Administering an Estate can be lengthy, detailed and technical. You can be certain that very little happens automatically and there's a great deal of work to be done. This may not be so surprising if you consider the fact that you are sorting out the affairs of someone's entire lifetime.

The problem is that very few Estates can really be described as simple to administer. Some may at first appear to be straightforward, but a few weeks down the line something often happens to cause difficulties which may tempt the unwary to cut corners (which will not offer you peace of mind in the long term).
 
- If there IS a Will and you were appointed as an EXECUTOR, our experience from drafting thousands of Wills is that the person writing the Will appoints the person or persons that they trust to seek out the right professional help at the best cost, not accept the personal legal and financial liability that you automatically take on by law.
 
- If there is NO WILL then you are an ADMINISTRATOR simply because the law says so (Administration of Estates Act 1925) but you still have the same duties as an Executor and the same personal legal and financial liability.
 
Your personal legal and financial responsibilities to all the parties connected to the Estate Administration lasts for YOUR ENTIRE LIFETIME (sorry to shout but it is an important point). This means that you are personally liable financially should you not take all steps to minimise errors or fail to account to the authorities correctly.
 
To see the many of the things you need to do as an Executor or Administrator, please see OUR SERVICE. You may be surprised at the amount of work to be done for most Estates over £5,000 in value.