Personal
SOLVING PERSONAL LEGAL MATTERS
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If you are an Executor appointed in the Will of the person who has died, or the person is intestate and you are entitled to be appointed an administrator, then in the months following the death you will be involved in the administration of the estate.
Whether or not the personal representatives of the person who has died choose to have solicitors helping them with the process, their first task is to assemble as much information as possible relating to the person's assets and debts.
The personal representatives may ask for your help in assembling the information, even if you are not a personal representative yourself. Bear in mind that if the person who has died had a computer, he or she may have kept records in electronic form and received bank statements and bills through the internet. If you can find the relevant files on the person's computer, print them. If you cannot find them (for example, because you do not know the password of the person who has died), simply explain the situation to the personal representatives or their solicitors.
It is useful to note down the following information and keep it to hand, whether you are an executor or helping with the practical arrangements following the death:
If the person who has died was living alone in a private home, someone should go to the home on the day of the death to look for papers relating to insurance of the person's home and its contents, preferably the home and contents policy itself.
If you believe that the person who has died wanted to donate organs for transplant or to donate his or her body for medical research, also look for:
The following papers contain information needed for registering the death:
Even if you cannot find these papers, you can register the death if you have all the necessary information. Find out more about registering a death here.
It is desirable to find the following documents before the funeral, but the funeral can go ahead even if you do not have them:
As soon as possible after the death, but not necessarily before the funeral, find up-to-date papers and information relating to as many of the following as are relevant:
The personal representatives will need papers containing up-to-date information about the following to enable them, or their solicitors, to start on the administration of the estate:
If the personal representatives arrange to meet the solicitors, it will be helpful if they take these papers to the meeting
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Partner and Trust and Estate Practitioner, Wills, Probate, Tax and Trusts
Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts
Lancashire
0333 207 1130
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Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts
Lancashire
0333 207 1130
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