England and Wales

In England and Wales the executor applies to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service Probate
Service for a grant of probate, or letters of administration where there is no will.
Most applications are now made online. Banks, the Land Registry and investment firms generally
will not release or transfer anything without the grant.

Inheritance tax usually has to be paid before the grant

This is the ordering that catches families out, and it is close to unique among the
jurisdictions in this guide. HMRC generally wants the inheritance tax on the estate before
the Probate Service will issue the grant — but the executor cannot reach the estate's money
until they have the grant.

That circle is squared by the direct payment scheme, under which banks pay tax straight to
HMRC from the deceased's accounts, or by a short-term bridging loan. Work out which applies
early; discovering it in month five is unpleasant.

Tax is due by the end of the sixth month after death, and interest runs from then.

Inheritance tax in outline

The nil-rate band is £325,000, with a further residence nil-rate band of £175,000 where
a home passes to direct descendants. Anything passing to a spouse or civil partner is exempt,
and their unused bands transfer to the survivor — so a couple can commonly pass up to £1 million.
Above the threshold the rate is 40%. Both bands are frozen until April 2031. Confirm current
figures with HMRC.

Then a six-month wait

A claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 must be brought
within six months of the grant. Distributing before that window closes leaves the executor
exposed.

Under the Wills Act 1837 a will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by
someone else at their direction and in their presence), and signed by two witnesses who are
both present at the same time and who then sign in the testator's presence. The testator must be
18 or older and of sound mind.

There is no holograph exception. A handwritten will is fine; an unwitnessed one is not.

Marriage revokes your will

This is the rule that destroys more careful planning than any other. Getting married
automatically cancels an existing will under section 18, unless the will was expressly made in
contemplation of that specific marriage. Someone who writes a will, remarries, and dies has died
intestate — and the new spouse takes a large share whatever the old will said.

The Law Commission recommended abolishing this in May 2025 and published a draft Bill, but it is
not law yet. Until it is, assume marriage cancels your will.

Divorce does not revoke a will. It treats a former spouse as having died first, which is a
different thing and often leaves gaps where they were also the executor.

The witness who inherits

A gift to a witness, or to a witness's spouse or civil partner, is void. The will stands; the
gift fails. Use two neutral witnesses with nothing to gain — and never a beneficiary's partner,
which is the version people miss.

Also

• Name a substitute executor.
• A spouse, child or dependant can claim under the 1975 Act whatever the will says.
• Review after a marriage, civil partnership, divorce, birth, or a move to Scotland — where the
  rules genuinely differ.

Usually not — and this is the opposite of the default in Canada and the United States, so it
surprises people constantly.

A lay executor acts unpaid

A friend or family member named as executor is expected to act without payment. There is no
statutory percentage, no tariff, and no entitlement to a fee for their time, however many months
the work takes.

There are only two routes to being paid:

• A charging clause in the will. The will can authorise the executor to charge, and it should
  say so explicitly if that is what the testator wants. Without one, there is nothing to claim.
• The consent of all the residuary beneficiaries, given with full knowledge of what they are
  agreeing to, and all of them of full age and capacity.

Professionals are different

A solicitor or trust corporation named as executor charges under the will's charging clause. Where
there is none, section 29 of the Trustee Act 2000 allows reasonable remuneration to a
professional trustee or trust corporation — but that provision does not rescue a lay executor.

Expenses are always reimbursable

Whatever the position on payment for time, every executor may recover their reasonable
out-of-pocket expenses from the estate. Unpaid does not mean out of pocket. See the expenses
topic — claiming them properly matters far more here than in a jurisdiction that pays a
commission.

If you are writing a will

Decide this deliberately. Asking a daughter to spend a year administering an estate for nothing,
while a professional co-executor bills for the same months, is a decision worth making
consciously rather than by omission.

An executor in England and Wales is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administering it. Since a lay executor is normally not paid for their time, this is the only
money they will see — so claim it properly rather than quietly absorbing it.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable wake.
• The probate application fee, additional office copies of the grant, and certified copies of
  the death certificate.
• Inheritance tax, and the cost of any bridging loan or the direct payment scheme used to
  fund it before the grant.
• Solicitors' fees, accountants' fees, and the estate's own tax returns.
• Professional valuations of property, jewellery, art and chattels — HMRC expects open market
  values, and an estate agent's free appraisal may not satisfy them.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: unoccupied property insurance, which is a
  specific and more expensive product, council tax, utilities, security, gardening and
  maintenance.
• House clearance, storage, removals and shipping.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate, including mileage.
• Statutory advertisements under section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925, which protect the
  executor against unknown creditors. Cheap, and frequently skipped.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost earnings, or their time. That is the point above.
• Costs run up for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements to a property beyond preparing it for sale.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an executor's bank account and run everything through it. Beneficiaries are entitled to
an account of the administration, and a 1975 Act claim will put every line in front of a court.

Most estates in England and Wales are administered by a family member who instructs a solicitor
for the legal steps. Appointing a professional as executor is a different and more expensive
decision.

Consider a professional when

• The estate is taxable, and the interaction between the nil-rate band, the residence
  nil-rate band, transferred allowances and business or agricultural relief needs handling before
  the grant rather than after.
• A 1975 Act claim looks likely — a second marriage, an estranged child, a cohabitee who is
  not provided for. The executor stands in the middle of that.
• The estate holds a business, farm, or a portfolio of let property that has to keep running.
• There are assets abroad, needing a separate grant in another jurisdiction.
• A beneficiary is a minor or lacks capacity, so a trust runs for years.
• The family is already in conflict and naming one sibling would guarantee more of it.

The cost, and a warning

Solicitors charge hourly, sometimes with a percentage element. Banks and trust corporations
named as executor typically charge a percentage of the estate, and those clauses can be
strikingly expensive on a large estate for work that is not proportionately larger.

A professional executor named in a will is difficult to remove — that is rather the point of
appointing one — so the charging clause is worth reading closely before the will is signed,
not after the death.

Middle ground

Name a family member as executor and let them instruct a solicitor at the estate's expense.
This is the usual arrangement, keeps control with the family, and costs less than a professional
executorship. Naming a professional as substitute is a sensible hedge.

An executor who does not want the job can renounce, but only before intermeddling.