Letters of administration

Letters of administration do the same job as a grant of probate when there is no valid will, or when no executor can or will act. A relative applies to become the administrator of the estate, in a set order that starts with the husband, wife or civil partner and then the children.

When you will need them

They are needed when someone dies without a valid will (see intestacy), when a will names no executor, or when the executors it names are unable or unwilling to act. Banks and property registries ask for them for the reason they ask for probate: proof that you have the authority to deal with the estate.

Who can apply

The order of priority is strict. After a husband, wife or civil partner and the children come grandchildren, then parents, then brothers and sisters, then other relatives. A partner who was never married or in a civil partnership cannot apply. Someone higher on the list can step aside and let the next person apply. Where two people are equally entitled, either one may apply.

What it costs and what happens next

You apply to HMCTS Probate, online or by post, with the death certificate and a valuation of the estate. The fee is the one probate charges: nothing for an estate under £5,000 and, at the time of writing, £526 from £5,000 upwards, plus £16 per extra copy. The grant takes weeks to months. Until it arrives, the administrator can arrange the funeral and tell the organisations, but cannot sell property or share out money. Afterwards the administrator pays the funeral, then the debts and any tax, and passes what is left to the beneficiaries under the rules of intestacy.