Probate

[mayennaise]

Under what circumstances is probate required?

Widow dies, leaves a will and a small estate (total is less than £15,000.00).

Would her executor be able to just distribute her estate in accordance with her will, once all due monies have been paid out or would probate have to be applied for ??

[woofgang]

There is always a need to go through some kind of official process to ensure that any taxes or overpayments due are paid to the government and also to ensure that any money due to the estate like undrawn pension is paid, also to confirm that the will actually is the will and is valid.
https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance.

[Buenchico]

The full stop at the end of Woofgang's link has corrupted it.

Here it is again:
https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance

As the link indicates, a grant of representation (in the form of 'probate') isn't always required when the estate doesn't include land, property or shares.

However banks (and other financial institutions) will each have their own rules about when they'll hand over funds to executors without a grant. So it might still be necessary to seek probate (which, for a simple estate, is really easy anyway - it most definitely doesn't require the involvement of a solicitor).

[Peter Pedant]

strikes me 15k is quite large

I have done it with a much smaller estate ( erm negative - insolvent ) and it was as the gentlemen above state

[woofgang]

thank you Chris, i hadn’t noticed the full stop and forgot to check the link as I usually do.