After A Death

Administering the Estate of a Deceased (Cont...)

Are there any liabilities?

Yes! There are responsibilities involved in being a PR. There are several Acts of Parliament and many other legal requirements covering a PR's rights, duties and obligations. This is because PRs and Trustees may have control over large sums of other peoples money. The beneficiaries can get compensation from the PR's own money if the PRs are dishonest careless or act wrongly. PRs are expected to put the interests of beneficiaries first and before their own and to act always in the interests of the estate. It is therefore sensible for PRs to take legal advice to protect themselves.

How can we help?

Firstly telephone us immediately after the death. Our job is to help to ease the burden of the administration. If there is no Will, we will initially advise on who should administer the estate and who the beneficiaries should be. We will then deal with each stage of the administration.

You should collect together all the deceased's relevant papers, such as outstanding bills, rent books, tax demands, pension books, cheque books, credit cards, building society pass books, share certificates, national savings certificates, bonds, insurance policies, deeds, etc., in short all the documents which will help establish the deceased's assets and liabilities. Bring all of these to us and we will take over from there.We will clarify what is in the estate, what debts there are and who gets what. We will collect in the assets and pay the debts and tax liabilities. We will prepare estate accounts so that you and the beneficiaries can see precisely what the deceased's assets were and how they have all been dealt with and ultimately we will distribute the estate to those entitled.

How long will it take?

If there is a Will, there are not a lot of assets involved and the whereabouts of the beneficiaries are known, it can take as little as a few months to administer an estate. It can take much longer if there is a house to sell, if there are tax considerations or if beneficiaries cannot be located.

How much will it cost?

Our charges will depend on the time we have to spend dealing with administration of the estate. This in turn will depend on a number of matters, such as the value of the estate, the number of different assets, the number of beneficiaries and whether there are any complicated trusts involved. We are also entitled to include in our charges an element based on the value of the estate. This is because the value is a reflection of the importance of the matter and consequently our responsibility. We will therefore also charge one percent of the gross value of the estate. This value will exclude any house in which the deceased lived where the rate will be one quarter of a percent. In a booklet like this it is simply not possible to give any definite indication of the costs involved. When we are instructed however, we will let you have an estimate of our likely costs as soon as we have been able to properly assess the factors referred to above.

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The articles on legal topics published in these pages are for interest only and are necessarily general in their terms. You should not act (or refrain from acting) on the basis of the information given without specific advice, as the principles and laws concerned may change, and their application will vary according to the particular circumstances.