Why use a professional to administer an estate?

“the burden of form filling is like a tax in itself”

An average of 570,000 people die each year and a number of them will leave assets that require administration before they can be transferred to the deceased’s beneficiaries. If you are the executor of an estate you may feel that with the probate process moving online there is no need to involve a professional in the estate administration.

A time intensive task

If the estate is straightforward, with a limited number of assets and beneficiaries, there may be no need for professional help but recent statistics might give you pause for thought. Only a small number of estates (less than 5%) pay inheritance tax (IHT) but in half of estates inheritance tax forms nevertheless have to be completed. Recent research carried out by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) showed that those responding found the completion of the required forms a tiresome task. One person commented that “the burden of form filling is like a tax in itself”.

Even with the help of modern technology, the statistics show that nearly 40% of those without an adviser spent more than 50 hours administering an estate so the time burden for those with busy lives is considerable.

In addition to the considerable amount of form filling and time that has to be spent on administration when you may not be feeling up to the task, going it alone can also result in mistakes being made. Did you know, for example, that the deadline for paying any inheritance tax due is six months after the date of death? 10% of those taking part in the OTS research failed to meet this deadline and will have been liable for interest on the tax due.

Inheritance tax saving

Anyone administering an estate without professional help might miss opportunities to save tax, such as transferring the unused IHT allowances of a spouse or civil partner of the deceased, claiming reliefs such as taper relief, business property relief and agricultural property relief and obtaining a refund of tax when assets are sold at less than probate value (provided they’re sold by the right person).

The relatively new additional nil rate band is available when a deceased person has owned a property which they leave to (broadly) their children or grandchildren, but it is very complicated and can throw up all sorts of difficulties. For this to be available in full it might be necessary to take specific action in relation to trusts created by the Will or even to vary the Will’s terms.

Professional advice might enable you to reduce the IHT on the estate both immediately and for the future. Problems that you might not anticipate at the start of the process can also be avoided, such as distributing the estate too early and then facing claims from the Department of Work and Pensions or from a person who has not benefitted under the Will.

How we can help

We offer a very flexible service. You may feel that you just require help obtaining the Grant of probate to the Will in which case our fixed fee service might suit you. If you need additional advice on top we can provide this (for an additional fee) or alternatively you might wish us to deal with all aspects in which case our full service would be appropriate. In all cases we are committed to being completely transparent on fees and will endeavour to deal with matters with as little stress for you as possible. We have offices throughout the country so please contact us to discuss your requirements.