Single Farm Payment

Quinnor

Hi
My dad passed away in December 2012 and left a will. He was the herd owner and obtained a herd number for my mum as "herd keeper". The single farm payment is now due but we have been advised by department that my mum will not get this payment as she is herd keeper only. I understand we have to do Grant of Probate eventually but have not done so yet as it has been a difficult 10 months since. Does anyone have advice, should my mum be entitled to this payment now or do we have to do grant of probate first. There is no issues with the Will, straight forward case abs we are considering applying for personal application to save on solicitor fees. Again any advice appreciated.

moy83

Quinnor wrote: »

Hi
My dad passed away in December 2012 and left a will. He was the herd owner and obtained a herd number for my mum as "herd keeper". The single farm payment is now due but we have been advised by department that my mum will not get this payment as she is herd keeper only. I understand we have to do Grant of Probate eventually but have not done so yet as it has been a difficult 10 months since. Does anyone have advice, should my mum be entitled to this payment now or do we have to do grant of probate first. There is no issues with the Will, straight forward case abs we are considering applying for personal application to save on solicitor fees. Again any advice appreciated.

I'm in no way an expert but all as I can tell you is that when the father was making a will a while back he had to will his entitlements seperately to the farm . They dont automatically go to with the farm and maybe lost if not willed specifially to someone .
Someone else here might be able to add more to that or even correct me

ABlur

There is an Inheritance unit in the Department of Agr who deal with this:

Inheritance Enquiry Unit
Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food,
Eircom Building
Knockmay Road
Portlaoise.

Tel: 1890 200 560
Fax: 05786 89990
Email: inheritance@agriculture.gov.ie

More detail here:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/customerservice/inheritanceenquiryunit/Inheritance Enquiry Unit 110310.doc

PureBred

I've been through this in the last few years and its a total pain. You can get the payment made to the solicitor dealing with the will. You will need to fill out a transfer of entitlements form and get you solicitor to sign it. Either you or your mother will have to eventually apply as herd 'owner' through the local DVO.

Quinnor

Hi purebred
Ya we got the transfer of entitlements firm stamped and signed by solicitor that did dads Will.
If dept make cheque payable to the solicitor, does he then make payment to my mother. My mum is concerned payment will get tied up with solicitor until we do Grant of Probate process.

PureBred

Yes payment will be made to solicitor on behalf of your late father. Once they transfer it to you you/your mother will have to sign a letter from dept that you received payment from them.

tabby aspreme

If the will is straightforward carry out the probate yourself , did it here and saved 23,000€ , check out the courts.ie website and citizens information , the staff in the probate office are very helpful, if you are doing the probate yourself then the SPF should be sent to you not the solicitor

Fireside Solicitor

Dept have tightened up applying the rules on this a lot recently. Regardless of where the money is being paid to you need the grant of probate first. This takes about 3 months to get from the probate office once you lodge your Revenue affidavit. If the will is straightforward then gather the full list of your dads assets and liabilities at the date of death and the executor to the will signs it and the solicitor lodges it with Revenue first. Get a price from your solicitor before you do anything as this is form filling only and don't believe any rubbish that its expensive etc. once you get the probate the dept will transfer the money to either your solicitor or mother directly. Don't forget she will need to get the herd no transferred to her also. You should get this done as quick as you can because it will affect your 2014 SFP application.

On the SFP, if the will doesn't state specifically who it's goes to but there is no challenge to the will then it transfers to whoever is taking on the farm. Even if there is a challenge it still transfers in reality as effectively it is very hard to argues that the SFP is completely independent of the farmland and the herd number. This issue arose when wills that were made before the SFP came in were challenged on this basis.

Talk to Anna Keenan in the Inhertitance Unit in Portlaoise - very helpful.