How to value an estate for probate, account by account (UK)

30 August 2026 · Inherit Vault

The figure on the probate form isn't what something is worth today, and it isn't what you'd get at a quick sale. It's what each asset would have fetched on the open market on the day the person died. Get that straight and most of the job is letter writing.

List it all before you touch a calculator

Write down what they owned, then chase a number for each item. HMRC's list runs long. The home, any other land, money in banks, building societies and ISAs, cash in the house, shares, household goods, cars, foreign assets, cryptoassets, wages they were owed, and anything paid out because they died. Include the lot, even what goes to a spouse or charity. Those aren't taxed, but they're still counted. Then list the debts: mortgage, loans, cards, overdrafts, unpaid bills. The funeral counts too, down to the headstone and the refreshments. Goods go on form IHT407 at what you'd realistically have got for them, not the insured value, so check what similar items sell for online. Who ends up with the possessions is a different question entirely.

Ask for the date of death figure

Don't guess a balance. Write to each bank, pension provider, employer, share registrar and landlord, enclose a copy of the death certificate, and ask for the value on the date of death. In the same letter, ask the bank to stop the standing orders and direct debits, and to list any certificates or deeds they're holding. If the Premium Bond paperwork has vanished, NS&I's free tracing service will find the holding.

The rule underneath it all: open market value

Section 160 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 sets the test. It's the price the asset might reasonably be expected to fetch if sold on the open market at that time. Two things follow. Selling costs don't come off, so no knocking away the agent's fee. And you can't discount a big shareholding because selling it all at once would depress the price.

Property, and the valuation that stands up

An agent's appraisal is fine for a rough idea. If the estate is near the £325,000 threshold, or there's tax to pay, get a surveyor's written valuation with a date of death figure on it, because HMRC's Valuation Office Agency does query property numbers. There's a safety net if you overshoot. Under section 191, where the executors sell land within three years for less than probate value, they can claim to substitute the actual sale price.

Joint assets, where most people get it wrong

Halving it isn't always right. Held as joint tenants with a spouse or civil partner, yes, you take half. With anyone else, friends or siblings, divide by the number of owners and then knock 10% off, because a part share nobody can force a sale of is worth less than the plain arithmetic. HMRC's example: a £200,000 property owned by four gives a £50,000 share, less 10%, so £45,000 goes on the form. Scotland does it differently, £4,000 comes off the whole value first, so the share is £49,000. Joint bank accounts get split by the number of holders, unless the account was joint for convenience only, say a parent adding an adult child to help with the shopping. Then you use what they actually owned. Joint accounts have their own rules once someone dies.

Shares: the quarter up price

Listed shares aren't valued at the closing price. You use the quarter up price on the date of death: the lower quote plus a quarter of the gap between the lower and higher ones. HMRC's example: quotes of 1091p and 1101p give 1093.5p, so 1,250 shares come to £13,668.75. Capital gains tax moved to a halfway up rule in 2015 and inheritance tax didn't, so don't copy a CGT valuation across. If the shares sell within twelve months for less, section 179 lets the executors claim the loss.

How much you actually have to send HMRC

Most estates never file a full account. If the estate is "excepted", the value goes in with the probate application and there's no IHT400. For deaths from 1 January 2022, a low value excepted estate needs a gross value inside the £325,000 nil rate band, counting the share of joint assets and gifts. Foreign assets have to be under £100,000, and gifts in the last seven years under £250,000. The exempt version is bigger: gross value up to £3 million, with the net chargeable value, after spouse or charity exemption, still inside the nil rate band. Miss any of that and it's the IHT400 and its schedules. IHT404 for joint assets, IHT406 for bank accounts, IHT407 for goods, IHT411 for listed shares.

The deadlines that bite

If there's tax to pay, the value has to be reported within a year on form IHT400. You can't apply for probate until you have. The payment deadline is earlier: the end of the sixth month after the death, then interest runs. That's the awkward one. The money is usually locked in the accounts the grant is meant to unlock, which is a puzzle in itself. Valuing takes months, so start the letters early, and set expectations on how long the rest takes.

Strip out the tax and this is one job done twice. First you find out what existed, then what it was worth on one particular day. The second half is mechanical, a letter and a formula per asset. The first half is what drags, because it depends on an executor guessing which of forty companies to write to from a shoebox of old post. A current list of accounts, providers and policies won't make the valuation less fiddly. It just means nobody spends three months finding out what to value.

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