When a person dies, someone has to deal with their affairs. This is called ‘administering the estate’.

Our team of estate administration solicitors in Sheffield are committed to providing whatever level of help and assistance you need when dealing with the administration of an estate. This can range from dealing with the whole administration, collecting in the assets and distributing them to the beneficiaries and setting up will trusts. It can include simply providing a service of preparing the paperwork to apply for the Grant of representation.

Where detailed Inland Revenue accounts need to be prepared for an estate we are also happy to assist in the preparation of those and then you deal with collecting in of the assets and all other aspects of the estate administration.

If the person who has died leaves a will, it will usually name one or more people to act as the executors of the will – that is, to administer their estate.

If you are named as an executor of a will you may need to apply for a grant of probate.

A grant of probate is an official document which the executors may need to administer the estate.  It is issued by a section of the court known as the Probate Registry.

If there is no will

If there is no will (known as dying ‘intestate’) the process is more complicated.  The Administration of Estates Act 1925 sets out who can act as administrator – that is, who has the legal right to deal with the affairs of the person who has died.  The administrator will usually be a close relative of the person who has died, if there is one.  There may be more than one person who has an equal right to do this.

Anyone who has this right can apply to the probate registry for a grant of letters of administration.  This is an official document, issued by the court, which allows administrators to administer the estate.

In some cases, for example, when the person who benefits is a child, the law says that more than one person must act as administrator.

When a grant of representation is needed

A grant of representation is not always needed, for example if the person who died:

• has left less than £5000 in total; or
• owned everything jointly with someone else.

In other cases, some financial organisations, such as banks, may agree to pay funds to a personal representative without a grant of representation if the estate is very small – it is always worth asking.

Usually, a grant of representation will be needed when the person who has died left:

• more than £5000;
• stocks or shares;
• a house or land; or
• certain insurance policies.

Responsibilities of personal representatives

The PRs have a heavy responsibility.  They must:

• Safeguard the assets in the estate
• Collect the assets into their control
• Distribute the assets to the correct beneficiaries, either according to the will or the intestacy rules

PRs have a legal duty to carry out these tasks with due diligence and we are here to guide you as to how the estate is to be administered correctly.

Inheritance tax

The PRs are also responsible for finding out if inheritance tax is due as a result of a person’s death.  If it is, the personal representative has to make sure that it is paid to H M Revenue and Customs (the Capital Taxes Office).

Whether inheritance tax needs to be paid can depend on:

• how much the property and belongings of the dead person were worth when they died;
• the value of any gifts that they gave before they died, and who they gave these gifts to;
• the value of certain trusts from which the dead person benefited; or
• which people benefit under the will or under the rules of intestacy (the beneficiaries) – for example, gifts passing to the deceased person’s spouse or to charity will be exempt from inheritance tax.

Inheritance Tax is payable when the grant of probate is applied for, but since all the assets are frozen as at the date of death, funds from the estate cannot always be used for this purpose.  Some banks and building societies will release funds solely to pay inheritance tax, but if this is not possible, or the available cash is insufficient, then it may be necessary for the PRs to arrange a short-term loan from the deceased’s bank to cover the inheritance tax.