Probate and estate administration

Probate will not be needed if all the assets were held jointly as they will automatically pass to the co-owner, often a spouse or civil partner.

The term 'Probate' is often mistaken to mean all of the tasks to be completed following a bereavement but in fact it’s simply the term for obtaining the Grant that enables you to carry out these tasks.

Probate is only one part of the wider estate administration process. Probate provides you with the legal right to carry out the estate administration, including dealing with property, money and personal possessions.

You may have heard the term ‘probate’ to describe dealing with the financial matters of a loved-one, but you may not have heard of the term estate administration. They’re both terms related to dealing with a deceased person's estate but they have different definitions and there are important distinctions between them.

Probate may be required when someone passes away.

Probate is a short way to refer to a ‘Grant of Probate’, officially known as the ‘Grant of Representation’ in England and Wales and ‘Confirmation’ in Scotland.

Probate is required if the estate is worth more than £5,000 in value, if the deceased owned any property or if a financial institution (e.g. a bank or building society) needs to see the ‘Grant of Probate’ in order to release funds.

What is estate administration?

Estate administration is the process of handling a person’s legal and tax affairs after they’ve died.

This means dealing with all of their assets (e.g. property, personal possessions, shares and bank accounts), paying any Inheritance Tax and Income Tax and distributing inheritances to the estate’s beneficiaries.

Estate administration can often be extremely complex, time-consuming and an added stress at an already difficult time for the Executor or Administrator.

Obtaining the grant of probate is one part of estate administration process, and can also include:

An Executor or Administrator does not have to take full responsibility; they can choose to appoint a professional to handle the estate on their behalf.

If the estate you’re dealing with is straightforward, you may only want a little help to obtain the grant of probate. However, if things are more complicated and you want to sort everything out as quickly as possible, a complete estate administration service may be a better choice for you.

Use a specialist, not a generalist

If you need help, we will refer you to a legal expert (regulated by a recognised, independent professional body) to provide great value and an efficient estate administration service.

We refer to two specialist firms - one is a respected local practice, and the other operates nationally. We’ve chosen our referral partners carefully. You’ll receive excellent service from caring people who can take away all the stress and hassle.

If you’re an executor, it’s so important to use a qualified estate administration specialist for all the challenging legal and tax work. We can help you choose a company that has a reputation for excellent customer care and will provide you with regular updates.

  • Applying for probate or confirmation

  • Completing all the necessary Inheritance Tax forms

  • Income Tax submissions to HMRC for the year of death

  • Postal redirection

  • Registering unregistered properties

  • Valuing assets

  • Property valuation and sale

  • Cancelling or transferring utilities

  • Distributing funds to beneficiaries

  • And much more

Pre-paid probate

Funeral plans

Referrals

Carisma Wills actively discourages clients from paying for the cost of their own estate administration and probate in advance.

Our principal has provided this viewpoint:

“Pre-paid probate services are unregulated and in my experience are offered by commission-hungry salespeople. These companies take clients’ money and promise to deal with the estate at some future date, but with no guarantee or safeguard that they will still be in business. Without the protection of the UK’s financial services regulator, funds are at risk. I strongly discourage these plans and Carisma Wills has never and will never offer pre-paid probate.”

Carisma Wills has never sold or recommended pre-paid funeral plans. The regulation of companies offering these plans is welcome legislation.

Where Carisma Wills refers clients to other service providers, we have carried out due diligence to confirm the business is legitimate and has customer care as a core value, but our referral is not an endorsement.

Carisma Wills does not receive a commission for referrals but may be paid a nominal fee for completing pre-appointment paperwork.