A grant of probate confirms the authority of an Executor to administer and distribute the estate of someone who has died. If there was no will, you’ll apply for letters of administration instead.

Yes. Our Free Account Support service includes notifying companies of a death, stopping post and instruction for account closure, transfer or freeze. You can upgrade later if we determine that probate is required. If the Estate is not being passed to a surviving spouse, a home is being sold, there are financial accounts worth a significant amount or there are stocks and shares, it is likely that Probate will be required.  If you are unsure whether you need Probate, speak to a member of our specialist team today.

You will probably not have to apply for Probate if any one of these conditions apply to the estate: Joint assets Only: If the estate is worth less than £1 million and is being passed to a spouse, civil partner, or charity Less than £5,000: The value of everything that the deceased owned in their own name is worth less than £5,000: or There were only savings and no other assets such as property, vehicles etc. Provided that  you are either named as an Executor, or you have permission from the other next of kin, you can distribute the assets [...]

Yes. The first step in applying for a grant of probate (or letters of administration) is to contact all relevant organisations about the death, to gather the documentation on assets and debts. You can do this yourself, which means contacting all companies individually (often by phone), filling in multiple forms and sending off documents. Alternatively, a Probate Solicitor can do the same job for you. Whoever does  the job, it’s usually around 20 hours of admin effort.