House Clearance Help & Advice: What happens if your loved one has not left a will?

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If your loved one has left a will then it will make things a lot easier on the family members left behind as everything will have been laid out as your loved one wished. If however there is no will, then the plans for the funeral and dividing of the estate of the deceased will fall onto the nearest relative.

If this happens the relative will be called the administrator as opposed to the executor of the will. The majority of time the estate of your loved one isn’t complicated or big and there is no major problem in sorting it out, however in the case of a particular large estate or where the loved one has many valuable possessions then the advice of a solicitor is best sought.

If the deceased’s estate is below £5,000 then it might not be necessary to get a letter of administration in order to deal with the estate. This is especially so if there is no land, shares or property involved in the estate.

However if any of the above exist or the estate is over £5,000 then the administrator of the estate must apply for a grant of letters administration. For this you will have to apply to the probate registry and you can either apply for this yourself or get the advice of a solicitor and get them to apply for you.

Once you have been given the right to administer the estate then you get access to such things as the deceased’s banks and building society accounts. You will also be able to distribute the assets of your loved you how you see fit after all the financial debts have been dealt with. One important point to note is that if inheritance tax is due then this must be paid before the grant will be issued.

If you are applying for a grant yourself then how you go about this will all depend on the area, in which you live and also whether or not inheritance tax will be paid. Inheritance tax will have to be paid if the estate of the deceased totals £275,000 after exemptions.

When you apply for probate there are several steps that you will have to follow, the first is deciding where you would like the formal interview to be held out of several options. Secondly send all your completed forms, additional documents and fees for applying for probate to the appropriate registry office. Within roughly 10 days of you requesting an interview you will then receive an appointment to attend, providing everything is satisfactory then a few days after attending the interview you will then be given the grant for the probate request.

The cost for the grant will be £90 if the net worth of the estate is over £5,000, but will cost nothing if the amount is below this. If you think the payment will cause you unnecessary financial hardship then you can ask for remission of the payment.

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