Valuing household belongings for probate

HM Revenue & Customs guidance states that accurate valuations are not required if the gross value of an estate (before deducting debts and inheritance tax exemptions/reliefs) is likely to be less than £250,000.

In this case, an estimate based on the information available should suffice. You may find it helpful to check adverts and listings on the Internet for similar items.

Often, people die owning relatively little, perhaps including furniture, books, clothes, kitchen equipment and items of little or no market value. A broad estimation will usually suffice, but care should still be taken. In practice, this may involve walking round the deceased’s house, making a note of the contents and estimating values.

For non-taxable estates, belongings do not have to be itemised. If you are completing form IHT205 (return of estate information), the total value should be entered at box 11.2.

Large and taxable estates

For larger estates (that is, worth over £250,000 gross), there is a greater onus to provide accurate valuations. Therefore, more care should taken, particularly for taxable estates.

For low value items around the home, such as clothes and nick-nacks, an estimated total value should suffice, even for taxable estates, so long as due care is taken.

However, HM Revenue & Customs guidance states that a professional valuation should be obtained for any item which you believe may be worth over £500. This may include jewellery, antique furniture, art and so on. See our guide “how to value art, antiques and other valuable belongings”.

Joint assets

Belongings held jointly should still be valued as described above, evening if passing automatically to the survivor. The value of the deceased’s share will be proportionate to the number of joint owners (50% if there is one survivor).