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Probate explained

Probate is the process involved in administering a person’s estate on their death. Either a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration will usually need to be granted by the Probate Registry before this can take place. Both of these documents give one or more people legal authority to manage the deceased person’s affairs, including accessing their assets, ie personal possessions, property and money.

There are two slightly different processes involved depending on whether or not the deceased left a Will:

1. A Grant of Probate is required if there is a valid Will which appoints one or more executors. These executors apply to the Probate Registry for the Grant.

2. A Grant of Letters of Administration are required where the person died ‘intestate’ which means they did not have a valid Will. Where the person died intestate then a close family member will usually apply to the Probate Registry to become an administrator of the estate.

However, the process involved for both executors and administrators are similar.

There are some occasions where a Grant may not be required. This is generally where the deceased’s assets are worth £5,000 or less or where the assets were jointly owned with another person who is still alive, for example if a husband and wife own their house jointly and the husband dies but is survived by his wife. In this instance the house would automatically pass to the other joint owner by survivorship.

Administering an estate has several stages to it and varies in complexity from person to person depending on a number of factors such as the size of the deceased’s estate, whether there is inheritance tax due, how many beneficiaries are named in the Will etc.

In order to apply for the Grant the executors must complete the relevant tax forms and send them to HMRC. This involves firstly identifying and valuing the individual’s assets to determine whether inheritance tax (IHT) is due. The deceased’s estate may owe other tax too, such as income tax or capital gains tax (CGT). It is the executor’s duty to determine this.

Once such forms have been submitted to HMRC (and in some instances inheritance tax may need to be paid) an appointment can be made at the Probate Registry to apply for the Grant of Probate. This usually arrives by post a couple of weeks later.

The executor can then proceed to gather in all the deceased’s assets which may include property, personal possessions, bank and savings accounts, shares, insurance policies and sometimes business assets.

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