If you are appointed as an executor under someone's Will, or you are acting as administrator for someone who died intestate (without a Will), you must consider whether you need to obtain a Grant of Representation for the Deceased's estate. A Grant is not always necessary, therefore it is important to know if you need it.

A Grant of Representation is a government issued document which gives you the legal authority to deal with the Deceased's assets and liabilities. The most common form of a Grant of Representation is the Grant of Probate, which is issued in respect of a Deceased who left a Will. There are, however, two further types: the Grant of Letters of Administration, which is issued when there is no Will, and the Grant of Letters of Administration with Will annexed, which is issued when the Deceased left a Will but those named as executors in it are not applying for the Grant and another person is.  

Grants are issued by the Probate Registry following the submission of a probate application, which currently has a fee of £273. Probate applications can be difficult to complete and if done incorrectly can be problematic for you when trying to administer the Deceased's estate. I would, therefore, always recommend utilising the expertise of a Private Client Solicitor to do this. At present, the Probate Registry have an estimated wait time of 16-20 weeks for them to issue a Grant. This is the longest wait time we have seen in some time. 

Whether you need to apply for a Grant depends on the type and value of the Deceased's assets and liabilities. When notifying companies or third parties of an individual's passing, they will indicate whether a Grant is required for them to take instructions from you as the Deceased's Personal Representative.  

There are, however, instances where a Grant will always be required, such as when:

• the Deceased left a property which needs to be sold or transferred into the name of an individual, who is not already on the legal title. 
• the Deceased held assets outside of the UK, which cannot be sold without sight of a UK Grant. 
• a legal claim is being brought on behalf of the Deceased, whether the Deceased died before the conclusion of a claim or if a claim is to be brought following death. 
• transferring or selling a significant number of shares in a public trading company.