Executors, Administrators & the Grant of Probate

When someone dies, their estate needs someone with legal authority to deal with it - to collect the assets, settle the debts, and pass what is left to the right people. That person is a personal representative (PR). This page explains who the PRs are, how they differ depending on whether there is a will, and how they get the document - the grant of representation - that proves their authority to banks, registries, and everyone else.

Everything here is England & Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland work differently; there is a short note near the end.

Personal representatives: executors and administrators#

"Personal representative" is the umbrella term. It covers two roles, and the difference between them comes down to a single question: did a valid will appoint someone to act?

Executors - appointed by the will#

An executor is a person (or a trust corporation) named in the will to administer the estate. Their authority comes from the will itself, not from the court. In principle an executor's power exists from the moment of death - the grant of probate confirms and evidences it rather than creates it. That is why an executor can begin some practical steps, such as arranging the funeral or securing property, before the grant issues.

A will can appoint up to four executors to prove at once (more on the limit below). It is good practice to name a substitute in case a first choice cannot or will not act. If you are drafting a will, InLeef handles executor appointment and substitution - see The Will (Single & Mirror).

Administrators - where there is no valid appointment#

An administrator steps in where no executor can take the grant. That happens in three main situations:

• there is no will at all, so the estate passes under the rules of intestacy;
• there is a will but it appoints no executor, or the appointment fails; or
• an executor cannot or will not act - they have died, lack capacity, or renounce.

Unlike an executor, an administrator's authority comes from the grant. They have no power to act until the court appoints them, so there is a short window after death where nobody can formally deal with the estate. Administrators are also usually required to account to the beneficiaries in a slightly more formal way.

One point that catches people out: any authority an attorney held under an LPA ends the moment the donor dies. A lasting power of attorney is a lifetime tool only. From death, control of the person's affairs passes to the PRs, who may be entirely different people.

The grant of representation#

The grant of representation is the court order that confirms who may administer the estate. Asset-holders - banks, share registrars, HM Land Registry - will generally release funds or transfer property only against a grant, or a certified copy of one. There are three everyday types.

• Grant of probate - issued to an executor named in a valid will.
• Letters of administration (with will annexed) - issued where there is a valid will but no executor able to act. The estate is still distributed according to the will; it is just an administrator, not an executor, who carries it out.
• Letters of administration - issued on a full intestacy, where there is no valid will at all. The administrator distributes under the statutory intestacy rules.

When is a grant actually needed?#

Not every estate needs a grant. A grant proves title to assets, so you only need one where an asset-holder insists on seeing it before releasing or transferring an asset. In practice:

• Small cash balances. Many banks and building societies will release modest sums - often up to somewhere between £5,000 and £50,000, at each institution's discretion under the Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965 - on sight of a death certificate and a short indemnity, with no grant at all.
• Jointly owned assets passing by survivorship. A home held as beneficial joint tenants, or a joint bank account, passes automatically to the survivor outside the estate and needs no grant. (A tenancy in common share does not pass this way - it forms part of the estate.)
• Assets with a nominated beneficiary. Many pensions and life policies are written in trust or paid at the provider's discretion, so they pay out directly and bypass the estate.

Where the estate holds land in the deceased's sole name, or shareholdings, or larger bank balances, a grant will almost always be required.

Who is entitled to take the grant#

The right to apply follows a strict order of priority set by the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 (NCPR 1987). A person lower down the order can only apply if everyone above them has died, renounced, or been cleared off.

Where there is a will (rule 20). The order runs, broadly:

1. the executor;
2. any residuary beneficiary holding on trust for another;
3. any other residuary beneficiary (including one for life), or, if residue is undisposed of, the persons entitled on the resulting intestacy;
4. the personal representative of a deceased residuary beneficiary;
5. any other legatee or devisee, or a creditor.

Where there is no will - intestacy (rule 22). Priority follows the people entitled to the estate under the intestacy rules, in this order:

1. the surviving spouse or civil partner;
2. the children (and the issue of any child who has died);
3. the parents;
4. brothers and sisters of the whole blood (then half blood), and their issue;
5. grandparents, then uncles and aunts.

Only after all of these does the estate pass to the Crown as bona vacantia. The person applying must have a beneficial interest in the estate - you cannot take a grant on intestacy simply because you are a relative if someone with a better entitlement is alive. For the substantive entitlements that drive this order, see Intestacy - Dying Without a Will.

How many personal representatives?#

The maximum is four PRs to any one grant for the same estate (Senior Courts Act 1981, s.114). If a will names five executors, only four can prove at once; the others may have power reserved.

There is also a minimum in two situations. Where the estate gives rise to a minor's interest (a beneficiary under 18) or a life interest - for example a will trust for a young child, or an interest-in-possession trust for a surviving spouse - a grant must issue either to a trust corporation or to at least two individuals (s.114(2)). This mirrors the general rule that two trustees are needed to give a valid receipt for capital, and to protect the beneficiary who cannot yet act for themselves. See Understanding Trusts - A Plain-English Guide for what those interests are.

A sole executor with no minor or life interest in the estate is perfectly valid.

Capacity, minors, renunciation and "power reserved"#

Not everyone named can, or wants to, act. The rules provide for each case:

• Renunciation. An executor who does not want the job can renounce by signing a formal renunciation, provided they have not already intermeddled in the estate (started dealing with its assets). Once you have intermeddled, you generally cannot renounce. An entitled person on intestacy can renounce too, passing the right down the order.
• Power reserved. Where there are several executors and not all want to act now, one or more can have power reserved - they stand aside but keep the right to apply later if needed, without formally renouncing. The proving executor(s) simply give notice to the others.
• Minors. A person under 18 cannot take a grant. Where a minor is the only person entitled, a grant is taken on their behalf (a grant for the use and benefit of the minor) by, usually, their parents or guardians, until they come of age.
• Lack of capacity. Where the person entitled lacks mental capacity, the grant is taken on their behalf under NCPR 1987 rule 35 - typically by their attorney or deputy.

What personal representatives must do#

The core job is the same whichever type of PR you are. In order:

1. Get in the assets. Identify and value everything the deceased owned, secure property, and collect what is due.
2. Pay the liabilities. Settle debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, and any Inheritance Tax - An Overview due. Debts are paid in a statutory order; if the estate cannot pay everything, the rules on insolvent estates apply.
3. Distribute the residue. Once debts and tax are cleared, pass the estate to the beneficiaries named in the will or entitled on intestacy.

PRs are not bound to distribute before the end of one year from death - the so-called executor's year (Administration of Estates Act 1925, s.44). Distributing too early, before debts and tax are known, is risky.

PRs also have wide statutory powers to do the job: powers of sale, appropriation, and investment under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 and the Trustee Act 2000, all subject to the statutory duty of care the Trustee Act 2000 imposes.

Personal liability and how to guard against it#

This is the part professionals most need to keep front of mind. A PR who distributes the estate wrongly - paying the wrong people, or paying beneficiaries before an unknown creditor surfaces - commits a devastavit (a wasting of the estate) and is personally liable to make good the loss. Two standard protections reduce that exposure:

• Section 27 Trustee Act 1925 notices. Advertising for claimants in The Gazette and in a newspaper local to any land, then waiting the statutory two months, protects the PR against unknown creditors and beneficiaries. It does not protect against known ones.
• Searches. Run bankruptcy searches against beneficiaries before paying them (paying a bankrupt's share to them rather than the trustee in bankruptcy is a breach), and consider asset and missing-beneficiary searches, or a Benjamin order or missing-beneficiary insurance where someone cannot be traced.

Applying for the grant#

The mechanics are now largely digital, but the sequence matters.

Inheritance tax comes first. You cannot get a grant until the IHT position is reported. For most excepted estates (broadly, straightforward estates below the tax thresholds), you report the estate values as part of the probate application itself. Where IHT is payable or the estate is more complex, you submit form IHT400 to HMRC, arrange payment of any tax due, and wait for HMRC to send the registry a unique reference before the grant can issue - currently a wait of about 20 working days after submitting the IHT400. See Inheritance Tax - An Overview for the thresholds and reliefs, and The Nil-Rate Band & Transferable Nil-Rate Band and The Residence Nil-Rate Band for the allowances.

Then the application. The application form depends on whether there is a will:

• PA1P - application with a will (grant of probate, or letters of administration with will annexed).
• PA1A - application without a will (letters of administration on intestacy).

Both can be completed online (through the GOV.UK probate service, or MyHMCTS for professionals) or on paper by post to HMCTS Probate. The online route is generally faster and lets you upload documents. The original will and death certificate are sent to the registry.

No more oaths. Applicants no longer swear an oath before a solicitor. Since the Non-Contentious Probate (Amendment) Rules 2018, the applicant signs a statement of truth (the "legal statement" in the application) confirming the facts and that they will administer the estate according to law. A false statement of truth carries the risk of contempt proceedings.

The fee. The application fee is a flat £526 (from 13 July 2026) for any estate worth more than £5,000; estates of £5,000 or less pay nothing. Order extra official copies of the grant at £2 each - you will want several, one for each asset-holder to hold at once. Confirm the current fee before you file, as HMCTS revises it periodically.

Caveats, citations and disputes#

Where entitlement or validity is contested, the non-contentious process gives way to a few procedural tools:

• A caveat stops a grant issuing for six months (renewable) while a dispute - for example over the validity of the will - is worked out. It is entered at the registry by anyone with an interest.
• A citation compels someone who is dragging their feet to act: a citation to accept or refuse a grant forces a reluctant executor to take it or step aside; a citation to take probate applies where an executor has intermeddled but not applied.
• If a caveat is challenged, the caveator must enter an appearance, and the matter may move to a contested (probate) claim in the High Court.

These are outlines only; a contested estate needs specialist advice early.

The rest of the UK#

The whole framework above is England & Wales. Briefly:

• Scotland uses confirmation, not a grant of probate, obtained from the sheriff court. Executors are either executors-nominate (named in the will) or executors-dative (appointed by the court where there is no will) - see Intestacy in Scotland.
• Northern Ireland has a broadly similar probate/letters-of-administration system to England & Wales, but a separate probate registry and its own rules - see Intestacy in Northern Ireland.

Handing over to the practical process#

Getting the grant is the beginning, not the end. Once it issues, the PR moves into the working phase - collecting assets, settling liabilities, preparing estate accounts, and distributing. That end-to-end process, step by step, is covered in Administering an Estate, Step by Step. For the entitlement rules that decide who inherits when there is no will, see Intestacy - Dying Without a Will.

Quick reference#

Grant type	When it is used	Who applies	Applied for on
Grant of probate	Valid will with an executor able to act	The executor (up to four)	PA1P
Letters of administration (with will annexed)	Valid will, but no executor able to act	A residuary beneficiary or other person in NCPR r.20 order	PA1P
Letters of administration	No valid will (intestacy)	The person entitled under NCPR r.22 (spouse, then children, then parents…)	PA1A
No grant needed	Small balances; joint assets by survivorship; nominated pensions/policies	Survivor / nominee deals directly	-

Key limit or rule	Position
Maximum PRs on one grant	Four (Senior Courts Act 1981, s.114)
Minimum PRs where a minor or life interest arises	Two individuals or a trust corporation (s.114(2))
Executor's authority	Flows from the will; grant confirms it
Administrator's authority	Flows from the grant only
Attorney's authority under an LPA	Ends at death; PRs take over
Application fee (from 13 July 2026)	£526 over £5,000; nil at £5,000 or below; copies £2 each
Oath	Replaced by a statement of truth (2018)

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This page is general guidance for professionals, not legal advice, and does not cover every case. Probate rules, IHT thresholds, and court fees change; confirm the current position with HMCTS, HMRC, and the applicable rules before acting.