As an Executor you may be wondering what you have to do when dealing with Probate following a person’s death.
In most cases, an Executors will need to make an application to The Probate Registry for a Grant. Grants are court orders and evidence of an Executor’s legal right to deal with the Estate. There are different types of Grant depending if there is a Will or not:
No more than four people can apply for a Grant.
In a lot of cases a full account will need to be filed to HMRC detailing the assets owned and any liabilities owed by the deceased. Once HMRC are satisfied with the filing, they will notify the Probate Registry who will then process the application for the Grant.
We offer three different services to help Executors when dealing with Probate:
We will make an application to The Probate Registry for the Grant only. The Executors will supply all the necessary information. We will complete the necessary forms for filing, submit the application and provide the Grant after it has been completed.
Please note that we will not get involved with the administration or distribution of the Estate.
If a full account needs to be submitted to HMRC, additional fees will be payable.
In addition to the above, we will complete all necessary searches and place gazette adverts:
Will search – It is advisable that an Executor carries out a Will search to ensure that the deceased didn’t make any other Wills.
Financial Asset search – We recommend that a financial asset search is also conducted. This will ensure there are no unknown financial assets or liabilities of the deceased.
Gazette adverts – We also strongly recommend that deceased estates notices are placed in the Gazette and local press for unknown beneficiaries and creditors. This ensures that sufficient effort has been made to locate creditors before distributing the estate to beneficiaries.
All of this helps to limit an Executor’s personal liability.
We will complete the necessary searches, place the adverts, complete the necessary forms for filing, submit the application and provide the Grant after it has been completed.
Please note that we will not get involved with the administration or distribution of the Estate.
If a full account needs to be submitted to HMRC, additional fees will be payable.
Quite simply, we will deal with everything on behalf of an Executor. This may include:
We will ensure that Executors are kept informed of the progress throughout the matter.
Here is some guidance on some of the disbursements and their approximate fees for Probate and Estate Administration:
£300 Probate application fee
£1.50 for each additional copy of the Grant
£65 Certainty Will Search
£250 Financial Asset & Liabilities search
£500 Gazette and local advertisements
Land Registry fees which depend upon the value of the property
Fees for obtaining copies of birth certificates and marriage certificates
If a deceased was a homeowner, their property will either need to be sold or transferred to a beneficiary. In order to transfer the property, you need to first establish is whether it was owned jointly with another person, or if it was owned in the sole name of the deceased.
If the property is owned solely by the deceased and the property is registered at the Land Registry, then the transfer process is relatively straight forward.
The Executor will be responsible for transferring the property to the person who is entitled to inherit it (the beneficiary). This transfer will depend on the provisions of the Will or Intestacy laws if no Will was made.
In order for the property to be transferred to a beneficiary, a document called an ‘Assent’ needs to be submitted to the Land Registry. Once finalised, the Land Registry will then transfer the property into the name of the new owner.
When dealing with property held by joint owners, we have to determine how they hold the property to establish how to deal with it when someone dies.
There are two different ways in which property can be jointly owned; as joint tenants or tenants in common.
If the property is held as Joint Tenants, this means that they both own 100% of the property and there isn’t a specific or identifiable share.
When one owner dies, the survivor(s) will automatically inherit the whole of the property. This will happen regardless of whether the deceased has left their share of the property to someone else in their Will.
In order to transfer the property into the sole name of the surviving joint owner, the death certificate or the Grant needs to be sent in to the Land Registry. The Land Registry will then update the title by removing the deceased’s name.
If the property is held as Tenants in Common, this means that they each own a specific share of the property. This is often 50% but it is possible for this to be in unequal shares.
The share of the property owned by the person who died must be dealt with in accordance with their will, or Intestacy laws if no Will was made.
In order to transfer the property into the sole name of the beneficiary, we would complete a Transfer document which should be signed by the surviving joint owner(s) and submit this, with the Grant, to the Land Registry. Once finalised, the Land Registry will then transfer the property into the names of the surviving joint owner(s) and the new owner.
If an Executor has obtained the Grant themselves and requires help with transferring property to a beneficiary, we can help with this.
We can assist with completing the necessary documents and submitting the application to the Land Registry.
Our fee for this service is £660 plus VAT plus Land Registry fees.
If there is no next of kin, the Executors are first responsible for registering the death, obtaining the death certificate, and arranging the funeral.
The Executors need to locate and identify all the assets that make up the deceased’s Estate, and the liabilities. They need to contact all the companies and obtain date of date values. These figures are then filed to HMRC (unless it is an excepted Estate). HMRC will process the return and then provide a unique reference code.
If Inheritance Tax is payable, the Executors must arrange for payment within six months of death, or contact HMRC to set up a payment plan, where possible. The Executors are also responsible for ensuring all debts of the Estate are settled.
Once the unique reference code has been received, the Probate application can be sent to the Court.
Once Probate has been obtained, the Executors need to complete any necessary requirements in order to collect in the assets of the Estate.
The Executors should prepare Estate Accounts and send these to the beneficiaries for review and approval. Once approved, the Estate can be finalised by the assets being distributed in accordance with the Will (or the laws of intestacy if there is no Will) and set up any trusts that arose under the Will.
Acting as an Executor is a personal liability and a lot of responsibility at an awful time. We therefore strongly recommend professional Executors are appointed to assist with the administration of the Estate.
As an indication only and based on our general experience, full administration matters take on average 35 hours. However, you will appreciate it is very difficult to predict and will depend upon the size and complexity of the Estate. If we are instructed to assist, we would carry out the following:
Trustees have a fiduciary duty to look after the Trust assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries. This is a position of trust and good faith. Trustees have a duty of loyalty, must be honest and have integrity, act in good faith and be transparent.
Non-professional Trustees have a personal liability and those who do not act properly are in breach of their position and can be penalised.
Ideally beneficiaries should not be appointed as Trustees as this would give rise to a conflict of interests. If beneficiaries are being appointed, then we recommend at least one impartial Trustee is also appointed and ideally a professional.
We can be appointed as professional Trustees and we are also happy to work with non-professional Trustees.
Alternatively, non-professional Trustees can instruct us to assist and advise them.
If we can assist you or you have any questions, get in touch
