Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has its own probate system, separate from both England and Wales and Scotland.
Applications go to the Probate Office at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, with a
district registry in Londonderry. The executor applies for a grant of probate, or letters of
administration where there is no will. A grant here is recognised in the rest of the UK.

NICTS now runs an online probate portal, reached through nidirect.

Tell Us Once does not operate here

This is the practical difference that costs Northern Ireland families the most time. In England,
Scotland and Wales, the Tell Us Once service reports a death to most government departments
in a single step. It is not available in Northern Ireland.

Every department has to be contacted separately — HMRC, the Department for Communities for
benefits and pensions, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, DVA for the driving licence and
vehicle, the Passport Office, the electoral office. Allow properly for it, and work from a list.

Fees

Northern Ireland charges probate fees on a sliding scale based on the net value of the estate,
rather than the flat fee used in England and Wales. Very small estates pay nothing; large estates
pay substantially more than they would across the water. Confirm current figures with the Probate
Office.

Inheritance tax

Inheritance tax is a UK-wide tax and applies here identically: a £325,000 nil-rate band, a
£175,000 residence nil-rate band where a home passes to direct descendants, spouse and civil
partner exempt, 40% above. As in England and Wales, the tax generally has to be dealt with
before the grant issues.

Wills in Northern Ireland are governed by the Wills and Administration Proceedings (Northern
Ireland) Order 1994. A will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by another at
their direction and in their presence), and signed by two witnesses who are present at the
same time and 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 acceptable; an unwitnessed one is not.

Marriage revokes your will

As in England and Wales, getting married automatically cancels an existing will unless it was
made in contemplation of that specific marriage. The Law Commission's 2025 proposal to abolish the
rule applies to England and Wales, not here, so do not assume reform elsewhere changes the
position in Northern Ireland.

Divorce does not revoke a will. It treats a former spouse as having predeceased — which often
leaves the will without an executor, since the ex-spouse was frequently named as one.

The witness who inherits

A gift to a witness, or to a witness's spouse or civil partner, is void while the will itself
stands. Use two neutral witnesses with nothing to gain.

Also

• Name a substitute executor. If the only named executor has predeceased or will not act,
  someone has to apply for letters of administration with the will annexed — a slower route.
• A spouse, child or dependant may apply for provision from the estate whatever the will says.
• Bear in mind that Tell Us Once is not available here, so tell your executor where the list
  of accounts and pensions actually is — they will be contacting each one separately.
• Review after a marriage, civil partnership, divorce, birth, or a move to Great Britain.

Usually not. Northern Ireland follows the same principle as the rest of the United Kingdom,
and it is the opposite of the default in Canada and the United States.

A lay executor acts unpaid

A friend or family member named as executor is expected to act without payment. There is no
statutory percentage and no entitlement to a fee for their time, however long the administration
runs — and here it often runs longer, because every government department has to be contacted
individually.

Two routes to being paid: a charging clause in the will, or the consent of all the residuary
beneficiaries, given knowingly and by people of full age and capacity.

Professionals are different

A solicitor or trust corporation named as executor charges under the will's charging clause.
Absent one, a professional trustee may be able to rely on the statutory provisions for
remuneration — which do not assist a lay executor.

Expenses are always reimbursable

Unpaid does not mean out of pocket. Every executor may recover their reasonable out-of-pocket
expenses from the estate. In Northern Ireland that reasonably includes the postage, calls and
travel involved in notifying each department separately in the absence of Tell Us Once — small
amounts that add up over months.

If you are writing a will

Decide it deliberately and say so in the will. An administration here involves more legwork than
the equivalent estate in England, and asking a family member to absorb a year of it for nothing
is a choice worth making consciously rather than by silence.

An executor in Northern Ireland is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administration. Since a lay executor is normally unpaid for their time, this is the only money
they will see.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable wake.
• Probate fees, which here are on a sliding scale by estate value, plus office copies of the
  grant and certified death certificates. Order several — each institution wants its own.
• Inheritance tax, and any bridging arrangement used to pay it before the grant issues.
• Solicitors' and accountants' fees, and the estate's tax returns.
• Professional valuations of property, land, jewellery and chattels for the HMRC account.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: unoccupied property insurance, rates, utilities,
  security, and maintenance.
• The cost of notifying every department separately — postage, recorded delivery, telephone
  calls and travel. Without Tell Us Once this is a genuine and recurring expense rather than a
  rounding error.
• House clearance, storage and removals.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate, including to Belfast for the Probate Office and
  across the border where the deceased held assets in the Republic.
• Advertising for creditors.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost earnings or their time.
• 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, and keep a running note of
which departments have been told and when. That list is both your expense record and the thing
that stops something being missed.

Most Northern Ireland estates are handled by a family member instructing a solicitor. Appointing a
professional as executor is a heavier and more expensive step.

Consider a professional when

• The estate holds land or a farm. Agricultural property relief, the way farmland is valued,
  and the frequency with which farms here are held informally between generations all make this
  the strongest local case for professional help.
• There are assets in the Republic of Ireland as well as here. That is a separate legal system
  with its own probate process and its own tax, and cross-border estates are common along the
  border counties.
• The estate is taxable for inheritance tax and the nil-rate bands, transferred allowances and
  reliefs need working through before the grant.
• A claim for provision by a spouse, child or dependant looks likely.
• The estate holds a business or let property that has to keep running.
• A beneficiary is a minor or lacks capacity, so a trust runs for years.
• The named executor lives outside Northern Ireland, which is common — and without Tell Us
  Once, the notification legwork is hard to do from a distance.

What it costs

Solicitors generally charge on a time basis. A bank or trust corporation named as executor will
charge a percentage of the estate, and that clause is difficult to escape once the will is signed
— read it before signing, not after the death.

Middle ground

Name a family member and let them instruct a solicitor at the estate's expense. Given the
notification burden here, agreeing at the outset who chases which department — the family or the
firm — avoids both assuming the other is doing it.

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