services
Probate Assistance
Five hundred thousand or five million pounds
What did the deceased want for the fruit of their life’s work?
Did they want it to after a few years, disappear like steam from a tea kettle?
Or did they want to keep their money in their family forever? Be it five hundred thousand pounds or five million pounds, how long do you want this estate in this family?
A small business
In some ways, life’s a series of contracts. We pay people (and the organisations they own, run and work for) to do things for us. And they pay us – incomes, grants, allowances and such like.
When someone dies, those contracts cease, so they must be unwound and settled. The personal representatives settle those contracts; realises the assets of the deceased, pay debts and execute the provisions of the will – we’ll deal with the absence of a will later.
Resolving the affairs of a person who’s died, with the personal responsibility involved, is like running a specialised sole-trader business. The executor must make the most of the estate. That’s the executor’s legal duty.
However, there’s also a moral duty to the deceased – a moral duty to their family. It’s in some ways more important than the legal duty. More on the moral duty later.
Best person for the job
Most folk think being named an executor in a will as a mark of respect and affection: that’s all very well, but here you are, confronted with an important task, with its inherent legal liability in which you’ve no training or experience. Legal liabilities…
You want to pay the right amount of tax – not a penny less, more importantly, not a penny more. After all, the deceased worked hard, I’m certain they wish the fruit of their life’s work to remain in their family forever, not merely for one generation or two, but till the earth stops spinning on its axis.
Moral duty
Remember the moral duty from earlier?
This moral duty, it’s importance notwithstanding, is seldom stated. Ignorance of, or even failure in the executor’s moral duty isn’t a crime exactly, they can’t be sent to prison for it, but it’s a disgrace. An expensive disgrace.
I’m an expert at both the executors legal and moral duties. I can see round corners.
I’ll help you master your legal and moral duty to the deceased and their family.
Your duty to the deceased, to the estate
I’ll help you understand the executor’s moral duty. Knowing the rules of estate administration backwards and forwards, I can help you resolve and protect this estate quickly and efficiently.
Assistance as required to:
- Protect you against personal liability
- locate and identify the assets and any liabilities of the estate
- deal with the administration of the estate according to law by realising these assets
- determine the beneficiaries
- apply to the court for a grant of probate of the will. (Probate is a
- formal document that confirms the executors and gives them
- permission to administer the estate)
- pay all just debts
- arrange that the beneficiaries benefit from the estate as stated in the will or by intestacy.
- prepare accounts and deal with taxation
- defend litigation
Love, honour and burden?
Love is no substitute for training, affection no guarantee of competence, friendship no promise of diligence.
It is not a question of passion or intelligence.
Like every job, you want, and the deceased wanted the best person for the job therefore, affection and esteem have no place in appointing executors. But, I can assist you in becoming the best person for this task.
With this estate, as a novice executor you hardly know where to start, it would take it would take you longer, it would cost more. You’ll need to learn on the job. You’ll likely make a mess of things.
But, with a guiding hand, you can do this job expertly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is (the grant of) probate?
Let’s go back one step: only I have the permission to manage my assets and form contracts on my behalf – the only persons other than me who could handle my money and related matters would be persons I’d given permission to act on my behalf.
On my death, all the permissions I’d granted would die with me. Therefore no one could deal with my finances.
My personal representatives [the persons managing my estate] would apply to the courts for permission to manage my affairs. The permission, which comes on a single sheet of A4, is the grant of probate.
If I had left a will, my personal representatives would be called executors, and the court would issue a grant of probate.
If I hadn’t left a will, or the executors named in my will were unable or unwilling to act, my personal representatives would be called administrators and would be issued letters of administration.
How much does probate cost?
The cost of resolving a dead person’s estate depends on the estate and nature of the work required.
How long does probate take?
If you mean ‘how long does it take to get the grant of probate?’, the issue of the grant of probate is a like the issue of a passport, sometimes a few days, other times many weeks.
If you mean ‘how long does it take to resolve an estate and distribute the assets of the estate to the beneficiaries?’, in most estates, there is the sale of land and buildings… you know how long that takes.
Who is responsible for obtaining probate?
If the deceased had left a will, the executors would apply for the grant of probate. In intestacy, the personal representatives would normally be people who would have inherited the lion’s share of the estate.
What is the estate?
A person’s estate is every object, or contract that was in the name of the deceased, these include:
- The deceased’s principal private residence,
- other land and buildings,
- cash, shares and similar assets,
- pensions
- life insurance
- business interests
- things you’ve given away in the last seven years
Will we pay inheritance tax?
Inheritance tax is a question of the nature of the assets, their value, and the identity of the beneficiaries. More important that the bald number of the inheritance tax liability, is understanding the nature of inheritance tax, what it was designed to do, who pays it and when.
Will I need probate?
More likely than not. In all but the smallest of estate, you would, it is often an essential step in dealing with someone’s estate.
What happens to debts?
Debts are paid out of the deceased’s estate. Relatives do not have to pay for them out of their pockets.
The estate is bound to make every effort to identify the deceased’s debts. The it is only after debts have been met that assets may be distributed.
Funeral expenses
The funeral is a contract between the person who walked into the funeral directors shop and the funeral director. It has nothing to do with the deceased. Nonetheless, banks and building societies generally meet the funeral expenses out of the deceased.
Keep your money in your family
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