What is a Grant of Probate?
November 30, 2022

In many circumstances, when a loved one dies, you will need to get a Grant of Probate in order to sell or transfer their assets to someone else. Find out more in this conversation from Marsons Solicitors Partners, Beth King and Jennifer White.

If you need to make a will or have an existing will that needs updating, contact Beth King today on 020 8313 1300 or beth.king@marsons.co.uk.

What is a Grant of Probate?

A conversation with Marsons Partners, Beth King and Jennifer White

 

J: What is a Grant of Probate

B: Well, it’s the document that you need to get from the Probate Registry, which enables you to go to the banks and the investment companies and the Land Registry, for example, to say “I’m the one entitled to deal with the assets, so please pay out the money to me, or transfer the property into my name or the beneficiaries.” You just can’t do it without a Grant of Probate.

J: So, do I need to go to probate? I mean, are there circumstances where I don’t need to get a grant?

B: Yes there are. If it’s a relatively small estate, where the money that they’ve left is in a bank of building society account, or even several bank or building society accounts, those banks will normally have a limit of say £10,000 or sometimes £30,000 and, if the estate is less than that, they will pay out the money to whoever is obviously entitled, so that will be the executors under a will or the wife, for example.

However, if there are assets in the sole name of the person who’s died, such as their house or shares, or quite often ISAs, because they’re always in a sole name, those can’t just be paid out to you or sold. You need to get a Grant of Probate in order to sell them of transfer them to somebody else.

 

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