Losing someone is hard enough without the paperwork. If you’re the executor or next of kin, you may need to apply for probate before you can deal with the person’s bank accounts, property and investments.
What probate involves
- Valuing the estate: property, savings, investments, pensions, debts.
- Working out and reporting any inheritance tax. Any tax due is usually payable six months after the end of the month of death, and often before probate is granted.
- Applying for the grant of probate.
- Collecting in the assets, paying debts and tax, and preparing estate accounts.
- Dealing with income tax and capital gains tax for the period while the estate is being administered.
- Distributing what’s left to the beneficiaries.
Why use an accountant-led probate service
A lot of probate is tax and figures: valuations, inheritance tax returns, estate income and gains, and final accounts. That’s why we set up Clear Probate, our sister firm. It is authorised by the ICAEW to carry out non-contentious probate work, and its fixed fees mean no hourly solicitor rates.
Visit Clear Probate → · Call 0161 250 5060
Planning ahead
If you’re thinking about your own estate, rather than dealing with someone else’s, read Inheritance tax in 2026/27: what’s changed.