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What Expenses Can I Claim Back From The Estate As An Executor?

Posted on 23rd March 2020

One of the first questions our probate solicitors in Longridge are asked is, ‘As the Personal Representative of an Estate (i.e. the executor or the person entitled to deal with the estate under the Rules of Intestacy, which you can read about below), what am I expected to do? Well, one thing is, you will be expected to pay out certain expenses (both administrative and legal), which could be a mere couple of pounds, all the way to thousands of pounds, depending on the size and complexity of the estate.

You’ll often find the term “reasonable expenses” thrown around: but, what does it mean, and what does “reasonable expenses” include?

Our Probate Solicitors in Lancaster explain on their blog below.

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What is a Personal Representative?

The Personal Representative or ‘PRs’ of an estate are the people entitled to deal with the administration. There are two types of PR: an Executor and an Administrator. Which name is used for the person dealing with the estate will depend on whether or not the deceased left a valid Will.

If the deceased left a Will, they would have appointed one person or a professional (for example, your Probate Solicitors in Lancaster can act as your Executors) to deal with their estate. You can appoint up to four Executors, although not all of them will actually have to deal with your affairs – one could act as the main point of contact for our team of Probate Solicitors in Lancaster, and the others can act as and when they need to.

If the deceased died without a Will, the laws surrounding inheritance will kick in; these are known as the Rules of Intestacy. The person or people who can apply to deal with your estate will be known as the administrator(s).

If you need any advice on the Rules of Intestacy, or what is a Personal Representative, then please contact our solicitors in Lancaster on 01524 581306.

Can Executor or Administrators claim reasonable expenses?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re the Executor with the Grant of Probate or the Administrator with Letters of Administration, your Probate Solicitors in Lancaster would explain that you are carrying out the same job, and therefore you can claim reasonable expenses.

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What is a reasonable expense?

You shouldn’t be out of pocket. Just because you’ve been appointed as an Executor or you’ve applied to be the Administrator, it doesn’t mean that you should be out of pocket because of that role.

Some of the expenses that you can claim back out of the estate include:-

Court fees – including the application fee to the Probate Registry, which is payable when you make your application to the Probate Registry.

Funeral Expenses – these are payable out of the estate, as they are the expenses relating to official disposal of the deceased’s body, usually in line with their wishes.

Property Valuation or Other Valuations – If the deceased owned a property, especially if they were the sole owner, there is a likelihood that it will need to be valued for probate purposes.

Costs of Cleaning or clearing a property – if the property needs to be emptied before it can be sold, these fees can be claimed back from the estate.

Inheritance Tax – as a PR, you definitely won’t have to pay inheritance tax out of your own pocket! This will be payable out of the estate.

Legal Fees – another thing we are often asked, are whether the PRs can claim back the legal expenses. Absolutely: our team of Probate Solicitors in Lancaster would usually deduct their fees once estate funds have all been collected in. This way, there is no up-front cost to the PRs.

One common question our Preston solicitors are asked, is whether the Executors can claim money for their time. No, unfortunately, unless the Will specifically states that you can, you probably won’t be able to!

How do I instruct Probate Solicitors in Lancaster?

Contact our team today on 01524 581 306 to discuss the estate of the deceased, and to confirm what fees our team of Probate Solicitors in Lancaster would charge. Alternatively, complete our online enquiry form, here, and a member of the team will give you a call back within one working hour!

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