Probate Services
When somebody dies, a personal representative is the person who is legally able to deal with the administration of the estate. As a personal representative (known as an ‘executor’ if there is a Will or ‘administrator’ if a person dies without a Will) you are legally responsible for the money, property, and possessions of the person who died. The personal representative is responsible for the assets of the estate from the date of death until the date everything has been passed on to the beneficiaries of the estate either under the terms of a Will or under the rules of intestacy if there is no Will. This is known as the ‘administration period’. Whether or not the personal representative needs to obtain a Grant of Representation to deal with the estate depends on what assets the deceased had in their sole name at the date of death.
If a Grant of Representation is not required, then the estate can be administered by the personal representative without the need to obtain a Grant of Probate or a Grant of Letters of Administration.
Probate Services
Probate (or obtaining a Grant of Probate as above) is just one part of the administration process needed to finalise the affairs of a deceased person.
A Grant of Probate gives the executors of a Will the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money, and possessions (their ‘estate’) when they die. You need to apply to the Probate Registry to get a Grant of Probate. Before applying, you must check that it’s needed. You also need to estimate and report the estate’s value to find out if there’s Inheritance Tax to pay. Contact the financial organisations the person who died used (for example, their bank and mortgage company) to find out if you’ll need probate to get access to their assets. Every organisation has its own rules as to whether they require a Grant of Probate. You may not need probate if the person who died only had a small amount of savings or if all the assets they owned were held jointly with another person, in which case they automatically pass to the survivor.
There are certain situations in which a Grant of Probate will always be required such as if a person owned property or shares in their sole name.
What is Estate Administration?
The administration of an estate is the process by which the Personal Representatives deal with the deceased’s assets to satisfy any liabilities (including the payment of Inheritance Tax) and transfer these assets to the beneficiaries of the estate.
An “estate” is all the money and property that someone owned at the date of death, after the payment of any debts and liabilities.
The first step is to ascertain whether the deceased person left a Will. If the deceased person left a Will, the executors named in the Will deal with the estate and the property passes to the people chosen by the deceased as beneficiaries who are named in the Will. If there is no Will, then an administrator is appointed to deal with the estate administration and the estate passes in accordance with the rules of intestacy. The rules of intestacy set out who would be the legal next-of-kin after someone’s death when there is no will. The rules also determine how much the next-of-kin would be able to inherit. The intestacy rules usually work reasonably well for traditional families whose circumstances are straightforward, but things can be more difficult for unmarried partners, cohabitees, and stepchildren.
The second step is to contact all the organisations that the deceased person had dealings with to ascertain the values of all assets and liabilities in the estate at the date of the death so that the overall value of the estate can be ascertained, and it can be established whether any inheritance tax is payable on the estate. Once the payment of any Inheritance Tax has been dealt with, a Grant of Representation can then be obtained if this is required.
The assets of the estate can then be encashed or transferred to the beneficiaries of the estate under the terms of the Will or the rules of intestacy once all debts and liabilities of the estate have been settled.
