Being tasked with administering an estate as an executor or administrator can be daunting. You’ll have a multitude of jobs to fulfil, and it’s crucial that you get them right, as any errors could result in personal liability. Here, we give an overview of five key aspects in estate administration.
1. Valuing the estate and protecting assets.
The first task you’ll need to undertake is valuing the estate. This involves obtaining valuations for the deceased’s assets, which may include property, land, cash, and investments. For property and land, it’s advisable to seek professional valuations.
You are also responsible for protecting the assets until the estate has been distributed. This may require you to take steps such as securing any vacant property and making all necessary insurance arrangements.
2. Paying inheritance tax.
As executor or administrator, you are responsible for ensuring the correct amount of inheritance tax is paid on the estate. You must consider any applicable exemptions, allowances, and reliefs and calculate the amount of tax due, if any. You usually need to pay some of the inheritance tax before the Probate Registry will issue the Grant of Probate, and you can’t distribute the estate until you’ve paid it all.
3. Applying for the Grant of Probate
Applying for a Grant of Probate is often a straightforward process that can be done online. Most Grants of Probate are issued within 16 weeks, but the process can take significantly longer if your application is incomplete or inaccurate.
4. Collecting in the deceased’s assets and paying any debts
Once you have the Grant of Probate, you can begin gathering the estate’s assets to distribute to the beneficiaries. Before you can make any distributions, though, you must identify and clear any liabilities or debts the estate owes.
5. Distributing the estate
Once you have paid any taxes and other liabilities, you can distribute the remainder of the estate to the beneficiaries named in the deceased’s Will. If the deceased died intestate, meaning they did not leave a Will, you will distribute the estate according to the Intestacy Rules. These rules dictate how an estate must be distributed and to whom. If the deceased was married or in a civil partnership, the rules state that their spouse or civil partner should receive the entire estate. If the deceased had children and their estate is worth over £270,000, you should distribute the first £270,000 and half of the remainder to the spouse or civil partner and share the other half between the deceased’s children. If the deceased was unmarried and had no children, the Intestacy Rules list the order in which other family members should inherit. If the deceased did not leave a Will and has no relatives eligible to inherit under the Intestacy Rules, their estate will go to the Crown.
