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When a person dies, somebody has to deal with their estate, collecting in the money, property and possessions, paying any debts and then distributing the estate to those entitled to it.
You should check whether the deceased person left specific instructions for their funeral. This information may be contained in the Will or in a separate letter or other document stored with the Will.
A Will may be held for safe-keeping in a number of places other than the deceased’s home: with a solicitor, at a bank, or at the Principal Probate Registry.
If you find the Will and it names someone other than yourself as executor, you should contact that person immediately.
It is advisable to consider using a solicitor if any of the following apply:
Problems requiring professional assistance may also arise if the will was badly drafted.
The person who deals with (administers) the estate is called a personal representative. The term personal representative can either refer to an executor or an administrator. If the deceased left a Will appointing someone to do this, they are called an executor. If there is no valid Will, or if the Will does not name an executor, then the personal representative is called an administrator.
The personal representative usually needs a formal legal document called the ‘grant of representation’ to confirm that they have the legal authority to deal with the assets of the deceased person.
Whether you are applying for a grant of probate or of letters of administration the procedure is the same. You can obtain the relevant forms from the Probate and Inheritance Tax Helpline or from the local probate registry. There is also an accompanying leaflet, ‘How to obtain probate’ (PA2), which explains how to complete the forms.
Addresses of the Registries and local offices can be found on Her Majesty’s Court Service website (see 'Useful website') or by phoning theProbate and Inheritance Tax helpline on 0845 302 0900.
Download the Dealing with an estate factsheet (PDF, 198 KB)
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Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). They aim to deliver justice effectively and efficiently to the public.
Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
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