PEACE OF MIND
An Estate Administration is not a simple task but fortunately it is not something you will be involved in very often.
 
In summary, you are being asked to sort out someone's entire lifetime of financial and personal affairs in accordance with strict laws and guidelines. Therefore great care should be taken. The timescale is generally dictated by the deceased's affairs, but you have a legal responsibility to ensure that the Estate is administered within a reasonable period of time.
 
By instructing a PROBATE HELPER probate Solicitor you are doing EVERYTHING reasonable to ensure that the Administration is undertaken effectively and accurately. At the same time, you may save the Estate a large amount of money by not using a bank, your Solicitor, or the deceased's Solicitor (see our COST COMPARISON CHART).

TOP 10 IN DETAIL:-
N.B Reference to PROBATE HELPER below should be read as the Probate Helper Solicitor that will handle your individual case.
 
1. INHERITANCE TAX RETURNS (IHT): If the total exceeds the Inland Revenue's EXCEPTED ESTATE RATE there are several IHT forms to complete, which you may feel confident about completing yourself, but in all instances you are personally liable for negligence, avoidance or late returns. If the Estate exceeds the Government's NIL RATE BAND limit there are many more complex forms, almost always requiring professional experience. Also note that Inheritance Tax must be paid at the rate of 40% within SIX MONTHS of the month in which the death occurred. The person dealing with your case can normally assist in raising the money needed to pay the tax without interest or bank charges being paid.
 
2. CAPITAL GAINS TAX RETURNS (CGT): CGT may be due when disposing of an asset or those realised (sold) or transferred during the lifetime of the deceased. Like most taxation issues CGT is a complex area of an Estate Administration, and like Income Tax, CGT may also be payable on gains made during the Estate Administration period.
 
3. INCOME TAX RETURNS: Income tax is due on all taxable income received by the deceased up to the date of death, or a tax refund may be due. Also, tax has to be accounted for to the Inland Revenue from the date of death until the Administration has finished.
 
4. STOCKS & SHARES: Shares may be registered into the name of the PR in preparation for sale or transfer to a beneficiary, transferred directly to a beneficiary, or sold. These processes are reasonably tiresome but PROBATE HELPER makes it easy for you by using cost effective tried and tested brokerage facilities.
 
5. OBTAIN GRANT OF REPRESENTATION: (Probate or Letters of Administration). There's not enough space to detail all of the process involved! With our service though, all you have to do is swear an Oath which we prepare for you and we make the application to the Court on your behalf.
 
The fees charged by the Court when we make an application are less than for personal applications. Additionally, if you do not employ a professional you will have to be interviewed at a local Probate Registry office or at a local County Court. In fact, when using our services you don't have to attend any interviews or go anywhere near a Court or Probate Registry.
 
6. DEAL WITH BUREAUCRACY: Most people and organisations that you come across during an Estate Administration are sympathetic to the work you are undertaking. However, there are certain ways to do things and each bank, building society, insurer etc will have their own systems and procedures.
 
You need a great deal of patience and a reasonable sense of humour to avoid being stressed to breaking point! As you would expect all of our Professional Executors are used to dealing with bureaucracy and are familiar with the procedures of individual organisations.
 
7. PREPARE ESTATE ACCOUNTS: All the financial records from the date of death to the end of the Estate Administration have to be organised in a carefully generated set of Accounts. The Accounts must clearly show the value of assets at the date of death and at the date of being realised and any gains or losses made. All the liabilities and expenses of the Administration also have to be detailed along with how the distribution was arrived at and actually distributed. You also have to account for the income and any capital gains made during the Administration Period. The Accounts together with documentary evidence should be retained for a minimum of 8 years after the Administration end.
 
Unless you are familiar with accountancy work and the Administration is very small and uncomplicated (or you have the time to learn!), you should seek professional assistance to draw up the Accounts. Many Solicitors will employ an Accountant to undertake this work at an additional charge on the Estate. With our service we generate a comprehensive set of Estate Accounts (which are forwarded to you for approval) as part of our standard Estate Administration fee.
 
8. TRACE / DEAL WITH BENEFICIARIES: This issue is important when trying to find beneficiaries named in a Will who have moved long since the Will was drafted. We know of clients who spend months and thousands of pounds trying to trace people. In most cases we can find people within a week or so at a low cost.
 
Tracing beneficiaries is even more crucial when the deceased did not leave a Will. Often with a single or widowed person who passed away at a great age, you will not have any idea who all the relatives of the deceased are and indeed where they are! The Genealogists employed by PROBATE HELPER are, in our opinion, miracle workers who find relatives all over the world.
 
Sometimes, if it is more cost effective, we can arrange insurance to insure the Estate against unknown relatives surfacing in the future, offering the Personal Representative a great deal of peace of mind.
 
With regard to dealing with beneficiaries, unfortunately despite your best efforts they can spend any inheritance long before it is ready to be released from the Estate (even if it is just in their minds). This often places immense pressure on the Personal Representative to realise assets too soon, leading to possible problems if you need to ask for money back! Because the beneficiaries are not known to us, we are completely impartial, but polite, when dealing with them. We also know the legal situation regarding Estate Administration timescales.
 
Many of our clients have expressed their appreciation when passing the responsibility to us. A genuine recent comment was "Before you were instructed I received up to five phone calls per day for over three weeks! I actually got my life back once you took over!"
 
9. ADMINISTRATION OF TRUSTS: There are many Trusts that can arise from a Will. Some are straightforward, such as holding a reasonably small amount of money for a child under 18 years, but even under these circumstances you should seek a little professional advice, even if it confirms what you already thought. Remember, you are NOT personally responsible for the cost of our help but you ARE personally liable if you get it wrong and somebody loses out. With more complicated Trust provisions, professional involvement is vital.
 
Many of the Lawyers employed by PROBATE HELPER are absolutely expert at managing Trusts, with many being members of the Society for Trust and Estate Practicioners (STEP).
 
Although a long term continuing Trust will incur additional Trustee fees (not officially part of an Estate Administration), the majority of short or small value Will Trusts can be dealt with within our standard Estate Administration fee.
 
10. STATUTORY ADVERTISEMENTS: Statutory Advertisements are very important but are often overlooked by the non-professional Personal Representative.
 
In 'nutshell' terms, Statutory Advertisements are specially worded advertisements which must appear in at least one newspaper local to the deceased (or local to any property owned by the deceased) AND the London Gazette (a specialist Government publication). If you do not place the advertisements you must be very confident that the deceased did not have any debts that you do not know about. If the advertisements are not placed and a creditor who is owed money surfaces at any time in the future, you may be personally responsible for paying the debt(s). The advertisements can also protect you against claims from beneficiaries who you had no idea existed.
 
PROBATE HELPER will arrange the placement of the necessary advertisements (using the correct wording) at a lower cost than you would pay.

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