Wills & Probate:

Who sorts out my estate after my death?

'Personal Representatives' take responsibility for ensuring that the deceased's assets pass to those who are entitled - this does not happen automatically. Personal Representatives can be relatives, a friend or your solicitors or a combination of these. If there is a Will they are usually named as the Executors. If there is no will they are referred to as the Administrators.

Who can become an Administrator?
In the absence of a will the next of kin are entitled to apply to be Personal Representatives. This can lead to disagreements as to who should take on the responsibility and may not be the persons who the deceased would have wished. It is very important therefore to choose persons whom you would wish to sort out your affairs after your death.

The responsibilities of the Personal Representatives are to:
- Ascertain the value of the estate
- Schedule all of the assets and obtain valuations. This includes bank and building society accounts, shares, cars, houses and any other investments.
- Obtain authority from the Probate Registry to administer the estate. Unless the estate is very small organisations will not actually hand over the deceased's assets to the Personal Representatives without an official document from the Probate Registry of the High Court which confirms that the Personal Representatives are entitled to handle the affairs of the deceased. This is called Probate if there are Executors or otherwise Letters of Administration.
- To swear an Oath explaining how they are entitled to act and giving a valuation of the estate
- if the estate exceeds £300,000 then the Inheritance Tax due must be paid before the Grant of Representation is issued.
- To distribute the estate to those who are entitled.
- Once the Personal Representatives have received the Grant of representation they can then get on with gathering together all of the deceased assets, paying any outstanding bills and then distributing the balance in accordance with the deceased's will or, if there was no will, in accordance with the rules on intestacy.
- To give a formal account of all of the monies they have received and pass this on including interest on the money held since the death. All beneficiaries are entitled to see this account.

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