We’re pleased to have been featured in Which? Money, in an article looking at how families routinely overpay inheritance tax by overvaluing personal possessions.
The piece, written by freelance personal finance journalist Andrew Penman, follows the case of Justine Fernandes, who overpaid her inheritance tax bill by £6,600 after she and her brother estimated the contents of their late mother’s home at £20,000.
We produced the corrected valuation, putting the jewellery at £1,500 and the remaining contents at £2,000. That meant the family should have paid £1,400 in inheritance tax rather than the £8,000 they handed to HMRC, a difference of £6,600.
The article also drew on our own research. We surveyed more than 1,000 UK adults and asked them to estimate the probate value of a range of household items. More than 80% overvalued them. An antique clock bought for £2,500 had a true probate value of £320, though most people put it between £1,000 and £2,000. A Bosch washing machine worth £40 for probate was commonly estimated at £200 to £400, and a diamond ring worth £1,250 was valued by most respondents at £4,000 or more.
As our founder Mark Littler told Which?: “People aren’t overpaying because they’re careless. They’re overpaying because the system asks grieving families to value things they’ve never had to value before, often under time pressure. A correct probate valuation is a small step that can save thousands.”
The case shows the gap a professional valuation can close. Our online valuation costs £119, a small fee set against the inheritance tax an accurate valuation can save. As Justine’s case shows, the difference between an estimate and a correct probate figure can run to thousands of pounds.
Figures obtained from HMRC under a freedom of information request show more than 18,000 claims for overpaid inheritance tax were made between April 2022 and April 2025, most of them after assets sold for less than expected.