I studied for a law degree at Manchester University and I use that theoretical experience, as well as my practical experience as a solicitor, to help produce legal content which I hope you find helpful. Outside of work, I love the snow and am a keen snowboarder.
Most winters you will see me trying to get away for long weekends to the slopes in Switzerland or France. Email — katy helpandadvice. LinkedIn — Connect with me. Probate will normally be required for distributing the property and assets among beneficiaries where it was owned solely by the person who died. This article will help expallain what happens in different circumstances. In general, probate takes between six to twelve months. However, many factors affect how long the probate process is, meaning without knowing the circumstances of the individual case, asking how long probate will take can like asking how long is a piece of string.
This article will walk you through the process. Probate is the process of sorting out who gets what after someone dies. This includes sorting out all their financial and physical assets and distributing them amongst beneficiaries. This article will help you learn more about the process and what is required. Contentious probate includes a variety of disputes, including a dispute over whether a will or codicil is valid, such as when you think there has been undue influence or the deceased person lacked capacity.
However, there can be many reasons and this article sets out what you can do to challenge a probate process. After the death of a family member or loved one, you may find yourself responsible for managing the estate of the deceased person. This is why you may want to use a probate specialist to help you. This article will help you find a specialist to help you. The cost of probate varies, depending on the estate and who handles the process. The cost of probate has two main components; fixed costs and variable costs.
Fixed costs are essentially the application fee. This article sets out the different costs involved of doing it yourself or using a probate soliciutor or specialist. Would you like some help with the Probate Process? If so, call or book a call back from a specialist. Would you like some help with Probate?
If so, call us now, leave your details or book an appointment for a call back. When is probate required? Topics that you will find covered on this page. You can listen to an audio recording of this page below. What does probate mean? What is a probate grant? What is probate used for? Here is a short video that explains what probate is. Who should apply for probate? Do you always need probate?
Probate will normally be required in the following circumstances: For distributing the property and assets among beneficiaries where it was owned solely by the person who died. Where any part of estate administration is disputed, and there are legal proceedings.
Where the person owned stocks or shares in their sole name. When is probate not necessary? These include: When the person owns their property and assets joint with another person, probate will not be needed. This is because the assets will be passed directly onto the other person who owns the property.
This is most common where a husband and wife, or partner, are the joint owner of the family home. When one owner dies, you should provide the death certificate to HM Land Registry so the legal rights to the home can reflect this change. It is important to note that a joint tenancy and tenancy in common are different. For a small estate, many banks will not require a grant of probate to access the money.
This is only really the case where the person had no land, property, or shares. If the person was insolvent. Therefore they had more debt, tax, and other expenses to pay than they actually had. Where there is an insurance policy in the form of a trust. In this case, the trustees must produce a copy of the policy and the death certificate. Then, the insurance services will pay the trustees of the estate, who old the money for the beneficiaries.
What counts as a small estate? The estate may be made up of:. This could include money paid out on a life insurance policy. If the person who died owes money to other people, for example, on a credit card, for fuel, for rent or a mortgage, this comes out of the estate. The estate of the person who has died is usually passed to surviving relatives and friends, either according to instructions in the will, or if the person dies without leaving a will, according to certain legal rules called the rules of intestacy.
For information about the rules of intestacy, see Who can inherit if there is no will — the rules of intestacy. The person dealing with the estate of the person who has died is called an executor or an administrator. An executor is someone who is named in the will as responsible for dealing with the estate. An executor may have to apply for a special legal authority before they can deal with the estate. This is called probate.
An administrator is someone who is responsible for dealing with an estate under certain circumstances, for example, if there is no will or the named executors aren't willing to act. An administrator has to apply for letters of administration before they can deal with an estate. Although there are some exceptions , it is usually against the law for you to start sharing out the estate or to get money from the estate, until you have probate or letters of administration.
The executor or administrator also called the personal representative takes responsibility for dealing with all of the estate. This involves:. Ask them for confirmation of the value of the money held at the date of death and the amount of income received during the last tax year up to the date of death.
Also ask them to freeze the bank accounts so no one can take money out without the correct legal authority. If it appears that there are not enough assets in the estate to cover outstanding tax, expenses, bills and other liabilities, you should seek the advice of a solicitor. Administering an insolvent estate can be complicated. When someone dies, it's important to sort out their benefits, tax and National Insurance as soon as possible. There may be tax to pay, or their estate might be owed some tax back.
You need to tell the tax office, and each government office that was paying benefits to the person who has died, about their death. You need to do this as soon as possible after the death. Depending where the person who has died was living, you may be able to tell several government services about the death in one contact by using the Tell Us Once Service.
For more information about this service, see What to do after a death. They can deal with all the DWP benefits that were being paid to the person who died. They can also check whether the next of kin is entitled to any benefits.
You can find information about what to do about tax and benefits on the HMRC website at: www. UK website at www. The person who has died may have left debts, for example, an overdraft on their account or a credit agreement that has not been paid off. When someone dies you should try to contact all their creditors. You should place a notice in The Gazette on their website, the official public record of legal notices in the UK.
This will tell creditors they can make a claim against the estate to pay off the debt. If you don't place a notice and creditors come forward after you've paid out the estate, you might have to pay off the rest of the debt with your own money.
In general, if there is not enough money in the estate of the person who has died to pay their debts their creditors cannot recover the amount still owed from anyone else, including that person's surviving relatives.
You should check whether that person had any kind of insurance policy that would pay off any of their debts on their death, for example, a payment protection insurance policy taken out at the same time as a loan.
In some cases the debt may have been a joint one, for example, an overdraft on a joint account or an amount owed on a credit agreement taken out in joint names. If this is the case, the debt can still be recovered from the surviving person. In addition, if you lived with someone who has died you may still be liable for debts that relate to the property, such as council tax or water bills.
If you are named in someone's will as an executor, you may have to apply for probate. This is a legal document which gives you the authority to share out the estate of the person who has died according to the instructions in the will. You do not always need probate to be able to deal with the estate.
If you have been named in a will as an executor, you don't have to act if you don't want to. In some circumstances, someone who wants to deal with the estate of someone who has died will have to apply for letters of administration, rather than probate. This person is called an administrator. You have to apply for letters of administration if:.
There are strict rules about who can be an administrator. If there is a valid will, you can apply for letters of administration if:. If there is no valid will, and you are the next-of-kin, you can apply to be an administrator in the following order of priority:. An unmarried partner, or same-sex partner who has not registered a civil partnership and who has not been named in a will as an executor will not usually be able to act as an administrator.
You do not always need letters of administration to be able to deal with the estate of someone who has died. You usually need probate or letters of administration to deal with an estate if it includes property such as a flat or a house. Otherwise, you may not need probate or letters of administration if:. Couples may jointly own their home. For very large estates, the probate process can be a complex procedure.
However, for most people, it's a very simple formality. Probate is really just a judge giving legal permission for assets to be passed on, whether or not there is a last will. Most people think of probate as involving a will. If a person dies and leaves a will , then probate is required to implement the provisions of that will. However, a probate process also can happen if a person dies without a will and has property that needs to be distributed under the state intestacy law the law of inheritance.
If the decedent owned an account that named a beneficiary such as a retirement account but the beneficiary has passed away before the owner of the account, probate law requires that account to go through the court so that the funds can be passed to the person legally entitled to them under state law. There is no requirement that a will or property go through probate, but if the decedent owned property that is not arranged specifically to avoid probate, there is no way for the beneficiaries to obtain legal ownership without it.
There are some exceptions to this. Most states recognize that a full probate process can be expensive and time-consuming. Because of this, small estates are usually eligible for a simplified process that generally does not require use of a probate lawye r. These types of procedures make probate court accessible to most families and encourages people to create wills.
It is possible to avoid probate entirely with careful planning. This is desirable for some people because doing so not only reduces legal fees, but it can mean avoiding the estate tax, which can take a significant amount of a very wealthy estate.
Avoiding probate can also protect privacy, since some of the records may not be available to the public. One of the most popular ways to avoid probate is through the use of a revocable living trust.
Assets are placed in the trust, but they can used by the trust creator during his or her lifetime. Upon death, assets in the trust are passed to the trust beneficiaries just by operation of the trust document. No probate is necessary. Life insurance policies pass property outside of probate.
Whoever you name as beneficiary on your life insurance policy will receive the death benefit directly with no probate process. Some retirement accounts can pass outside of probate.
Payable on death accounts operate the same way. Real estate that is owned as joint tenants, or joint tenants by the entirety passes outside of probate as well.
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