The event of losing a loved one can be extremely emotionally traumatic, even if you have already prepared for the worst. Unfortunately during this period of grief you may have to take on managing your loved one’s property, money and any other possessions or assets. Whoever the deceased has chosen to be an executor of the will is responsible for all their assets. The process of distributing the assets is known as probate.
Listed below are practical tips that will help you take the necessary steps of setting an estate in motion.
1. Register the death
Before you do anything, you need to make sure that the death has been registered and that you have a death certificate. By law, you must register the death within five days of the deceased passing, or eight days if you live in Scotland. To register a death you need documentation from a doctor or coroner. The only excuse for a late registration of a death, is if there is a delay on the part of the doctor or coroner.
2. Obtain the deceased’s will
In order to carry out the deceased’s wishes, and to make sure the correct person is tasked with doing so, you will need to find their will. A good place to start is by organising and collecting all of the paperwork you can find in the deceased’s home. Putting the documents in categories will help you further down the line when you may need them to deal with other issues. You may find the will itself, a copy of the will, or even correspondence with a lawyer in relation to the will.
Go through all the documents you can. Sometimes people change their will and you may think you have found it, but it could be an older or draft version. If you can’t find it, check with local solicitors and if you have no success there, contact the National Will Register.
3. Contact the Executor or Executors
Once you have obtained the will, read it to find out who has been appointed as executor. This is the person who will be in charge of carrying out the wishes expressed in the will. They will need all the paperwork relevant to the estate that you can find. If you’ve been appointed as executor and don’t feel confident complying with the multiple duties and responsibilities entailed, you should consider working with legal professionals who can guide you through the process or be appointed to act on your behalf.
4. Establish if Probate is required
Depending on who is going to inherit, and what the assets are worth you may need to obtain Probate by speaking to Probate specialists. For example, you may need it if the estate solely contains the deceased’s assets that aren’t joint with any other surviving members on the will.
There are certain papers that need to be completed in order to obtain a probate sale when a property is involved and the owner dies and doesn’t leave a will. You might want to use a solicitor or other advisors to help you with this.
Only the Executor or solicitor can obtain the final grant of probate. You must make sure you have the original will document, as it will need to be submitted with the probate.
Inheritance Tax Return (ITR) is also required at this stage, so an understanding and valuation of the assets is important.
5. Find any insurance policies and Funeral Plans
While looking through all the paperwork, hopefully you will have found evidence of insurance policies. Life Insurance and funeral plans are particularly important. Funerals can be expensive, but these documents will help to alleviate any financial burdens.
You want to examine the insurance policies carefully, and ensure that the relevant policy documents are passed across to the stipulated beneficiaries.
6. Carefully deal with bank accounts
You should never withdraw money from a deceased person’s bank account, unless it is a joint account with yourself. To find out if you have the right to access the funds, you should discuss this with the bank.
If you are the executor, it’s your responsibility to settle the deceased person’s debts and distribute the remaining assets in accordance with the will. Until all the necessary formalities are in place, you won’t be able to access the assets. You should notify all creditors, and make arrangements for the deceased person’s bank account to be frozen.
Setting up a deceased person’s estate can be an extremely stressful and time consuming process. The best thing to do is get the help and advice of professionals with experience in this field. This will help the process to run smoothly, and all you will need to do is oversee everything with very little intervention, if any intervention at all.