Probate Services

Probate is the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions (their Estate) when they die. It is not required in every case, but you can check whether it is required by contacting the financial organisations that the person who died used.

When someone close to you passes away, handling their Estate can be an extremely daunting process and can often feel very overwhelming. Poole Alcock can take the administration burden away and offer both legal and practical support through this process. Our Estate administration team will deal with your loved one’s Estate from start to finish. We will identify, collect and manage your loved one’s assets efficiently and ensure that everything has been accounted for correctly. With many years of experience, we have the knowledge and tools to ensure that nothing is overlooked.

This will depend upon a number of factors that our expert solicitors here at Poole Alcock would be happy to assist with. Inheritance tax is payable when a deceased’s Estate is valued above the £325,000 threshold. However, there are a number of reliefs in place which could mitigate any inheritance tax liabilities such as spouse exemption whereby, when the deceased’s Estate passes to their surviving spouse, the Estate will pass to them tax free regardless of its value.

Poole Alcock will carefully consider all of the assets and liabilities of the estate and will then be able to advise whether inheritance tax is payable. Please note that inheritance tax must be paid 6 months from the date of death. If you’re worried inheritance tax could be payable, please get in touch as soon as possible.

There are a number of reasons why you should use a solicitor to administer an Estate such as:

1. Expertise in legal matters

Our specialised solicitors here at Poole Alcock have extensive knowledge in Estate administration and can navigate the complexities of Will interpretation, efficient management of the assets and ensuring the administration process has complied with all legal requirements that is not common knowledge.

2. Minimising stress

Here at Poole Alcock, we will do all of the work for you. We will take the administration burden away allowing you the much needed time to grieve and be there for your loved ones. We would simply require you to sign a form now and again as the Executor.

3. Efficient management of assets

We will identify, gather in and manage the assets of the Estate efficiently and prepare any documentation that may be required to do so. We will ensure that the assets and liabilities of the Estate are thoroughly accounted for to ensure that the Estate is not overlooked in anyway and/or incorrectly distributed.

4. Protect against liability

As an Executor or Administrator of the Estate you can be held personally liable for mistakes made during the administration of the Estate. Our solicitors can ensure that this is not possible by carrying out all the crucial steps to mitigate this risk. There are means of protecting Executors against such risks such as placing what is known as a ‘S27 notice’ which protects Executors against any claims from creditors and/ or beneficiaries that they have not had any notice of at the time that they convey or distribute the property in question, provided that the notice placed complies with the requirements of that section.

The usual process for administering an Estate where the Estate is ‘relatively straightforward’ (e.g. not international assets) is as follows:

1. Identify all of the relevant assets and confirm their value as at the date of death so the value of the estate can be confirmed, and identify whether any assets require the Grant of Probate.
2. If appropriate, the application for Probate will be drafted and sent to the Probate Registry.
3. Upon receipt of the Grant we will then send this to the relevant institutions to gather the remainder of the Estate.
4. If there is a property involved we would arrange valuations, agent instruction (upon your approval), and refer the conveyancing to our dedicated team of conveyancing solicitors to deal with the sale.
5. Identify any tax liabilities such as potential Capital Gains Tax, Income tax liabilities for the administration period, etc.
6. Settle any outstanding debts of the Estate.
7. Contact all beneficiaries to inform them that they are a beneficiary of the Estate and request the relevant details that we would need from them.
8. Prepare a set of Estate accounts showing a full breakdown of the assets and liabilities of the Estate, expenses of the Estate and proposed distributions.
9. Distributions and finalising the Estate.