Administration of Estates
When a person dies somebody has to deal with their estate - money, property and possessions owned by them - by collecting and realising assets, paying any debts and tax due and dividing the estate amongst the various beneficiaries.
All finances, assets and property in an estate will remain ‘frozen’ until the Probate Registry gives the authority to deal with the assets - via a ‘Grant of Representation’ - to the individuals nominated in your Will or, if you have no Will, to the appropriate family member. This is colloquially known as getting ‘Probate’.
If there is a Will, the net estate will pass to the people named in the Will. If there is no Will rules known as the Rules of Intestacy will apply.
Whether you are an Executor – one of the people named in a Will to ‘administer’ the estate – or the appropriate family member who steps forward to do the job if there is no Will, our Probate team can provide practical guidance to help you deal with the administration of a deceased person’s estate. We help you determine the size of the estate for Probate and tax purposes and also advise on the payment of Inheritance Tax and other tax liabilities.
We can prepare an application for the Grant of Representation on your behalf and help you lodge the Grant of Representation with the relevant organisations to collect monies due to the estate and settle any outstanding debts.
We can arrange the transfer or sale of any shares and work with our residential property team to handle the sale or transfer of any property or land owned by the deceased.
Our Private Client Team has extensive experience of administering estates and any trusts created by Wills or the intestacy laws. A meeting can be arranged at our offices, or we can visit you at home, to outline the process of obtaining Probate after the death of a relative. Whatever your requirements, we will handle your needs efficiently and sensitively.
We recognise that cost issues are important to you and we are transparent about our fees. Before any work is undertaken we will outline what we propose to do on your behalf and provide you with written confirmation of our estimated total fees. Our charges are primarily based on the time involved and may also reflect the value and complexity of the estate. We will consult you if the total fees are likely to exceed the original estimate.
