Money owed becomes part of the estate and may need to be collected by the executor or administrator.

Most online accounts can be closed or memorialised. Policies differ between platforms, so check each provider’s guidance for their process.

If the property was in their sole name, it forms part of the estate and is shared under intestacy rules. If it was jointly owned, it may pass automatically to the surviving joint owner if they were ‘joint tenants’. We can explain how this works for your home.

When the life tenant passes away, the trust ends. The trustees then pass the property or other trust assets to the ultimate beneficiaries named in the will.

You should search the home, speak to local solicitors, contact the person’s bank and consider a will search. If no will is found, the estate is usually treated as intestate.

If a firm closes, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) arranges for all stored Wills and Deeds to be transferred safely to another regulated firm or archive. You can contact the SRA to find out where yours is held.

A coroner may be involved when a death is sudden or unexplained. They will explain what happens next and guide you through the process.

It is a document that amends, but does not replace, an existing will. It can add or remove a clause or clauses in the original will.

A Deed of Variation is a legal document that lets a beneficiary change or redirect their inheritance after someone has died. It can adjust who receives what, helping families make fair or tax-efficient decisions within two years of death.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which allows a person (the donor) to appoint someone or more than one person they trust (attorneys) to make decisions for them when they no longer have the mental capacity to make the decisions themselves. An LPA has to be made while the donor still has the mental capacity to give their consent to it.

A life interest trust will includes a trust which comes into being when the testator (the person whose will it is) dies by putting something (usually a share in a property) in trust for the ‘life tenant’ (usually their partner). The life tenant can benefit from it during their lifetime without legally owning it but the settlor leaves it to the ‘ultimate beneficiary’ (usually their children) in the end and names people to manage the trust (the ‘trustees’, who are usually the same people as the executors of the will).

It’s a will that places part of your estate (often your share of a property) into a trust. Your partner can use or live in the property for life, and when they die, it passes to your chosen beneficiaries, such as your children.

A limited Grant allows someone to deal with only part of the estate — for example, selling a property while other issues are still being resolved. It’s used in more complex cases.

It ringfences your compensation from your other assets. This protects your money when the DWP or local authority assess you for means-tested benefits or care fees.

A professional executor is an independent expert, usually a solicitor, who handles your estate when you die. They manage probate, debts, taxes and distributions in a fair and legally compliant way.

A will is an important legal document which governs the distribution of your estate (which is everything that you own) upon your death. If you die without making a will, you are ‘intestate’ and the law will determine who inherits your estate. It is important to seek professional legal advice when writing a will to ensure it complies with all legal requirements and can be executed with ease.

Many people believe that everything they own will automatically go to their spouse but this is not always the case. A properly drafted will sets out your wishes clearly and unambiguously

It can also deal with other matters, such as appointing guardians for any of your children under the age of 18. For clients with more valuable estates, having the correct will in place could save many thousands of pounds of inheritance tax.

If a person who died did not have a will then the person who is granted Letters of Administration is called the administrator. This is a similar role to an executor of a will.

The person who administers the deceased’s estate if they died without a will - usually a relative or friend of the deceased.

An attorney is someone who acts on behalf of another person. You can choose your attorneys. The attorney may be a member of your family, a friend or a professional person, like a solicitor or accountant.

An executor is a person named in a will who sorts out the estate of the person who has died.

Intestacy simply means someone has died without a valid will. Their estate must then be shared using the intestacy rules.

Probate without a will is called Letters of Administration. The process is very similar: you value the estate, submit the forms and wait for approval from the Probate Registry.

Probate is the word normally used to describe the process of dealing with the estate of a person who has died. In general, there are two different types of grants:

Probate - applied for if the person who died had a valid will
Letters of Administration - applied for if the person who died did not have a valid will

Section 16 gives the Court of Protection power to appoint a Deputy to make decisions for someone who lacks capacity. Deputies must follow all MCA principles and make decisions in the person’s best interests.

This happens if a person loses capacity, but they don’t have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place and decisions need to be made for them. At this point, someone (a friend, relative or professional) applies to be their deputy.