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Probate – Do I need a Solicitor or Lawyer?

No. For too long probate has been seen as the preserve of solicitors, banks and other providers who have been charging too much for too little.

Probate is not a legal process. You can do probate yourself.

What is probate?

 

Let’s be absolutely clear – it is not a legal process. There is no legal advice required. It is purely an administrative task.

Put simply, probate is a process for putting together all the assets (property, money and possessions) and the liabilities (outstanding bills or money owed) of the person who has died and giving that information to the probate office so that they can then give you a certificate. This shows everyone that you are able to be given those assets to then give to the beneficiaries named in the will.

No need to pay expensive solicitors’ fees

 

We understand that, at a difficult time, taking on this administrative task sorting out the affairs of a person who trusted you can seem daunting. Many people might think it’s better to hand the job over to a probate lawyer to do it for them.

But be assured, even if you use a lawyer (unless you want to pay even higher fees) it’s you who will have to get all the information together, write to banks, utilities and other suppliers to find out the deceased person’s assets and liabilities. It is only when you have managed to put it all together that you then give that to the lawyer who just adds it up and puts it on the form.

You can do that yourself, we promise you can!

There’s no reason to pay probate solicitors enormous fees to do it for you. Doing probate without a solicitor is absolutely fine. Both the Government website and independent consumer finance publications will tell you how.

YouCanDoProbate is a unique online product that can make pulling all that information together and getting the probate office submission right easy.