News

Wills and Estate Specialist, Trudi Dickinson, explains all you need to know about Probate and estate administration.

Probate is something that not many people think about or plan for when a loved one dies. It is the legal and financial process of dealing with the property, money, and possessions of a person who has died.

Probate is not always required, if the person who died has assets in joint names these can be held as joint tenants or tenants in common.  If assets such as land, property, shares, or money, are held as joint tenants these will automatically pass to the surviving owners.  Probate is also not always required if the person owned very little, known as having a small estate, however it’s difficult to say exactly what constitutes a small estate, as there is no set limit.  There is however always an estate that needs to be administered following a death.

If a Grant of Probate is required, there are two stages that need to be considered. First, we obtain the Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration if there is no Will). To obtain the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration we need to provide a valuation of the estate, complete the correct Inheritance Tax forms (IHT), pay any Inheritance Tax, complete the court application form, pay the current court fee (which is £215 for personal application fees and £155 if applying via DACA) and submit the application to the probate registry.

Secondly, once the Grant of Probate is obtained, the estate administration can be completed by the Personal Representative. A Personal Representative is the person(s), who is legally entitled to administer the estate of the person who has died.

Estate administration involves contacting financial institutions to release the assets, paying off debts (loans, credit cards, etc.) and dealing with state benefits, completing the Income Tax return, reviewing the estate for Capital Gains Tax, setting up of any Trusts that may be in the Will, selling or transferring shares, registering any unregistered properties, settling any administration expenses, distributing and confirming funds received to the beneficiaries and then producing the estate accounts.

Clients often ask me how long estate administration will take, unfortunately, as each estate is different, it is impossible to tell. Estate administration is a long and complex legal process, so expect it to take months rather than weeks.

A hurdle that we often come across is that the person who died, did not have a Will, this means the person died ‘intestate’. The estate will be distributed in line with the rules of intestacy. A close relative of the deceased will be able to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration of the estate to have the same legal responsibility as an Executor (if there was a Will) for its distribution.

Another frequently asked question is whether a client can complete Probate themselves. The answer is, yes you can. However, estate administration is a time consuming and labour-intensive process that is often underestimated. If you are considering doing the work yourself, you should be confident that you can complete all the legal work (including Trust work if applicable, tax calculations and all other paperwork), spare several hours a week for many months, contact all third parties involved, and take on the full legal and financial responsibility.

If you would like further advice on Probate and estate administration, please contact our specialists.