During the probate process you will need to value the deceased’s estate and report it to HMRC to establish if inheritance tax is due.
This means notifying all organisations the deceased had a relationship with of the death.
You will need to contact all organisations the deceased had a relationship with of the death and gather information about the assets they have left behind. This could be money in bank accounts, insurance policies etc. and paying any debts owed, e.g. utility bills, credit cards.
When you register the death, it’s a good idea to request multiple copies of the Death Certificate as you’ll need to send copies to those organisations that require you to write to them.
The death registrar will probably offer you the Tell Us Once service, an efficient way to notify central and local government services about the death. You may have an immediate interview or be given a reference number so that you can do it later, either by telephone or online.
It’s a good idea to place a statutory advertisement announcing the death in The Gazette and in a newspaper that’s local to the deceased. This ensures that sufficient effort has been made to locate creditors before distributing the estate to beneficiaries and protects you as an Executor.
You may have to hunt around to find out which organisations the deceased had relationships with. Some very organised people leave a financial factsheet behind, which is really helpful to an executor, so do have a look for one.
The main categories of assets and liabilities that you will need to check for and value are: property and mortgages, private pensions, bank and building society accounts, savings, Premium Bonds, shares, loans, credit and store cards, life insurance policies and utilities.
You’ll also have to look at personal possessions such as cars, jewellery, antiques and works of art. Household and personal goods, such as items of jewellery valued at less than £500, furniture and other domestic items do not need to be listed.
You will need to contact the organisations with which the deceased person had accounts to:
Some will require a letter with a copy of the death certificate. Others may have an online form or email address specifically for bereavement processes.
YouCanDoProbate’s unique online service makes listing assets and liabilities simple. It provides you with company information and generates personalised, auto-populated letters for you to print off and send.
It also calculates the value of the estate automatically, as you add the values.
You can organise and securely store all this information in your YouCanDoProbate account so you can complete it at your own pace, as you hear back from the providers, and not worry about making a mistake or missing anything out.