Administering your loved one’s estate - Should you ‘DIY’?

Whether there is a Will and you are an executor, or there is no Will and you are an administrator, whether the estate is small or large, you should also seek independent legal advice as a legal representative.

Before you decide whether to ‘DIY’, here are some of the things you should consider which we can advise you on.

Is the Will even valid and have I interpreted it correctly?

The first thing you should be doing as a legal representative is checking whether the Will is valid. We can assist you in carrying out a general review of the Will and making sure that the Will has been executed correctly.

As a legal representative you are responsible for ensuring that your loved one’s estate is distributed to the right beneficiaries in accordance with the Will. For example, many people tend to administer an estate and wind it up not realising that a Trust was created on death. We can assist you by helping you understand what this means, its registration which is a legal obligation, the running of the Trust itself and winding it up if necessary. Failure to deal with the above may lead to the legal representative been penalised by HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’).

Releasing assets in the estate prior to obtaining a Grant of Probate

As solicitors we are in regular contact with various financial institutions. We are aware of each institution’s account closure requirements and have access to their online portals. This means that we can often arrange for the release of a loved one’s funds without providing a Grant of Probate. This enables funds to be released more quickly and also means ongoing administration expenses can be settled from those same funds rather then the legal representative having to settle such expenses from their own personal funds.

Settling inheritance tax by instalments

We can liaise with HMRC to ensure that any IHT payment that may be due can be paid over 10 annual instalments over a period of up to 10 years. This is useful in situations where there are not enough cash assets to settle the immediate IHT amount as perhaps the majority of your loved one’s assets are tied up in their property. By arranging for this to be done there is less burden on the legal representative to settle the IHT from their own funds, may mean there is no need to sell the property if you do not wish to and allows for the application for the Grant of Probate to proceed without delay.

Placing Trustee Act Notices to protect yourself as the legal representative

A legal representative is liable for all debts of their loved ones, even those of which they are unaware of, so far as there are sufficient funds in the estate to pay them.

By placing what are known as ‘Trustee Act Notices’ you can protect yourself against any unknown creditors

Putting in place a Deed of Variation to reduce an Inheritance Tax liability

We can draft a Deed of Variation allowing you to change the terms of any existing Will or Trust which can alter the distribution of assets, add beneficiaries and reduce the overall IHT burden.

If you have recently lost a loved one, are appointed as a legal representative and would like to have an initial free 30 minutes consultation to discuss the above, or indeed any other advice around administering an estate, please contact a member of our Probate Client team on 020 8290 0440 who will be happy to advise you.