Probate

Call me crazy (which I probably am) but I’m having a go at doing probate myself. The quote from the Co–op yesterday (£5,500) was enough to persuade me to at least try. I’ve made good progress so far, writing letters to banks, building societies and so on, now I have to pop out so that I can call on Nat West and Halifax in person, that way I won’t have to post the original death certificate as I don’t have many copies.  So far, it’s going OK, although I do keep mixing all the bits of paper up and launching into panic mode.

Good news from Filament in that he’s managed to persuade Writing Magazine to do a review (July issue, out June) and possibly run a competition based around my book. I feel bad that I’m not doing anything to help sales at the moment so I’m glad my publisher is still hard at it.

These past few weeks I’ve felt like I’m on a rollercoaster, my emotions have been all over the place. I came home to a bill from Devon C Council for just over £18,000 and was so happy, as if that was right, I’d have a lot more money than I’d expected. Of course they got it wrong and the full £32,000 are owing. I’ve asked them if they will consider putting a charge against the house so that they get paid when I eventually sell it (once Denis dies or moves out) as I really want some extra cash so that I’m able to do any repairs that crop up. One of the really annoying things is that Denis is living in the house rent free as until probate is granted, the house isn’t actually mine. There’s also been a small overpayment of Mum’s state pension which, of curse, went into the joint account and which the DWP want back. I’ll ask Denis for the money but I’m not sure he'll  want to pay.