How to apply for probate

Start by listing every asset and how it is held, because how it is held decides whether it passes through the estate at all. Property owned as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving owner and never enters the estate. Property owned as tenants in common does not — the deceased's share forms part of the estate and normally requires a grant to deal with. If you do not know which applies, the Land Registry title or the Scottish land register will say.

Joint bank accounts usually pass to the surviving account holder by survivorship. Sole accounts do not, and whether a grant is required depends entirely on the balance and each institution's own policy. Ring each bank, tell them the balance and ask what they need. Some release five-figure sums on an indemnity; others require a grant for far less.

Most workplace and personal pension death benefits are paid at the trustees' discretion under a nomination form, which places them outside the estate and outside probate. Life policies written in trust are the same. Neither needs a grant, and neither is included in the estate for Inheritance Tax in the ordinary case — though a policy not written in trust is.

Where the estate consists of a jointly owned home, joint accounts and a discretionary pension, there may be nothing left that requires a grant at all. Where it includes a solely owned property, shares held directly, or a sizeable sole account, you will almost certainly need one.

Being named executor does not compel you to act. You can renounce, or reserve your power so another executor proceeds without you. Renouncing must be done before you start intermeddling with the estate, so decide early. If nobody named is willing or able to act, the next entitled person applies for letters of administration with the will annexed.

Where there is no will, the person entitled to apply is fixed by the intestacy order of priority — spouse or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then siblings, and so on. An unmarried partner has no right to apply, which frequently comes as a shock in exactly the households least prepared for it.

The valuation is of everything the deceased owned at the date of death, and everything they owed, at open market value on that date. It is not a rough estimate — the figures go on a return to HMRC and the executor signs a declaration that they are correct.

Write to every bank, building society, pension provider, insurer, share registrar and NS&I account holder asking for the balance and any interest accrued as at the date of death. They will want a certified copy of the death certificate. Ask specifically for date-of-death balances, not current balances, because the two differ and only the first is relevant.

For property, get a professional valuation rather than an estate agent's marketing appraisal where the estate is anywhere near the Inheritance Tax threshold. HMRC can and does challenge property valuations, and a RICS valuation is far more defensible than a free appraisal from an agent hoping for the instruction. Where the property later sells for materially less, there are reliefs that can adjust the tax position.

Include personal possessions realistically. Household contents usually have modest second-hand value, but individual items — jewellery, art, a classic car, a collection — can be significant and should be valued separately by someone competent.

List the debts too: mortgage, credit cards, loans, outstanding utility bills, income tax owed to the date of death, and funeral costs, which are deductible. Debts reduce the taxable estate.

Gifts made in the years before death have to be reported and can be brought back into the estate for tax. Ask the family what was given away and to whom. This is the part most commonly overlooked, and getting it wrong is the most common cause of an HMRC enquiry later.

Advertise for creditors before distributing. In England and Wales, placing the statutory notices — in the London Gazette and a local newspaper — and waiting the required period protects the executor personally against claims from creditors who emerge afterwards. It is cheap insurance against unlimited personal liability and is routinely skipped.

Every estate that needs a grant must have its value reported. Where no Inheritance Tax is due, the reporting is lighter and the values are given as part of the probate application itself. Where tax is due, a full account goes to HMRC and the grant will not normally issue until HMRC has been paid and has confirmed the position to the Probate Service.

Most estates pay nothing. There is a nil-rate band below which no tax arises, an additional residence allowance where a home passes to direct descendants, complete exemption for transfers between spouses and civil partners, and the unused portion of a deceased spouse's allowances can be transferred to the survivor. That last point means many widowed estates have double the headline allowance available, and it has to be claimed rather than being applied automatically.

Where tax is due, the sequencing problem is real: HMRC wants payment before the grant, and the assets cannot be sold before the grant. The direct payment scheme is the standard answer — banks and building societies will pay Inheritance Tax directly to HMRC from the deceased's accounts before probate, on the right form. NS&I will do the same.

Tax attributable to property and some business assets can be paid in annual instalments over a period of years rather than in a lump sum, with interest running on the outstanding balance. That converts an impossible immediate bill into a manageable one where the estate's value is tied up in a house.

Where neither route covers it, executors sometimes take a short-term bridging loan against the estate, or beneficiaries advance the money. Both carry cost and both should be a last resort after checking the direct payment scheme and instalments.

Interest runs on unpaid Inheritance Tax from a fixed point after the death regardless of whether the grant has been issued. Delay in valuing the estate therefore has a direct financial cost, which is the main argument for getting the valuation done promptly even though nothing else is urgent.

Rates, thresholds, instalment periods and interest rates are all set by the Treasury and HMRC and change. Take every figure from HMRC directly rather than from any secondary source.

In England and Wales, apply to the Probate Service, online for most straightforward estates or by post using the paper application. You will need the original will and any codicils — not copies — the original death certificate or an interim certificate, the estate values, and the Inheritance Tax reference where tax was reported. The original will is sent to the Probate Service and is not returned; it becomes a public document.

There is an application fee, with a reduced or nil fee for estates below a value threshold, and a separate scheme reducing court and tribunal fees for people on low incomes or certain benefits. Additional sealed copies of the grant are charged per copy and are worth ordering in quantity, for the same reason as death certificates — every institution wants its own.

Executors named in the will apply for a grant of probate. Where there is no will, or no willing executor, the entitled person applies for letters of administration. The practical effect is the same; the terminology differs and the order of entitlement is fixed by statute where there is no will.

Processing times vary considerably and have been long in recent years. Applications with errors, missing originals or unresolved Inheritance Tax take substantially longer, and the service will stop the clock while it queries something. Check the current published timescales rather than assuming a few weeks.

Scotland does not use probate at all. The equivalent is confirmation, applied for at the sheriff court in the area where the deceased lived, using an inventory of the estate. Small estates below a value threshold benefit from a simplified procedure where sheriff clerks will help prepare the paperwork, which has no equivalent in England. The executor is either nominate — named in the will — or dative, appointed by the court where there is no will, and an executor dative may need to find a bond of caution before confirmation is granted.

Northern Ireland has its own probate office within the courts service, and its own forms and fees. The broad structure follows England and Wales, but you apply in Northern Ireland and the intestacy rules that determine entitlement are those of the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955.

Where the deceased held assets in more than one UK jurisdiction, a grant from one is generally recognised in the others, but the process for resealing or registering it differs. Take advice on cross-border estates rather than guessing.

With the grant in hand, send a sealed copy to each institution holding an asset and ask them to release or transfer it. Open a separate executor's bank account and run everything through it. Mixing estate money with your own is the single fastest route to a dispute you cannot document your way out of.

Pay the debts before the beneficiaries, in the correct order. Funeral expenses and the costs of administering the estate come first, then secured debts, then preferred and unsecured creditors, then the beneficiaries. Where the estate is insolvent — the debts exceed the assets — the order is prescribed and paying a beneficiary or a favoured creditor first makes the executor personally liable for the shortfall.

Finalise the tax. The deceased's income tax to the date of death has to be settled, and income the estate earns afterwards — interest, dividends, rent — is taxable as estate income and may need reporting. Capital gains can arise where estate assets rise in value between death and sale.

Prepare estate accounts showing everything received, everything paid and how the balance is divided. Beneficiaries are entitled to see them, and producing them properly is what closes the matter. Get residuary beneficiaries to sign them off before final distribution.

Consider waiting before distributing. Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 in England and Wales must generally be brought within six months of the grant, and an executor who has distributed within that window can be personally exposed if a claim succeeds. Distributing after the period has passed is materially safer.

Keep records for years, not months. HMRC can open an enquiry into the estate's tax position long after distribution, and the executor remains the person answering for it. Retain the valuations, the correspondence, the accounts and the receipts.

If the estate is contested, insolvent, includes a business or foreign assets, or involves a beneficiary who lacks capacity or is under 18, get professional help. Executors can pay reasonable professional costs from the estate, and the cost of advice is far smaller than the cost of a mistake made personally.