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Probate

Probate is the term used to explain the process of dealing with a person's affairs after they have passed away, which includes paying any debts or giving any remaining money to relatives and others. The person doing this will need to be the named executor of the will. If no will has been left then a close family member, known as the 'administrator' can deal with the person's business.

Probate needs to be dealt with via the government Probate Service. It is necessary to contact the probate service in order to get the appropriate authorisation to deal with the property of the deceased. This permission is given via a document called a 'grant of representation'. This document may not be necessary in certain cases, such as when the deceased person's assets were worth below £5000, or all of their belongings were equally owned by another, surviving, person. It is important to be aware that the estate of the deceased person should be administered within one year, before there is the possibility of being responsible for paying interest on it.

Using an experienced legal advisor means that you can have this process taken care of for you at this difficult time. The paperwork you will need to fill in depends upon the area the person was resident in and if inheritance tax is expected. Appointing a solicitor or probate advisor to help you with these stages will make sure that there are no outstanding debts to be paid and that any residual payments to next of kin are made with confidence and in a timely manner.

We have Solicitors located in all parts of the UK, with a focus in the South East from London to Portsmouth, Brighton and Hastings. All these solicitors are from well established firms and follow a strict service level agreement.

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