Simply put, probate is the process whereby someone’s debts and their property are held in their name whilst being transferred to heirs or beneficiaries, in most cases, an immediate family member.
The process begins when a petition is filed with the probate court to appoint an administrator of the estate.
Ordinarily, after swearing an oath, the Grant Of Probate will be received in 3-4 weeks. After that, the rest of the probate process will take a further few months to reach completion. The majority of cases are completed start to finish in 9-12 months, unless it’s a particularly complicated estate, or a contentious probate, which could take several years.
However, there are times when Probate solicitors might be required, particularly if it’s a complicated estate to administer.
Here is a short video that explains a little more about the probate process.
The Lasting Power of Attorney (or LPA) is a legal document allowing someone over the age of 21 to appoint one or more persons to act on his or her behalf should, one day, mental capacity be lost.
An LPA protects your interests, enabling you to pick a trusted proxy to deal with your affairs should the need arise. Having an LPA in place means saving loved ones from the stress of having to apply for a Deputyship order should a loss of mental capacity occur.
The short answer is, usually.
Inheritance tax is the tax on the estate left after somebody dies. Currently, UK Inheritance tax is at 40 percent, but if the deceased’s estate is worth less that £325,000 ( 650,000 for a married couple) than nothing has to be paid at all.
Neither does the tax have to be paid if the spouse or civil partner is left everything. Also, if the deceased has given money or property as a gift during their lifetime this might also be exempt, so long as it complies with HMRC’s regulations.
Capital Gains Tax is the tax paid when an asset that has increased in value is sold or disposed of. It’s the gain that’s made that is taxed, as opposed to the amount of money you receive.
Some assets, however, are tax free, and you don’t have to pay Capital Gains Tax if your yearly gains are under your tax-free allowance.
If you’re the executor you can apply for probate personally, or have your probate solicitors do it for you. Before your application you’re obliged to estimate and report the estate’s value.
The probate registry will issue a Grants of Representation, a document that gives you the right to deal with the deceased’s estate. The probate registry will then issue a Grant of Probate to the executor.
The short answer is No.
You can use a probate specialist, who is often cheaper than a probate solicitor. Or you can do it yourself.
DIY probate is something many people consider, and it is possible to do it yourself if the process isn’t too complex. You would, of course, save money, but you’d also create a lot of work for yourself. A fixed fee solicitor might be the answer.This means being able to manage your probate costs, as a fixed fee solicitor forfeits the usual hourly in favour of a price for each step of the process. For many, an easier prospect than DIY probate.
Estate Administration is, ultimately, the process of collecting and managing the estate, paying any outstanding taxes or debts and distributing the remaining property to the heirs. It is the named executor who will be expected to learn about Estate Administration and carry out these tasks.
So, how long does probate take after swearing oath? Expect it to be a 4/6 month process at least, and be prepared for it to take as long as a year.
We have partnered with Trust Inheritance, the UK’s leading probate specialists, to bring our site users a cost effective but premium level probate service. The costs for the service start at only £500 plus VAT and you can choose how much you want to do and how much you want Trust Inheritance to do.
The services are broken down in to 3 tiers, which essentially allow you to choose how involved you want to be in the probate process.
This is a fantastic and in-depth, comprehensive, online ‘Do it Yourself’ service, giving you everything you need to ensure you have dealt with the estate in line with your responsibilities and liability as a personal representative.
This toolkit can be used whether a Grant of Representation (also known as the Grant of Probate, Administration or Confirmation) is required or not, even if a Will was not left.
This is a great tool to help families, executors and administrators discover what to do when someone dies. From the immediate steps to take, for example, registering the death, obtaining a death certificate, arranging a funeral, looking after dependents or securing the property; to distributing the property or possessions of the deceased.
Below are the benefits of the online toolkit:
Basically this gives you everything you need and the cost of this support is only £500 plus VAT. You will struggle to find such a comprehensive service at a lower cost.
This is the next tier up and gives you everything that you would get in the ‘Tell me what to do” approach above.
In addition to all the benefits of the ‘Tell me what to do” approach, we will also Fast Track the Grant of Representation application. Trust Inheritance will appoint you a personal Bereavement Adviser who will be by your side through the whole process.
As Trust Inheritance are a Trust Corporation, less information is required by the Courts when they apply for the Grant on your behalf.
This means Court fees are reduced saving money against the estate and crucially, the Grant is expedited and issued within weeks of application, rather than months; quickly freeing up funds to cover costs and expenses, as well as allowing interim payments to be made to those who are due to benefit much sooner.
If you are looking to get through the probate process quickly then this will really be beneficial to you.
The costs for this level of personal support are only £1,500 plus VAT.
This is the 3rd tier and essentially means that Trust Inheritance will do everything for you. This is the most comprehensive service you can get.
You will be assigned a Solicitor, who will deal with the entire matter for you and will be on hand throughout. They will cover everything needed in order to finalise the Estate Administration and to ensure your legal responsibilities are adhered to.
The costs for this level of total support are 1.99% of the value of the estate subject to a minimum of £2,250 plus VAT. This approach will work best for those that would prefer to let someone else deal with all the various bodies that need to be notified once someone passes away. As a comparator these costs are typically half of what a bank would look to charge you.
If you would like some help and either know which of the 3 tiered approach you would like to use, or would just like to chat through each to help you decide which is right for you; please call us on 0800 840 1187 or you can leave your contact details at the bottom of this page and someone will be in touch to help.
