When a person dies someone has to deal with their estate (the money, property and possessions left). This involves collecting in any money, paying any debts and distributing the estate to those people entitled to it. If you are named in someone’s will as an executor, you may have to apply for probate. Probate is usually needed in England or Wales when the person who died owned property or significant assets in their sole name. It is a legal document which gives you the authority to share out the estate of the person who has died according to the instructions in their will. You do not always need probate to be able to deal with the estate. In some circumstances, someone who wants to deal with the estate of someone who has died will have to apply for letters of administration, rather than probate. This person is called an administrator. You have to apply for letters of administration if: there is no will a will is not valid there are no executors named in the will the executors cannot or are unwilling to act. For more information about wills and probate, including forms and guidance, please follow the link to visit the Applying for probate pages on the GOV.UK website. For enquiries regarding applying for probate or after you have sent your forms to a Probate Registry, please contact using the telephone number provided. Probate enquiries: 0300 303 0648 Inheritance Tax enquiries: 0300 123 1072 We're sorry but <%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title %> doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
