Grant of Letters of Administration

A Grant of Letters of Administration is a grant of representation authorizing someone to act on behalf of a deceased and deal with their estate. It is used in the following situations

• when there is no Will
• the Will is not valid
• there are no Executors named in the Will
• the Executors cannot act or are unwilling to act.

The person who takes out the Grant of  Letters of Administration is called the Administrator

If there is a Will then you can apply for Letters of Administration if

• there are no named executors
• the executors refuse to act
• the executors cannot act

and the deceased left you all of the estate in their Will.

If there is no valid Will then generally speaking only the next of kin can be the Administrator. There is also a list of priority of who can apply.

1.  the spouse or civil partner of the deceased
2. a child of the deceased
3. the grandchild of the deceased
4. the parent of the deceased
5. the brother or sister of the deceased
6. the nephew or niece of the deceased
7. If you are another relative of the person who has died

If you are an unmarried partner of the person who has died, and you have not been named in the Will then generally you will not be able to act as an Administrator.

The estate will then generally be distributed under the intestacy rules

When someone dies without a valid will then the estate is called Intestate. This means that the deceased has not decided who their estate goes to. If this is the case, then the rules of Intestacy specify who their estate goes to. There is an order of people who will benefit.

1. Spouse or civil partner
2. Children/grandchildren
3. Parents
4. Brothers and sisters
5. Grandparents
6. Uncles and aunts

There are some exceptions to this such as if the estate is more than £250,000 some of the estate goes to their children or grandchildren.

If you are not included in the rules of intestacy, for example, you are a cohabitant or unmarried, step-child, step-parent or close friend you may not benefit from their estate.

You might be able to make a financial claim for financial provision if you were a dependant on the deceased when they passed away. For more details please click here.

If your loved one has passed away without a Will and you would like to receive some advice, please contact us. All initial enquires are free of charge.