Most executors did not apply for the role. They were named in a will years ago, possibly without being asked, and they find out what it involves in the fortnight after a funeral. It is worth knowing that the job is a legal office with real duties, that it is unpaid unless the will says otherwise, and that mistakes can leave the executor personally liable.

It is also finite. Broken into stages, it is administration rather than mystery.

Stage one: establish what there is

Before anything else, the estate has to be identified and valued. GOV.UK guidance on valuing an estate requires you to list the assets — property, money, possessions, investments, pensions and insurance payouts — and the debts, including mortgages, loans, credit cards and household bills, and to use open market values at the date of death.

This is also the point to work out what falls outside the estate. A home owned as joint tenants passes to the surviving owner. Nominated pension benefits and policies written in trust usually pass directly to the person named. Property held as tenants in common does not pass automatically and forms part of the estate.

Practical tip: gather written valuations at the time, not from memory later. Everything downstream — the tax, the probate application, the accounts you eventually produce for beneficiaries — depends on these figures.

Stage two: deal with inheritance tax

Tax comes before authority, which is the ordering that catches people out. GOV.UK guidance on paying inheritance tax requires the tax to be paid by the end of the sixth month after the person died, with interest charged after that. Where tax is due, the estate's value must be reported to HMRC within a year of the death.

The threshold is £325,000, with the rate above it at 40%, and there are important reliefs — including transfers between spouses and civil partners and the additional allowance where a home passes to children or grandchildren, explained in GOV.UK guidance on passing on a home.

Because tax often has to be paid before the estate's money can be accessed, executors sometimes use a direct payment scheme from the deceased's bank, instalments on the value of property, or a short-term loan. It is a common and solvable problem, but it needs to be identified early.

Stage three: apply for probate, if it is needed

Probate is the legal right to deal with the estate. GOV.UK guidance on applying for probate warns against making financial plans or putting a property on the market before it is granted.

Not every estate needs it: where everything was jointly owned, or the assets are modest, the organisations holding the money may release it without a grant, and each bank sets its own threshold. Where a grant is needed, the fee for an estate worth more than £5,000 is £526, with no fee for estates of £5,000 or less, and extra copies of the grant cost £2 each when ordered with the application.

Executors named in the will apply for a grant of probate. Where there is no will, or no executor able to act, the closest relative applies for letters of administration instead.

Stage four: pay the debts before anyone inherits

Beneficiaries come last. Debts, funeral expenses and tax are paid from the estate first, and an executor who distributes money and then discovers a creditor can be left personally exposed.

Where there is any doubt about unknown creditors, executors commonly place a statutory notice in The Gazette and wait the prescribed period before distributing. Where the estate cannot pay everything it owes, it is insolvent and there is a statutory order of payment that must be followed — that is the point to take advice rather than improvise.

Stage five: distribute, and account for it

Once debts and tax are settled, the estate is distributed according to the will, or according to the intestacy rules where there is none. GOV.UK guidance on dealing with the estate covers transferring or selling property, closing accounts and passing on legacies.

Executors should prepare estate accounts showing everything received, everything paid out and what each beneficiary received. Beneficiaries are entitled to know how the estate was handled, and clear accounts prevent most disputes from starting.

Two claims can still arrive late: a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, usually within six months of the grant, and a challenge to the validity of the will. Distributing very quickly, before that window closes, is a known risk.

Can you say no?

Yes, but before you start. Someone named as executor who has not yet acted may renounce the role, and someone who does not want to act but is content for others to do so can have power reserved to them. Once you have begun to administer the estate, stepping back is not straightforward.

Executors are also entitled to instruct a solicitor or probate practitioner and pay the cost from the estate. The Law Society of England and Wales operates a public find a solicitor service, and Citizens Advice publishes free guidance on dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has died.

Different rules elsewhere in the UK

Scotland uses confirmation rather than probate, with its own inventory of the estate; mygov.scot explains confirmation. Northern Ireland has its own probate process, described by nidirect in its guidance on probate.

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