- Boston
01205 351114 - Bourne
01778 218001 - Grantham
01476 591550 - Horncastle
01507 522456 - Lincoln
01522 541181 - London
02078 715755 - Newark
01636 673731 - Sleaford
01529 411500 - Spalding
01775 725664 - Stamford
01780 764145
What to do when someone dies
When a loved one dies the thought of dealing with their estate can be quite daunting. That’s where we can help. We have solicitors and lawyers specialising in many different areas of law which means we can always give you joined up advice and support you throughout the process.
The first thing you need to do is to register the death with the registry office. The registrar will call the next of kin to make an appointment to register the death.
Once you have your death certificate, you can then get in touch with your solicitor, we cannot confirm anything in relation to the deceased's Will without sight of the death certificate. We also cannot discuss the estate with anyone other than the executor/s.
Sometimes, if a person dies suddenly the coroner may become involved, if the matter goes to an inquest, an interim coroner's certificate will be issued, which sets out the fact of death, but not always the cause. We can accept this certificate instead of the normal formal death certificate as in these cases, it can take much longer to receive the formal death certificate.
There are several ways we as solicitors can help you with the administration of the estate as follows:-
General advice
We would make you an initial appointment to see a solicitor to discuss what needs to be done in the estate and what we can do to help you. It may be that you may feel able to deal with things yourself but keep us on hand for assistance if needed.
Obtain a Grant of Probate
We can deal with the paperwork to obtain the Grant of Probate in the estate. We would need you to provide us with details of any assets and liabilities in the estate at the date of death, we would thereafter prepare the forms required to submit the application to the Probate Registry. Once the Grant of Probate is issued, we would send that on to the executors to deal with account closures and distribution of the estate.
Full Estate Administration
This means that we would write to all the asset holders with copies of the death certificate to log that with them.We write to any companies where there are liabilities, such as credit cards, loans etc, together with utility companies where applicable to inform them of the death. Once we hear back from all asset holders we then prepare the paperwork to apply for the Grant of Probate.In taxable estates, we also deal with payment of inheritance tax.
Once the Grant of Probate has issued, we would send that onto the various asset holders, with the relevant closure forms to close down the accounts.The funds from the closed accounts are then transferred to our client account.
If there is a property to be sold, we would arrange for the property to be marketed and thereafter deal with the conveyancing of the property. Once all monies are received and all liabilities are paid we will prepare what we call the estate accounts which we send to the executors for approval.Once the executors sign off on the accounts, we will deal with the distribution to the beneficiaries.
It is important to remember that not all estates are the same. Some can be dealt with fairly quickly, whereas other can take much longer depending on the circumstances.
CONTACT US
If you need legal advice regarding any Wills, Trusts & Probate matters please contact our specialist Wills, Trusts & Probate team