Legal News | 17.04.25
Granted, it’s not completely straightforward
You may have heard about a grant of probate, which is applied for by the executor(s) of the deceased as named under a valid Will. The grant enables those executors to administer a deceased’s estate (i.e. collect in the assets, pay the liabilities and distribute the net estate to the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the Will).
However, you may not have heard of two other common types of grants:
A grant of letters of administration with the Will annexed
These types of grants are issued where a person dies with a valid Will but:
- they did not appoint an executor in their Will; or
- the executor is unable or unwilling to act.
In such a case the beneficiary/ies under the Will can apply for a grant of letters of administration and are called ‘administrator(s)’.
A grant of letters of administration on intestacy
Where the deceased leaves no Will at all there is a specific order of priority for who can apply for a grant to become an administrator. There is also a legislated order of priority for how the person’s estate is to be distributed.
There are instances where a partial intestacy can occur if a Will does not effectively distribute 100% of the deceased’s estate. The part that is not distributed under the Will is distributed according to these intestacy rules.
That’s not the end of the story!
Other less common grants of representation that may be issued include:
- A grant pendente lite – a grant issued where there are legal proceedings which may prevent a full grant being granted but allows the administrator to act temporarily.
- A grant ad colligenda bona – a grant issued to deal with a particular asset within the estate.
- A grant of administration de bonis non – a grant issued when there has already been a grant taken out, but the last surviving personal representative has died without completing the administration of the estate.
- A grant of double probate – where a grant of probate has been issued to an executor (1) with power reserved to another executor (2) and executor (2) then takes out a grant.
Granted it’s not straightforward but at Wansbroughs our Private Client Team can assist you.
