PROBATE

A person who has died cannot continue to manage his financial affairs and it is usually necessary for someone to be appointed and given legal authority to wind up those matters. If the deceased has left a valid will that authority is called ‘probate’. If there a valid will but no appointed executor able and willing to carry it out the authority is called ‘Letters of Administration with the Will Annexed’. And if there is no will it is called ‘Letters of Administration’.

All three are loosely referred to as ‘probate’ as is the procedure for obtaining them from the office of the High Court called ‘The Probate Registry.’ The documents evidencing the authority are called ‘Grants of Representation’. The procedure for obtaining each of them is basically the same and the employment of a professional to obtain them is unnecessary. Employing a professional is very expensive.

The steps involved in obtaining a Grant of Representation and winding up an estate are as follows:

1. Gather together the information necessary to complete the forms to obtain the grant of representation and to obtain an inheritance tax assessment, complete and lodge the forms with the Capital Taxes Office and Probate Office as appropriate.
2. When the grant is issued produce it to the organisations with which the deceased had assets as proof of the right to deal with the assets and give instructions as to how they are to be dealt with, e.g. transferred to a person who became entitled to them on the death, sold or cashed and collect what is due to the estate.
3. Finalise the income , inheritance and capital gains tax positions
4. Pay off the debts and discharge the liabilities of the estate and
5. Distribute the remaining assets to those who are entitled to them according to the will or the laws of intestacy.

By Gordon Bowley, author of How to Make Your Own Will, visit www.how-to-make-your-own-will.co.uk and Probate, visit www.probate-the-executors-guide.co.uk