If you recently lost a loved one and stand to inherit the majority of their estate under the rules of intestacy, you may need to apply for a grant of letters of administration before you can deal with their assets. As part of this process, you’ll become the administrator of the estate. 

 

 

When comparing prices for probate solicitors, you’ll probably notice a huge range of fees ranging from the hundreds well into the thousands. That’s because there are two different types of service you can choose from when applying for probate: getting the grant of probate (or grant of letters of administration) and full estate administration. 

 

When it comes to applying for probate with Wellbeing Services, you’ll have a choice between two different options: 

 

1. Getting the grant. The cheapest option is simply to get the grant of probate or letters of administration. For this, Wellbeing Services offer a fixed-price of just £565. This is a great choice if the estate is fairly straightforward, you have plenty of free time and you’re good with numbers. 

 

After a brief consultation over the phone, we’ll set up a follow-up call or a face to face visit to record all the necessary information about the estate. Once we have everything we need, our legal team will complete the application and tax forms, then we’ll send this to you for your approval before submitting it to the probate registry. 

 

Once we receive the grant, we’ll send it out in the post, then you’re free to sort out the estate yourself – including selling property, paying off debts, closing bank accounts and distributing assets. 

 

2. Full estate administration. If you’re short on time, want more support or feel that the estate is too complex to take on yourself, we also offer a full estate administration service. This reduces the burden on you and your family and gives you the assurance that the estate is being dealt with correctly. 

 

Here’s a brief breakdown of what’s included with full estate administration: 

 

 

As full estate administration is a more involved service, our pricing varies on a case-by-case basis.  

 

 

 

You can apply for probate if the person who died made a will and named you as an executor. It’s normal for the person writing a will to tell their executors they’ve been appointed, but it’s worth checking the will to be sure. The document you receive at the end of this process is known as a grant of probate. 

 

If the executors named in the will have died, an administrator will need to be named by the court. Again, this is usually the beneficiary who stands to inherit the most based on what’s been left in the will. 

 

You may have to go through a similar process if the executors named in the will have lost mental capacity – for example, if they suffer from dementia. If there are no surviving executors with mental capacity, an administrator will need to be named by the court. This may be someone who has power of attorney for the executor that lacks capacity, or a person authorised to apply by Court of Protection. 

 

If the executors named in the will are refusing to apply for probate, you can apply to the court to have the executors of the estate removed. This is usually dealt with by a close relative who stands to inherit the most, like a partner or adult child of the person who died. 

 

To find out more about removing an executor or having a new executor appointed, call our probate specialists today on 01482 893258. 

 

 

In cases where probate is required but there is no will, someone will need to apply for a grant of letters of administration. This is usually the person who stands to inherit the most under the rules of intestacy, a set of traditional laws defining what happens to your estate when there is no will. If the person who died has a living spouse or civil partner, they’ll be responsible for dealing with the application. 

 

If the spouse or civil partner has died or is unable to apply for the grant, another family member will need to submit the application. Using the list below, you can see who usually takes responsibility next based on their relationship with the person who died: 

 

 

If the only people entitled to apply for probate are minors, call our specialists for free on 01482 893258. We’ll help you work out who can get the grant based on your situation. 

 

 

In order to apply for probate, you need to start by gathering information about your loved one’s estate. If the estate is quite small and simple, this may only take a few hours. However, if there are multiple accounts, pensions and properties to deal with, it could take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months to gather all the necessary information. 

 

This may involve things like: 

 

 

Once you’ve gathered all of these details in one place, you’re ready to start your probate application. 

 

 

Once your application has been submitted to the probate registry, it takes between 3-6 weeks for it to be approved – sometimes longer if the estate is particularly complex. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that you or your probate solicitors can do to speed up this part of the process. 

 

After your grant has been approved, it will be sent out in the post. You’re then ready to start dealing with the estate. 

 

 

Depending on the complexity of the estate, it usually takes 3-6 months to sell off property, close bank accounts and distribute the assets to any beneficiaries. Using a professional for full estate administration doesn’t necessarily speed this process up, but it does help to take some of the weight off your shoulders. 

 

Here are some of things you may need to do when administering the estate: 

 

 

To make the probate application process as smooth as possible, it’s a good idea to gather this information in advance. In this guide, we’ll look at everything from finding someone’s will to getting their property valued for probate. 

 

 

When someone writes a will, it's recommended that they tell their executors where the will is kept – this helps to make the process smoother when dealing with their estate. However, if you are the executor and don't know where the will is stored, it's important to track it down as quickly as possible. 

 

Most people keep their will with other important financial documents. If your loved one has a safe or an office with a filing cabinet, this is probably the best place to start. Note that if the will was written with a solicitor or bank, the document you find may only be a copy. You may need to speak to the person or organisation who wrote the will to obtain the original will. 

 

If you can’t find the will anywhere but think one was made with a particular organisation, you could reach out to them to check. Alternatively, you can see if the will was deposited with the Principal Registry of the Family Division or with Certainty – a National Will Register who can carry out a will search for a fee. 

 

If you still can't find the will, you may need to apply for a grant of letters of administration. In this scenario, the estate would instead be divided up following the rules of intestacy – a set of laws that define what happens to someone's estate when there is no will. For these cases, the person who stands to inherit the most usually handles the application. 

 

 

In order to prepare your probate application and tax forms, you'll need to track down some key details about the estate. This includes things like debts, tax owed, gifts made in the last 7 years, shareholdings, investments, life insurance, pensions, and the balance in any bank accounts. 

 

 

Here, we'll cover some of the key things you need to do before you can apply for probate: 

 

 

After registering the death, you'll have 28 days to use the government's Tell Us Once service. This allows you to report the death to multiple government organisations at once, including: 

 

 

You can find out more about the government's Tell Us Once service here. 

 

 

If your loved one left a will, they may have included an inventory of their assets. However, this isn't always the case, so you may need to search the home to track down any assets or liabilities they held. 

 

Office rooms, safes and filing cabinets are always good places to start, and sideboards, bedside drawers and kitchen drawers are also worth checking. If you're really struggling to find the information you need, you could search their wallet to find out who they bank with. You may even be able to check their emails if you have access to their phone or computer. It’s also worth going through their bank statements, which may shed some light on other organisations that may need to be contacted. 

 

After building up a list of their assets and debts (e.g. Current account with Barclays, Pension with Scottish Widows, etc), you'll need to contact each organisation for a final statement. This is to work out the value of each asset and whether any debts are owed. In most cases, you'll also be asked to send a copy of the death certificate, most assets will then be frozen until you have a grant of probate or grant of letters of administration. 

 

 

It’s the executor’s responsibility to protect the assets in the estate. So the first thing to do is make sure that house insurance is in place and that the insurance provider is aware of your loved one’s death. Once you’re happy with the extent of the house insurance cover, you should make an effort to secure the house (or houses) to prevent theft of break-ins. Make sure all the windows are closed and ensure that any doors, garages, sheds or outhouses are locked. And if there are any valuables such as jewelry or antiques, these can be collected and held for safekeeping until they’re ready to be distributed to beneficiaries. 

 

The next thing to do is get a valuation for the property. By searching for the address on Zoopla and looking at the price of similar houses in the area, you may be able to get a good idea of how much the house is worth. However, you may be better off getting a professional valuation if inheritance tax is likely to be an issue. 

 

If you choose not to use an estate agent or a RICS qualified surveyor, HMRC may challenge your property valuation. This usually happens in cases where the property value keeps the estate just below the inheritance tax threshold – which can be seen as suspicious or convenient in the eyes of HMRC. The current threshold for inheritance tax is £325,000, however, this can increase to £650,000 or even as high as £1 million depending on the circumstances. 

 

 

The inheritance tax allowance doesn’t apply between spouses and civil partners domiciled in the UK. This means that, if the entire estate you’re dealing with has been left to the person’s spouse or civil partner, no inheritance tax will be owed – even if the estate is over £325,000. 

 

 

The short answer: no. It’s actually possible for many people to double their inheritance tax allowance to £650,000. If someone who is married leaves their entire estate to their spouse, their unused inheritance tax allowance of £325,000 will also pass to their partner. This effectively doubles the surviving spouse’s inheritance tax threshold to £650,000. The same benefit also applies to people in a civil partnership. This means that, if someone’s spouse or civil partner dies and leaves them their entire estate, the surviving partner’s inheritance tax allowance will effectively be £650,000. 

 

 

It’s also possible to increase your inheritance tax allowance by leaving property to certain people. This is thanks to an additional tax allowance that was introduced by the government in April 2017. 

 

If property is left to children, step-children or grandchildren – or any of their spouses or civil partners – the estate receives an additional inheritance tax allowance of £175,000. This effectively increases the inheritance tax allowance to £500,000. Just like the nil rate band, this can also be transferred between married or civil partners. 

 

This means that, if a surviving spouse or civil partner leaves their property to their children after inheriting all their partner’s estate, the inheritance tax allowance will be £1,000,000. 

 

Note: This additional allowance will increase every year in line with inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index. 

 

 

If there is a will, the executor is responsible for paying the inheritance tax bill from the estate. If there isn’t a will, this is usually handled by the administrator. 

 

Figuring out exactly how much inheritance tax is due can be difficult, so many people choose to use a professional probate service when dealing with their loved one’s estate. 

 

Once the amount of inheritance tax owed has been calculated, this can either be paid from funds within the estate, money from the sale of assets, or through the Direct Payment Scheme (DPS). This is where inheritance tax is paid directly from the bank or building society of the person who died. 

 

 

Inheritance tax ideally needs to be paid by the end of the sixth month after your loved one’s death. After this point, HMRC will start charging interest. They may also charge late payment penalties, which can be as high as £3,000 if the payment is more than 12 months late. It’s therefore important to apply for probate and gain access to the estate as quickly as possible.