Help! I’m an Executor - what do I have to do?

By Kirsty Royds-Jones, Knill James Probate Manager

Dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has died

The death of a loved one can be a very challenging time. In addition to the feelings of grief and loss, you may well find that you have been named as Executor in the Will, which means you will have a lot of financial and administrative responsibilities to deal with. Even if you were not close to the person who has died, the task can be a daunting one.

What is an Executor?

An Executor is an individual named in a Will who is responsible for dealing with the Estate of someone who has died.

What is the Estate?

The Estate is made up of everything a person owned at the time they died. This includes money in bank and savings accounts, shares, property, such as their home, and all their personal possessions, for example their car or jewellery. If the person who died owes any money, for example unpaid household bills, mortgages, credit card debts, etc., then this all comes out of the Estate.

What does an Executor have to do?

An Executor has the following responsibilities:

• To register the death and arrange the funeral, although if you are not a close family member of the person who has died, this will probably be done instead by the immediate family.
• To obtain a copy of the Will.
• To ensure that any assets owned by the person who has died, including any property, are secure.
• To notify financial institutions, government and other organisations of the death. The Tell Us Once Service is a useful tool to use because it allows you to report a death to most government organisations in one go.
  https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once
• To obtain valuations at the date of death of all the assets within the Estate, together with confirmation of any liabilities or debts.
• If necessary, to open a bank account for the Estate.
• To calculate if the Estate has an inheritance tax (IHT) liability, submit IHT forms to HMRC and arrange payment if any IHT is owed.
• To prepare the application for the Grant of Probate and submit this to the Probate Registry. The Grant of Probate is a legal document that gives the Executor the authority to deal with the Estate of the person who has died. Sometimes a Grant is not needed where the Estate is just made up of jointly owned assets or only small amounts of money held in bank accounts.
• Once the Grant of Probate has been issued, to collect in all the assets of the Estate and pay any liabilities.
• To distribute the Estate as set out in the Will.
• In addition, you may need to prepare Estate Accounts to confirm that all the assets have been collected in, liabilities paid and to show how the Estate has been distributed.

How we can help

Knill James is one of a select group of accountants who have recently been accredited by the ICAEW for probate services. This means that we can prepare the application for the Grant of Probate and inheritance tax forms on behalf of the Executors and submit these to the Probate Registry and HMRC.

If you require any assistance with probate services, please contact Nick Rawson, Probate Partner, or Kirsty Royds-Jones, Probate Manager, on 01273 480480. Further details of the services that we offer can be found here: https://www.knilljames.co.uk/services/probate