What is Probate & Administration?
A person is able to handle his own financial matters when he is alive. When a person passes on, financial institutions like banks and insurance companies will not hand over the deceased person’s financial assets to just any person. Probate and administration is the legal process through which a person (or several people) are appointed to manage the deceased person’s financial assets.
Grant of Probate
A Grant of Probate is obtained with respect to a Will left behind by the deceased. It will be stated in the Will who the executor of the estate is. In this respect, there can be more than one executor for an estate. Only the executor (or executors, as the case may be) can apply for the Grant of Probate.
The testator (i.e. deceased person who left a Will), however, cannot compel you to be the executor. Even if you are named as the executor in the Will, you can choose to renounce your right to be the executor.
In certain Wills, the testator will name more than one executor or name a replacement executor. In such cases, the original executor can renounce his right to be the executor and let the second executor or replacement executor administer the estate.
Letters of Administration
A person who passes away without leaving a Will is said to have died “intestate”. When a person dies intestate, Letters of Administration are required to administer the deceased person’s estate. Any person with valid interest in the estate of the deceased person can apply to be an administrator of the deceased person’s estate.
Executors (in the situations of Grant of Probate) and administrators (in the situations of Letters of Administration) are generally referred to as Personal Representatives. There can be a maximum of four Personal Representatives at any one time. This limitation on the number of Personal Representatives is stated in Section 6 of the Probate and Administration Act.
To be certain on how to deal with the unique circumstances of each estate, it is best to advise an experienced probate lawyer on how best to discharge your duty as an executor or administrator. If your finances are an obstacle to you hiring a probate lawyer on your own, you should apply to the Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) to see if you qualify for legal aid.
