Blog

If you are an executor or administrator of a Will, you are responsible for dealing with any claims against the estate.  After you receive a grant of probate, Section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 recommends that you place something called a “deceased estates notice” in the UK’s Official Public Record, The Gazette, as well as a local newspaper, to find creditors who may be owed money by the estate.

A deceased estates notice, sometimes called a “Trustee Act notice” or “Section 27 notice”, is an announcement to any potential creditors (people owed money) and beneficiaries (people who inherit from an estate) that they need to come forward to make a claim against a deceased’s estate before it is distributed.  

The notice contains:

• The deceased’s name
• The deceased’s address
• The deceased’s date of birth
• The deceased occupation
• Details of the estate’s executor or administrator

The Gazette is the UK’s official Public Record (sometimes referred to as the newspaper of the Crown) and dates all the way back to 1665.  It holds millions of public notices including deceased estates, insolvency, government and state notices.  You can view it here: www.thegazette.co.uk.

You can place a deceased estates notice on The Gazette website and you can also use The Gazette to place an announcement in a newspaper that is local to the deceased.

It can often be difficult to know the full extent of a person’s credit history and establish all companies or persons who are owed money from the estate.  For example, outstanding finance on household goods or a ‘buy now pay later’ credit agreement may not be known to the executors.  Any companies who have money owed to them can contact the estate to have their invoices settled prior to the estate being distributed.

Placing a deceased estates notice shows that reasonable attempts have been made to find any creditors before distributing an estate to its beneficiaries.  This protects the executor from being personally responsible for money owed to any unidentified creditors.

After the deceased estates notice has been placed, creditors have 2 months to make a claim against the estate in England and Wales and 6 months to make a claim against the estate in Scotland

There is no time limit for a beneficiary to come forward.  However, beneficiaries are usually either immediate family, or they are known from the Will.  If there isn’t a Will, a tracing agent can always be employed to find them.

If you would like advice about placing a deceased estates notice or acting as an executor, please contact Cath Collins on 01945 898090 or email her on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.*.

*Privacy Policy