As of 13 August 2026, AI cannot work out whether your estate can claim the residence nil-rate band.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface gets you a draft, but you cannot verify it yourself. That is the catch.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the relevant inheritance tax and residence nil-rate band guidance on GOV.UK, and keep it available for checking current rules and terminology.
   2. Gather the will, any codicil, property ownership records, probate papers, estate valuation, debts, lifetime gift records and details of any earlier deceased spouse or civil partner.
   3. Write a factual timeline covering the property, any move or sale, the date of death, gifts and transfers, and who is due to inherit the property.
   4. Remove names, addresses, account numbers and other unnecessary identifiers, then paste the facts and relevant anonymised will or trust wording into a chatbot with the supplied prompt.
   5. Ask the chatbot to list every missing fact and document, and do not let it fill gaps with assumptions or estimated figures.
   6. Compare each rule and current threshold in its response with GOV.UK, then send the table, documents and unresolved questions to a solicitor or inheritance tax adviser before making or relying on a claim.

   Prompt

   I need a preliminary UK inheritance tax assessment of whether an estate may qualify for the residence nil-rate band. This is not professional advice and must not replace a solicitor or inheritance tax adviser.
   
   Use only the facts and documents I provide. Do not invent missing facts, current thresholds, deadlines or legal conclusions. If you cannot access current GOV.UK guidance, say so and identify exactly what must be checked there. Separate confirmed facts, assumptions, missing information and conditional conclusions. Explain which facts affect eligibility, including the property, who inherits it, whether the beneficiaries are direct descendants, any downsizing or sale of the home, the size and composition of the estate, gifts or transfers, and any unused allowance from a deceased spouse or civil partner. Flag any issue that needs a professional decision.
   
   First, ask me concise questions for missing information. Then produce:
   1. a plain-English conditional assessment, not a definitive legal answer;
   2. a table showing each relevant rule, the fact needed, the evidence I supplied and what remains uncertain;
   3. the documents and figures a solicitor or inheritance tax adviser should check;
   4. a list of questions to take to that professional;
   5. a warning not to submit an inheritance tax return or claim based only on this response.
   
   My information:
   - Date of death: [insert]
   - Property or properties involved: [insert]
   - Who inherits each property: [insert]
   - Family relationships of the beneficiaries: [insert]
   - Estimated gross estate: [insert]
   - Debts and liabilities: [insert]
   - Lifetime gifts or transfers: [insert]
   - Previous spouse or civil partner who died: [insert]
   - Any sale, move or downsizing of the home: [insert]
   - Relevant will or trust wording: [paste an anonymised extract]
   - Other facts or documents: [insert]

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.