Dad passed away mid farm transfer

wifeintraining

I was hoping to get some advise on the below matter.

In May this year, I started the transfer between my father and I. We got the valuation, deeds, paid stamp duty etc. I was advised by my accountant to hold off getting a herd number until January 2021 as it would be cleaner to do the transfer at the start of the tax year. The farm account is in my mothers name, fathers name, and my name.

Unfortunately, my father passed away last week and my payments are due from next week until December 2020.

My questions are:
- Should i tell the accountant ASAP?
- Should i tell the solicitor ASAP?
- Will my payments be stopped?
- Will the farm bank account get frozen?
- How long does it take to get a herd number?
- Am I allowed to sell animals now?

I really need my farm payment to come through,otherwise id have to get another personal loan to keep the farm ticking over and 'gift' the money to my mum.

Any help/advise is very much appreciated.

At the moment, i feel i should hold off telling the accountant and solicitor as they might be bound to report it to the Department.

Thanks in advance,

Farmers' wife in training (on behalf of partner)

K.G.

Contary to popular belief the dept are not monsters are very helpful in situations like this bit as far as i can see if the bank account is operational and ye can still acess the funds to pay bills or whatever i dont think there has to be anything done in the near future.as the sorting of your fathers property and will is being sorted these issues will be sorted out.

Anto_Meath

Condolences on your loss.
When my Dad passed away a few years ago, I took over the herd number as it was in his name, I had to be appointed herd keeper until probate was sorted then the herd number was transferred into my name. In theory everything stopped the day Dad passed away, he was the sole name on the bank account, the solicitor took control of the account and the executors of Dads will then approved any payments that had to be made out of the bank account until it was sorted. In fairness to the Department of Agriculture they were very helpful to work with, the local DVO were brilliant with advise and they were so used of dealing with this sort of thing they knew everything that had to be done. Your circumstances may be different as you may still be able to sign cheques and the like, but if I was you I would talk to your solicitor and get the wheels in motion to get this all sorted as soon as you head space is in the right place.

patsy_mccabe

In my experience too, the Dept were 10 times better than the solicitor. In fact if was them who eventually put a fire under the solicitor to sort things out.
Christ, I hate fooking solicitors......... arrogant, self entitled bunch of parasites.

davidk1394

Condolences on your loss.

I have recently dealt with the Dept of Ag with the land and herd no transfer. I found them very helpful and fair. This is only my own personal opinion but I wouldn't say anything to the dept just yet about your father passing because this could delay the payment of the SFP. Notify your solicitor about the death. Have all the paper work in order and the minute all money has been paid in. I would then proceed. That's only my opinion and not fact.
If your name is on the herd no, things are more straightforward. Is the land in your name yet ?

893bet

Dept are good at this. Very common.

Important question is did he have a will made?

wifeintraining

yes, everything was transferred over into my name in May/June this year. It was just the herd number that wasnt changed

wifeintraining

Everything is in my name. He signed everything over to me a few months ago

wifeintraining

Its good to know that the department are good to deal with. I think the issue at the moment is not getting the farm payments this year and needing to wait until May 2021 (When i have my own herd number) to receive them.

wifeintraining

893bet wrote: »

Dept are good at this. Very common.

Important question is did he have a will made?

YES

davidk1394

wifeintraining wrote: »

Everything is in my name. He signed everything over to me a few months ago

It will take a few months for all the paper work to go through and for you name to appear on the deeds. When that goes through contact the dept to put your name on the herd no. Another option is to put your name down as the herd keeper. You have to get your solicitor to do up a letter to say the paper work is being processed and you will be running the farm. Thats what I had to do.

St.Senan

I also can't speak highly enough of the department. They very sympathetic, competent and knowledgeable. My solicitor definitely lacked the latter two attributes.

wifeintraining

davidk1394 wrote: »

Condolences on your loss.

I have recently dealt with the Dept of Ag with the land and herd no transfer. I found them very helpful and fair. This is only my own personal opinion but I wouldn't say anything to the dept just yet about your father passing because this could delay the payment of the SFP. Notify your solicitor about the death. Have all the paper work in order and the minute all money has been paid in. I would then proceed. That's only my opinion and not fact.
If your name is on the herd no, things are more straightforward. Is the land in your name yet ?

Yes the land is in my name and so is the house and shed etc.
Is my solicitor bound to report it to the dept?

Sheep breeder

The BPS payment is linked to herd number not the name, the payment will be made to the bank account provided for the herd number. Getting the herd number in your name now would be a good time to start the paperwork due to it will take time and once the year ends, it’s a new scheme year and there will be others looking to get new numbers and better to be in early than waiting at the last minute.

The Rabbi

Sorry for your loss,its a rough time and these worries can cause so much more stress.

Were you logging in to agfood in your fathers name helping ?
Try logging in,that will let you know if the Dept know.
Got locked out here within a fortnight.

Stationmaster

Sorry for your loss.

What name was the bank account in that the grants were paid into? If it was joint names you should be fine as the only accounts that will be locked for a period are accounts in the name of your father only.

As many above have said the department are quite good in cases like this and, to be honest, if you have a good relationship with your accountant and solicitor they should be equally as good.

Donegalforever

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

In my experience too, the Dept were 10 times better than the solicitor. In fact if was them who eventually put a fire under the solicitor to sort things out.
Christ, I hate fooking solicitors......... arrogant, self entitled bunch of parasites.

I thought all along that that type of solicitor was unique to North Donegal.
The particular individual is as twisted as a corkscrew. For obvious reasons, I will not name the person.

wifeintraining

Thanks everyone for all your advise.
Dept of agriculture stopped payments in December.
The bank account was in the name of my partner, his mum and his dad.
Once payments stopped we got in contact with department and solicitor and they sorted out herd number and repaid any payments owed which was great.

Anto_Meath

As you probably gathered from the replies the Department are generally very good to deal with, its good that everything is now sorted and all the best for the year ahead.

johnnyfruitcake

Mm