand their business, they should build their expertise in EU law.

The Irish Times reports that Andrew Beck, The Director of the Irish Centre for European Law made the comments at the Law Society’s Annual conference last week. During a discussion on business opportunities during the recession, Mr Beck pointed out that legislation originating from the European Union could often trump local law.

In the case of Irish law, he said that between 60% and 70% of Irish law annually implemented EU directives. Although Mr Beck was primarily discussing business law, he said that many other areas of Irish law – and by extension any other EU member state - were also touched by EU legislation.

One notable aspect of his comments was the relationship between EU law and probate law. Although the vast majority of cases entering the probate service within the UK and Ireland were dealt with internally, through the national legal system, many cases had an international aspect and so were more likely to be complicated by EU law.

Mr Beck said that some 450,000 cases in the EU involved an international element each year – worth an estimated value of €120 billion in assets.

He said that currently, estates with an international element can come under the separate courts of different EU states and that recourse to the legislation of the wider European community was an important means of dealing with such cases.

Mr Beck warned that as the EU negotiates the end of contradictory rulings between different EU estates and establishes a single competent authority to deal with the whole estate, rather than its separate assets, lawyers would need to build their expertise in the areas of EU legislation.

Familiarity with the EU legislation is just one aspect of choosing the best probate solicitor but in some of the more contentious probate cases, it could well be among the most important. Not only does EU law streamline, to some extent, cases across different EU member states it also offers a robust framework for dealing with wider international cases.