Bereavement Jargon Buster

Estate

The estate is everything a person owned at the time of their death: bank accounts, savings, property, cars, personal belongings, investments, pensions with a lump sum, and any money owed to them. It also includes their debts, such as mortgages, loans, credit cards, and unpaid bills. The executor or administrator is responsible for working out the total value, paying off debts and taxes, and then distributing what is left to the beneficiaries.

Executor

An executor is the person named in a will to manage the estate after someone dies. Their job is to collect all the money and property, pay any debts and taxes, and then share out what is left to the people named in the will. You can have more than one executor, and you can say no to the role if you do not want to do it (this is called renunciation). Being an executor carries legal responsibility, so some people choose to get help from a solicitor.

Grant of Probate

A Grant of Probate is the court document that gives the executor legal authority to manage the estate. You apply for it through the Probate Registry (in England and Wales), and it typically takes 8 to 16 weeks to arrive. Once you have it, you can show it to banks, building societies, and the Land Registry to access accounts, sell property, and settle debts. In Scotland, the equivalent document is called Confirmation. In Northern Ireland, it is called a Grant of Representation.

Intestacy

Intestacy means dying without a valid will. When this happens, a fixed set of legal rules decides who inherits and how much they get. In England and Wales, a spouse or civil partner usually inherits the first portion, with children sharing the rest. Unmarried partners have no automatic right to inherit anything, regardless of how long they lived together. The rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland. If no relatives can be found at all, everything goes to the Crown.

Letters of Administration

When someone dies without a will (or the named executor cannot act), a close relative can apply to the court for Letters of Administration. This document gives the applicant (called the administrator) the legal authority to manage the estate, just like a Grant of Probate does for an executor. The rules about who can apply follow a strict order: spouse or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then siblings. The administrator must follow the intestacy rules when sharing out the estate, rather than a will.

Probate

Probate is the process of proving to the court that a will is genuine and that the executor named in it has the right to deal with the estate. Once the court is satisfied, it issues an official document called a Grant of Probate. Banks, building societies, and the Land Registry will not release money or transfer property until they see this document. Not every estate needs probate; it depends on what the person owned and how much it was worth. If there is no will, the process is similar but the court issues Letters of Administration instead.

Renunciation

Renunciation is the formal process of declining to act as executor. If you are named in a will but do not want the responsibility, you can sign a legal form (called a Form R1 in England and Wales) and step aside. You must do this before you start dealing with the estate; once you have begun acting as executor, you cannot simply walk away. If all named executors renounce, a close relative can apply to the court for Letters of Administration instead.

Administrator

An administrator is the person appointed by the court to manage the estate when there is no will, or when the named executor cannot or will not act. To become an administrator, you apply for Letters of Administration. The court follows a strict order of priority: spouse or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then siblings. The administrator has the same responsibilities as an executor but must follow the intestacy rules rather than a will when distributing the estate.

Beneficiary

A beneficiary is anyone who receives something from the estate. If there is a will, beneficiaries are the people or organisations named in it. If there is no will, beneficiaries are decided by the intestacy rules based on their family relationship to the person who died. Beneficiaries of life insurance policies or pensions may be different from those named in the will, because those assets often pass outside the estate.

Indemnity

An indemnity is a legal guarantee, usually in the form of a signed letter or insurance policy, that protects an organisation from future claims. Banks often ask for an indemnity before releasing money from a deceased person's account without probate. It means that if someone else later turns up with a valid claim to that money, the person who signed the indemnity is responsible for sorting it out. For larger amounts, the bank may ask for a formal indemnity insurance policy.

Coroner

A coroner is an independent official (usually a lawyer or doctor) who investigates certain deaths. A death is referred to the coroner when it was sudden or unexpected, when the cause is unknown, when it happened during or shortly after surgery, or when it may have been violent or unnatural. The coroner may order a post-mortem examination and, in some cases, hold a public inquest to establish how the person died. In Scotland, the equivalent role is the Procurator Fiscal. If a coroner is involved, it can delay the registration of the death and the funeral.

Inquest

An inquest is a fact-finding hearing held by a coroner to establish who died, when and where they died, and how they came to die. It is not a trial and does not assign blame or criminal responsibility. Inquests are held in public and family members can attend and ask questions. They are usually needed when the cause of death is unclear, when the death was violent or unnatural, or when it occurred in state custody. An inquest can take months or even years to conclude, which can delay the final registration of the death.

Post-mortem

A post-mortem (also called an autopsy) is a medical examination carried out after death to determine the cause. It is usually ordered by the coroner when the cause of death is uncertain. There are two types: a non-invasive post-mortem (using scans) and a full post-mortem (a surgical examination). The family does not need to give consent if the coroner orders it, though they will be told it is happening. Once the post-mortem is complete, the body is usually released for the funeral.

Excepted estate

An excepted estate is one where no inheritance tax is due because the total value is below the nil-rate band (£325,000, or £650,000 for a surviving spouse). When an estate is excepted, you can use a shorter, simpler set of forms when applying for probate. Most estates in the UK are excepted estates. You still need to declare the estate's value, but you do not need to fill in the full inheritance tax return.

Nil-rate band

The nil-rate band is the inheritance tax threshold. Everyone can pass on up to £325,000 without any inheritance tax being due. Anything above this amount is taxed at 40%. If the person was married or in a civil partnership, any unused portion of their partner's nil-rate band can be transferred, effectively doubling the threshold to £650,000. There is also a residence nil-rate band (an extra £175,000) if the family home passes to children or grandchildren.

Confirmation

Confirmation is the Scottish equivalent of a Grant of Probate. It is the court document that gives the executor (called an executor-nominate if named in the will, or executor-dative if appointed by the court) the authority to manage the estate. You apply to the local Sheriff Court rather than the Probate Registry. The process is broadly similar to probate in England and Wales, but the terminology and some legal details are different.

Executor-dative

An executor-dative is the Scottish term for a person appointed by the court to manage an estate when there is no will. It is the Scottish equivalent of an administrator in England and Wales. The executor-dative applies to the Sheriff Court for Confirmation and must provide a bond of caution (a type of insurance) to protect the beneficiaries. If there is a will, the person named as executor is called an executor-nominate instead.

Prior rights

Prior rights are unique to Scottish law. When someone dies without a will (intestate) in Scotland, their spouse or civil partner has an automatic right to the family home (up to £473,000), household furniture and contents (up to £63,000), and a cash sum (up to £50,000 if there are children, or £89,000 if not). These rights are taken from the estate before anything else is shared out. They exist to protect the surviving partner and do not apply in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

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• What to Do When Someone Dies: the complete first-steps checklist
• Executor Responsibilities: what the executor actually has to do
• Do I Need Probate?: find out if you need to apply
• Intestacy Rules: what happens when there's no will
• Probate in Scotland: how the process differs north of the border