PROBATE
What about probate?
How do you sort
out the estate of
the deceased?
When a person dies somebody
has to deal with his or her
estate. Their estate includes
their money, property and the
possessions they have left. If
you are the person doing this
you collate all the funds, pay
any debts and share out the
estate to those people entitled
to it.
You can do this yourself or you
can engage a solicitor to do
this for you. You may already
have a solicitor your family
uses. If not, you will need to
choose one. Ask friends for
recommendations and, when
you contact them, ask about
their charges.
How can you get help to
cancel council services?
The Registrar who registers
the death must tell certain
departments that this person
has died. These departments
include the local council
tax office and the Electoral
Registrar, if the deceased lived
and died in Oxfordshire.
How do you apply for probate?
To sort out someone’s estate, you may need to apply for probate. The
Probate Office will give you a grant of probate if the person left a will, or
will grant letters of administration if there isn’t a will. Your local Probate
Registry will send you the forms you need with notes and guidance on
what you have to do. A useful helpline telephone number is
0300 123 1072.
What does a grant of probate, or letter of administration,
allow you to do?
A grant of probate is a legal document which allows the people named in
it to collect and distribute the estate of the deceased. You can show it to
organisations that hold these assets, such as banks or building societies.
Probate is the process of officially proving that a will is valid, but the
following information applies equally where the deceased died without
leaving a will - in which case the grant is called a letter of administration.
Is a grant of probate needed in all cases?
Not always. It may not be necessary to obtain a grant of probate where
a home is held in joint names and is passing by survivorship to the other
joint owner where a joint bank or building society account is held.
Production of a death certificate may be sufficient for the monies to
be transferred to the joint holder and certain institutions may release
monies without a grant being produced if the amount held by the
deceased was small. You will need to apply to the institutions to see if
they will release monies without a grant.
Staff at probate registries will offer procedural guidance on how to obtain
a grant. They cannot provide legal advice.
Oxford District Probate Registr