Probate and Estate Administration Solicitors

We will advise you on your legal obligations as an executor and provide assistance where required. This includes ensuring that the estate has made use of all available Inheritance tax allowances and exemptions, preparing and submitting income tax returns and helping with the sale of assets, including residential and commercial property.

If relations between the beneficiaries become contentious, a challenge is made against the Will or a claim is made against the estate, our  Contentious Probate team can step in to assist and advise. This will ensure that you have all the support you need, regardless of how things unfold during your executorship.

We can provide any of the following services where required:

• Meeting with you to advise on the terms of the deceased’s Will or intestacy provisions and discuss the executors’ duties
• Register the death and arrange the funeral (where required)
• Check the property is insured and secured
• Attend and make regular visits to the deceased’s property to collect asset details, take meter readings and arrange for valuations of the property and chattels
• Obtain valuations of the estate assets and liabilities
• Write to utilities, council tax, house insurance and share registrars
• Submit statutory notices
• Once the value of the assets has been received, prepare the inheritance tax forms and Oath, and ascertain whether any inheritance tax is payable
• Submit inheritance tax forms to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• Submit the application to the Probate Court once the documents have been sworn and lodge the papers to obtain the Grant of Probate
• Notify the beneficiaries of their entitlements under the Will and obtain identification
• Send the Grant of Probate and letters of authority to the financial institutions, collect the assets and pay any liabilities
• Ascertain the deceased’s income tax position and prepare a final tax return for
• HMRC for the tax year of death
• Correspond with HMRC regarding the property valuation, including liaising with the District Valuer, ensuring that the inheritance tax is discharged and obtain clearance
• Correspond with beneficiaries regarding the distribution of the estate, pay any interim legacies or any pecuniary legacies that are due under the Will
• Finalise the income tax position of the estate for the administration period
• Prepare estate accounts for executors
• Carry out bankruptcy checks
• Distribute the final balance to residuary beneficiaries

We can provide any of the following services where required:

• Prepare the Inheritance Tax forms based on the schedule of assets and liabilities provided by you
• Submit Inheritance Tax forms to HMRC
• Draft the Grant of Representation application papers and submit the application to the Probate Registry once the documents have been sworn
• Lodge the papers to obtain the Grant of Representation
• Provide the Grant of Representation back to you with certified copies

You may instead prefer to instruct us on a time-spent basis.

We are able to assist you with many different aspects of the estate administration, including:

• Preparing a Deed of Renunciation where an Executor wishes to renounce
• Checking an application for a Grant of Representation which you have prepared
• Preparing estate accounts
• Advising on the Inheritance Tax position of the estate
• Deeds of Variation and Disclaimers
• Advising as to Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax and preparing tax returns. Learn more about how our Tax Planning team can help you
• Setting up, restructuring or terminating trusts. Learn more about how our Trust team can help you

When somebody passes away, their estate need to be administered so that their assets can be sold and liabilities paid off. For those with a valid Will, the executor will be the person dealing with this estate administration process. Certain assets, such as property or shares, may require the executor to obtain a document called a Grant of Probate in order to sell them.

Where there is no Will, the person dealing with the estate is called an administrator. They will need to obtain a Grant of Representation to be able to deal with the estate.

Getting a Grant of Probate and Grant of Representation are both commonly referred to as ‘getting probate’.

When a person dies without a valid Will they are said to be intestate and the statutory rules of intestacy will apply to their estate.

The person who deals with the estate is called an Administrator. They are required to obtain a Grant of Representation in order to administer the estate.

The intestacy rules are rigid and inflexible. Your estate will pass to specific people regardless of your wishes and may also have adverse tax consequences for your estate.

How we can help

If you know someone who has died without a Will, you may not be sure who should deal with the estate and what they are permitted to do. We can advise you who is entitled to apply for Letters of Administration. We can also help you understand the tax saving opportunities available to the administrators, such as through a Deed of Variation (see below).

Because there is a strict order of entitlement in who can apply to become an administrator of an intestate estate, you may find yourself entitled to apply to become an administrator but have little practical knowledge of the deceased’s estate.

If this is the case, we can arrange to undertake various searches on behalf of the administrator. This covers missing beneficiaries, assets and creditors to protect the administrators from such risks.

Learn more about how we can support you in making or updating your Will. 

Before applying for probate (sometimes referred to as a Grant of Representation) it is always worth checking that the size and nature of the assets within the estate are such that probate is needed and you are eligible to apply.

The process will then involve having all jointly and solely held assets and liabilities valued as at the date of death and considering whether an inheritance tax return (IHT return) is necessary and whether there is any inheritance tax (IHT) due to be paid.

Once the IHT position has been clarified/settled and the IHT return has been submitted, HMRC will issue an IHT421 to HMCTS Probate at which time the paper or online application can be submitted.

Whilst a valid Will is legally binding, sometimes a beneficiary may want to vary all or part of their entitlement to benefit someone else. This could be to mitigate Inheritance tax on the deceased’s estate or lower their own estate for Inheritance tax purposes. It could simply be because they do not want or need all of the inheritance.

By executing a valid Deed of Variation within two years of the date of death, the gift will be treated as though it came from the deceased’s estate and not from the beneficiary’s estate.

A Deed of Variation can be created whether the deceased left a Will or died intestate. Read our article on Deeds of Variation and post-death planning for more information.

Sometimes a person named as an executor is unable to fulfil the role or simply doesn’t wish to.

We are able to assist the remaining executors by preparing a Deed of Renunciation, which can be produced to the Probate Registry along with the application for a Grant of Representation.

Even if you are not using Brachers to administer part or all of the estate we can prepare this document for a fixed fee.

Once the estate has been valued for probate/inheritance tax purposes, where a full inheritance tax return has to be submitted to HMRC, HMRC will take 5 working weeks to issue the relevant confirmation to HMCTS Probate at which time the paper or online application can be submitted to HMCTS Probate.

For most applications, where HMRC have issued the relevant confirmation to HMCTS Probate, HMCTS say you will usually receive the grant of probate or letters of administration within 16 working weeks of submitting your paper or online application.

In our professional experience, the timescales are actually much longer than this, particularly where paper applications are being made/where there is an intestacy/where a trust corporation has been appointed as executor etc.

Significant delays to the system have put additional strain on families at time when they are grieving, at their most vulnerable and want closure.

A particular sticking point is where probate properties are to be sold and a buyer/offer for sale is accepted either before probate is applied for or whilst the probate application is being processed, which can result in sales becoming abortive.

Our experienced team have in some instances expedited applications where this is the case to enable sales to progress in a timely manner.

It is possible to enter a caveat which stops probate going ahead. This may be done where, for example, there is uncertainty over which of more than one Will is the last valid Will or whether, for example, the deceased really died intestate. You must be 18 or over to submit a caveat and it will last for six months.

For expert advice and representation when disputes arise in relation to Wills, probate, trust and inheritance, our experienced Private Wealth Disputes team can help.