When a close relative or friend dies, you may find yourself in the position of having to sort out their final affairs.
To do this, you’ll need to apply for a grant of representation, which is a document giving you the legal right to deal with the will, money and property of the person who has died. You become their “personal representative”.
Probate is a much more familiar term for this. Strictly speaking, probate is just one type of grant of representation.
If you are named in someone’s will as an executor, you may need to apply for a grant of probate to enable you to administer the deceased’s estate and distribute the contents of the will.
There are a few exceptions. You may not need probate if the value of estate left by the deceased is less than £5000 or their possessions were co-owned.
If a person dies without leaving a will, you’ll need another type of grant of representation, a grant of letters of administration, which will give the deceased person’s spouse, civil partner or child the legal right to administer the estate, according to the law.
Usage of the term grant of representation is falling out of fashion with probate most commonly used to cover all cases instead.
Regardless of the jargon used, the most important thing to understand is that whether there’s a will or not, applying for probate is an administrative process that doesn’t require a solicitor or specialist.
YouCanDoProbate is an online app that empowers and supports you to prepare the probate application online. Our system will prompt you to provide the right information, auto-complete the right forms and letters for you and support you with calculations and distributing the estate to beneficiaries.
If there is no will, you can still use YouCanDoProbate which will generate the appropriate PA1A – Probate Application form for you and our intuitive “Intestacy Walkthrough” system will help you work out who is entitled to inherit the Estate.