Planning For Your Future: A Guide To Probate and Administration of Estates
Planning For Your Future: A Guide To Probate and Administration of Estates
Our team deals empathetically with all administration of estates and probate needs.
From full estate administration to grant-only services, we can help you take care of a deceased person’s estate, and distribute their estate in line with their will or under the intestacy rules.
We also act as the adviser to the estate to administer it in a straightforward, impartial manner. We can also help navigate any disputes on an estate.
A personal representative (PR) is responsible for winding up someone’s estate; they can be either an executor or administrator. If the deceased has a will, they will usually name at least one executor. If there is no will, a relative will need to apply to the Probate Registry for a grant of letters of administration – they are then known as an administrator or PR.
A grant-only service will allow the personal representatives to access funds to pay any debts and distribute assets to the beneficiaries. We ask the personal representative for all the key details on the deceased’s assets and debts to prepare the required paperwork for the Probate Registry and HMRC.
We will then submit an application to the Probate Registry and manage this process smoothly. Once this is complete, we will send the grant of probate to the personal representative to allow them to complete their duties.
We can also carry out full administration of estates. This includes (for the most complex of estates) advice on making claims for tax relief, business or agricultural tax relief, and administering the estates of non-domiciled deceased people and those with assets overseas.
Where the deceased has no remaining family, we can register their death and arrange their funeral, and are often already appointed as the executor of the will, we may have to obtain valuations of assets and make the full application for a grant of probate after settling any inheritance tax which is due and payable to HMRC. We can also distribute the deceased’s assets according to their wishes and provide advice to beneficiaries looking to amend or vary the terms of their benefit to bypass their own children. This is often done for the wider families’ benefit and to avoid the children of the deceased inheriting a further IHT problem.
Our experts will explain all legal terms and their implications clearly, always acting in your best interests. In what can be an extremely distressing time, we deliver the highest level of service to you. We are highly experienced in navigating this complex area of law.
