Initially, an inventory of all of the assets and liabilities of the estate must be made. Whether it’s £50.00 owed on a credit card, or £100,000.00 worth of jewellery, every asset must be accounted for. Once this has been done, inheritance tax will need to be paid within 6 months of a person’s death, unless there are special circumstances which delay this being paid. Unfortunately, when inheritance tax is paid late, interest will most likely be payable on the balance due. Yes, unfortunately, even after death, we cannot escape tax and interest. 

 

The application for a Grant of probate will have to be made in order to collect in the assets from the estate, in most cases. The preparation of the application can take a few weeks, once information about all of the assets and liabilities are available. Once this, as well as a Statement of Truth about the estate, has been signed by all of the executors, the documents, along with the original Will if this is available, can be submitted to the Probate registry. The Registry’s usual timescales for dealing with applications is 6 to 8 weeks, although there have been severe delays in recent months, which you can read about on our probate solicitor’s blog, here. 

 

What else can add to the probate timescales? Well, our probate solicitors often experience longer timescales when there is a property, or multiple properties, to be sold. Obviously, if the property takes a long time to sell, then you have to wait for this. Also, the conveyancing on the property, which our team of property solicitors would usually carry out, can take some time (normally in the region of 6 to 8 weeks). 

 

If we’re dealing with the estate on your behalf, your team of dedicated probate solicitors will also have to selling any shares, and deal with any foreign properties or assets. 

 

Likewise, bank and savings accounts will need to be closed, and the money collected in. 

 

Once the estate has all been collected in, and all of the money is in the bank, your probate solicitors would be able to start dealing with distributing the estate , so how long will this take? 

 

If there are beneficiaries named in the Will who cannot be easily traced, or if there are people due to inherit under the rules of intestacy who are not immediately available (i.e. your probate solicitors do not have their contact information), these need to be traced. 

 

The probate process, as well as the administration of the estate, normally happens at a difficult and distressing time for everyone involved, and the situation can be upsetting and overwhelming. To top this off, Probate can be a long process, which does not help when people are already in a stressful situation. 

 

At MG Legal, our Probate solicitors’ team are experts in obtaining Probate and dealing with the distribution of an estate. Our team understand that the situation of losing a loved one is difficult, so we will do everything we can to ensure that the process is as smooth and as stress-free as possible. 

 

Contact our expert team, here, to find out how we can help you, and to discuss our fees for dealing with the estate. 

 

You can pop into your local office, or give our team a call on 01772 783 314.