Basically, estate administration is the process of handling the tax and legal affairs of someone after their death (not to be confused with Probate which is part of estate administration and specifically refers to applying for the document – the Grant of Probate if there is a Will – to enable the executor to go ahead and handle the affairs).

For the executor, dealing with the deceased’s assets can be a time-consuming and complicated process. It means paying any income tax and inheritance tax, dealing with the deceased’s bank accounts and shares, their property and possessions, and distributing any inheritance to their beneficiaries.

It can involve a whole range of responsibilities from having assets valued, making sure that funeral expenses and costs to do with the administration are paid, actually completing the income tax and inheritance tax forms, managing the registration or valuation and sale of any properties or dealing with debts, to cancelling utilities and redirecting post, and many more.

Given the requirement for an estate to distributed in accordance to the terms of the Will, and the information supplied to HM Revenue & Customs in relation to inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax to be accurate, estate administration can be a very daunting prospect. However, administrators are able to share the responsibility and appoint a professional to handle the estate on their behalf.