Probate is the legal authority to deal with someone's estate after they die. Banks, pension providers and the Land Registry will generally not release or transfer anything of substance until that authority has been produced, which is why the process shapes how quickly a family can settle matters.
Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration
Where there is a valid Will, the executors named in it apply for a Grant of Probate. Where there is no Will, the Rules of Intestacy decide who inherits and a relative applies for Letters of Administration instead. Both documents do the same job; the difference is whether the deceased chose the person holding the authority.
When probate is not needed
Small estates, typically where each institution holds less than its own threshold, can often be released on production of the death certificate alone. Assets held jointly usually pass to the survivor outside probate, as do pensions and life policies written in Trust. The more an estate relies on sole-name holdings and property, the more likely probate becomes.
The steps in order
The executor registers the death, locates the Will, and lists every asset and liability with a value at the date of death. An Inheritance Tax account is submitted to HMRC, any tax due on the estate is paid, and the application for the grant follows. Once the grant is issued, accounts are closed, property is sold or transferred, debts are settled and the balance is distributed to the beneficiaries.
Inheritance Tax comes first
Inheritance Tax is generally due within six months of the end of the month of death, and much of it must be paid before the grant is issued. That ordering catches families out, because the money needed to pay the tax is often locked inside the estate awaiting the grant. Our guides to the Inheritance Tax threshold and to reducing Inheritance Tax explain where that liability comes from.
How long it takes
A straightforward estate with a clear Will, few accounts and no property to sell can be concluded in six to nine months. Estates involving a property sale, business interests, missing paperwork, overseas assets or a dispute run considerably longer, and two years is not unusual. The grant itself is only one stage of that timeline.
What the executor is responsible for
Executors are personally accountable for valuing the estate correctly, paying the right tax and distributing to the right people. Distributing too early, or overlooking a creditor or a beneficiary, leaves them exposed. Choosing executors who are willing, organised and likely to outlive you matters more than most people expect when a Will is drafted.
Planning that makes probate simpler
Clear asset records, a Will that reflects current circumstances, life policies written in Trust and, where appropriate, assets already held in Trust all reduce what has to pass through probate at all. Bloodline planning goes further, holding wealth in a structure that continues after death rather than being unpicked and reassembled.
If you are acting as an executor, or you would like your own arrangements set up so that your family faces less of this, we can talk you through what is involved.