Probate For Surviving Spouse UK

Probate is a legal process which is often needed when a person dies. It gives an individual, or a group of people, the legal authority to deal with a deceased person’s property, money and possessions – known as their ‘Estate’. Probate is not required every time a person dies and examples of this include if the deceased passes all their assets to a surviving husband or wife or owns very little, known as a ‘small estate’. In this article, probate for surviving spouse uk, we take a look at the process involved.

Free Initial Telephone Discussion

For a free initial discussion on how we can help you deal with probate matters, get in touch with us today. We will review your situation and discuss the options open to you in a clear and approachable manner. Early expert legal assistance can help ensure you understand your rights and will also help avoid the stress of dealing with these issues on your own. Simply call us on 0345 901 0445 or complete our online enquiry form and a member of the team will get back to you.

What steps to take when someone dies

In addition to dealing with the funeral arrangements, there are a number of steps that need to be taken before you can deal with the deceased’s financial affairs:

1. You should register the death within 5 days. By doing this you will obtain a death certificate. This is an important document that you must keep safe.
2. If the deceased left a will, an executor will have been named. This is the person responsible for handling the estate of the deceased. Once the executor has the original copies of the Will and the death certificate, they can apply for probate. If someone dies without a will, the application process is the same, but you will get ‘letters of administration’ rather than a ‘grant of probate’.
3. You will need to estimate any inheritance tax liability and notify HMRC of the same. We can advise upon this.
4. Once you have the Will, death certificate, and grant of probate, you are then in a position to notify the banks, utility and insurance companies.

Probate When a spouse dies

Generally, when a husband and wife or civil partners own assets jointly, everything will pass to the surviving spouse. So if your husband or wife has passed away, and you owned everything jointly as Joint Tenants, the assets will automatically pass to you. This means Probate is not needed.

However, there are times when, for example, a property is not owned as Joint Tenants. For instance, a property could be in the deceased person’s sole name or owned as Tenants in Common. If so, you’ll need to get a Grant of Probate to transfer the property into your own name.

If you own your home jointly, there are two ways in which the property can be owned. This is either as Joint Tenants or as Tenants in Common.

If you and another person own the property together as Joint Tenants, then this means that you jointly own the property as a whole, with neither you nor the other owner having an identifiable share. When a house is owned jointly as Joint Tenants, if one of the owners dies then the ownership of the property will automatically transfer to the surviving owner. If for whatever reason the house is not registered at the Land Registry, your executors should place a copy of your death certificate with the deeds to the house. If the house is registered at the Land Registry your executors should contact the Land Registry to remove your name from the register of owners.

If you own the property with another person as Tenants in Common, you and the co-owner will each own a specific share of the property. In this situation, if you were to die with no Will in place, then the co-owner of the house would not automatically inherit your share of the home. Instead, your share would be passed down in line with the Rules of Intestacy. Your executors (or administrators if you did not leave a Will) will need to obtain a grant of probate (or a grant of letters of administration) from the court to transfer your share of the house to the new owner. They will then need to employ a conveyancer to transfer your share of the house to the new owner or owners.

How we can help

We have a proven track-record of helping clients draft their wills and deal with probate. This includes relatively straightforward estates and also complex estates where assets are held all over the world. We will guide you through all the necessary legal due diligence in a comprehensive and timely manner. We firmly believe that with the right solicitors by your side, the entire process will seem more manageable and far less daunting.

How to Contact our Wills and Probate Solicitors

It is important for you to be well informed about the issues and obstacles you are facing. However, expert legal support is crucial in terms of guiding you through the often emotional process of probate in a sensitive and supportive manner and help ensure you achieve a positive outcome.

To speak to our Wills and Probate solicitors today, simply call us on 0345 901 0445, or allow a member of the team to get back to you by filling in our online enquiry form. We are well known across the country and can assist wherever you are based. We also have offices based in Cheshire and London.

Authored by Ben Posted in News, Private Client Tagged as