Administration
of Estates
WHAT TO DO WHEN SOMEONE HAS DIED
When a family member dies the first thing that you must do is to register the death with the local registrar.
In the Cambridge area:
The registrar is based at Shire Hall on Castle Hill. You should telephone to make an appointment on 01223 717172.
Having registered the death two things need to be done as quickly as possible:
1) Contact the deceased's bank or building society where their current account was held to advise them of the death and give them a copy of the death certificate. If the deceased had an account in their sole name this will freeze the account and stop any standing orders or direct debits from being paid.
2) Then you should go to see an undertaker about the funeral arrangements. If you are not sure what the deceased's wishes were and they left a Will it is a good idea to see whether the Will gives any directions as to funeral arrangements.
You must now think about the administration of the estate. This involves finding out what the deceased owned and what their debts or liabilities are. Accounts will have to be closed and assets sold or encashed. All the debts must be paid and you must make sure that the deceased's tax affairs are in order. When all this has been done you can distribute the estate.
How the estate is to be distributed depends on whether or not the deceased left a Will. If the deceased left a Will the estate will normally be distributed in the way set out in it. If the deceased did not leave a Will the estate must be distributed in accordance with a set of rules known as the Intestacy Rules.
Administering an estate involves a great deal of work and a heavy responsibility. There is also some risk since if you make a mistake you are likely to be personally liable. For this reason most executors will choose to employ a solicitor's firm to help and advise.
The first meeting with the solicitor will probably take about an hour.
These are some of the documents and information you will be asked to provide:
- Death Certificate
- Birth Certificate
- National Insurance Number
- Details of tax office and reference number
- Details of anyone to whom the deceased owed money
- Details of the deceased's assets (you should bring with you recent bank statements, building society passbooks, insurance policies, premium bonds, and any other title documents for assets)
- Full names and addresses of the executors
- Full names and addresses of people to whom things are left in the Will (the beneficiaries)
- If any beneficiaries are under 18 their dates of birth and parent's addresses
We will write to the beneficiaries to tell them what they have been left in the Will. We send a copy of the Will to beneficiaries who have been left a share in the estate rather than a specific gift.
We also write to ask for valuations of assets and building society and bank balances. At the same time we gather the information needed to complete the deceased's tax returns.
When this information is to hand we are ready to apply for a grant of probate or letters of administration and we will normally ask you to come in to the office to go through the papers.
A grant of probate is a court order that confirms that the Will is valid. At the same time it confirms the appointment of the executors named in the Will. Letters of Administration is a similar Court Order where there is no Will and it appoints the administrators of the estate. In these notes we use the expression "Grant of Representation" which covers both Probate and Letters of Administration.
Having had our meeting to read and sign the probate papers we can often apply at once for the grant of representation; it will be issued within two weeks or so.
However if the estate is liable to pay Inheritance Tax the proportion of tax attributable to cash, shares and investments must be paid before we apply for the Grant of Representation. Building Societies allow us to withdraw money to cover the tax. Banks will not allow such withdrawals and so it may be necessary to borrow money from a bank to cover Inheritance Tax. The loan arrangements often take quite some time.
Any Inheritance Tax attributable to assets other than cash and investments, for example a house, can be postponed and paid by instalments though all the tax must be paid if the asset is sold.
When the Grant has been issued we will apply to close the deceased's bank and building society accounts and arrange for premium bonds, savings certificates and so forth to be encashed. We arrange the sale of assets such as shares which may need to be sold and we can deal with the transfer of any assets that are to be transferred to beneficiaries.
When cash becomes available we will:
- settle all the deceased's debts
- pay specific legacies left in the Will (for example a gift of £1000)
- normally we will make a payment on account to the residuary beneficiaries that is the beneficiaries who have a share in the estate
- we will also make sure that the deceased's tax affairs are in order
Finally we prepare accounts and make the final distribution to the residuary beneficiaries.
Our Fees
We offer you a choice:
You can either elect to be charged a flat fee which will be 3% of the gross estate or if you prefer we will charge on a time basis at our current hourly rates. The time related charge will normally be lower but the percentage charge gives clients the security of knowing what the charges will be.
For more information please call Louis Browne on 01223 362414