Administering an Estate – we’re here to help.
Acting as someone’s executor is a very important role. It means that you have been trusted to carry out the deceased’s last wishes to ensure their estate is distributed as they wanted.
As well as your duty to the person who has asked you to act as Executor, you will also have a duty to the people who have been left gifts in the Will.
The Executor must also make sure that they report the details of the estate to HMRC correctly. This is so that HMRC can ensure that the estate does not need to pay Inheritance Tax or that if it is liable to pay tax that the correct amount is paid.
Working out the amount of Inheritance Tax that might have to be paid can be challenging. The starting point is if the estate is worth more than £325,000 then Inheritance Tax may be due. However, if the deceased owned a property and they are leaving it to their children or other qualifying descendants then they will also qualify for a further allowance of up to £175,000 in respect of the property. This means that Inheritance Tax would only have to be paid if the estate were worth over £500,000.
It doesn’t stop there though. If the deceased had been widowed, then their estate might be eligible to use the Inheritance Tax allowances of their deceased spouse in certain circumstances.
There are also allowances that can be claimed in respect of business or farming assets.
Here at Vine Law, we know that when acting as an executor you may not need or want assistance dealing with the whole administration of the estate, but we appreciate that you might want some advice on parts of your role.
We are able to offer advice and assistance tailored to your needs as the Executor.
If you just want some advice on the terms of the Will, we can help with that.
If you would like us to help work out the allowances available to the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, we can help with that.
If you’d like help with making the application for the Grant of Probate, we can help with that.
If you’d like help dealing with the administration of the estate, we can help with that.
If you’d like to chat with us about what it means to be an executor and how we might be able to help please call Cath Collins on 01945 898090 or email her on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
