What an executor does in the first ninety days: a checklist by country
Week by week: the certificate, the will, the accounts, probate or its equivalent, the tax, and the mistakes that cost executors personally.
General information, not advice.
Before anything: find the documents
The original will (the lawyer, the safe, the drawer; in England the national will register, in Australia the state Supreme Court's or the trustee companies' safe custody, in Israel the Registrar's deposit), the death certificate (several certified copies; every institution wants one), the asset record if there is one, insurance policies, superannuation or pension statements, the deeds, the passwords' whereabouts, and the letter of wishes if there is a trust. Executors without an asset record spend the first month writing to every bank in the country; the unclaimed-money registers in every one of the seven countries are the graveyard of accounts nobody found.
Weeks one and two
Register the death (within five days in England, within a month in most Australian states); obtain certified copies.
Secure the home, the vehicles and the valuables; tell the insurers, because an unoccupied home's cover usually lapses after thirty days.
Notify the bank: accounts are frozen, but funeral costs can usually be paid from them on presentation of the invoice.
Tell the employer, the pension or super fund, and the government agencies that pay benefits; overpaid pensions are recovered from the estate.
Read the will properly. Confirm you are willing to act; you can renounce before you start and not after you have intermeddled.
Tell the beneficiaries that you are the executor, roughly what the will says, and that it will take time. Most executor complaints are about silence.
Weeks three to six: probate by country
Country | What you apply for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
United States | Letters testamentary from the probate court of the state of domicile; ancillary probate for land in another state | Revocable-trust assets bypass it; small-estate affidavits in most states (thresholds from US$50,000 to US$275,000); creditors' notice periods of three to six months; the estate tax return, if needed, is due nine months after death |
United Kingdom | Grant of probate from HMCTS, online for most estates; the inheritance tax account (IHT400) first where tax is due | Tax on non-land assets must be paid before the grant, the cash-flow trap; the grant takes four to sixteen weeks; the Trustee Act notice in the Gazette protects the executor from unknown creditors after two months |
Canada | Probate or certificate of appointment of estate trustee from the provincial court, with the estate administration tax paid on filing | Quebec notarial wills need none; the final return and any trust return; a clearance certificate from the CRA before the final distribution or the executor is personally liable for the tax |
Australia | Grant of probate from the state Supreme Court, after publishing the notice of intention (fourteen days in NSW) | Small estates and assets held jointly or by nomination often avoid it; the executor's year is the customary period before beneficiaries can demand distribution; family-provision claims must be brought within twelve months in NSW, six in Victoria |
Israel | Probate order from the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs (or a rabbinical court by consent), filed online | Inheritance order if there is no will; a fourteen-day objection period after publication; two to four months in an uncontested case |
Singapore | Grant of probate from the Family Justice Courts through a lawyer | Letters of administration if no will; Syariah Court certificate of inheritance for Muslim estates; CPF and insurance nominations paid outside the grant |
EU | Usually no probate; the notary settles the estate (the German Erbschein or the Spanish declaración de herederos proves who the heirs are); a European Certificate of Succession for assets in another member state | Heirs step into the estate directly and are liable for its debts unless they accept with benefit of inventory; French tax declaration within six months, German within three months of learning of the inheritance |
Weeks seven to twelve
Collect the assets with the grant: bank balances, investments, the proceeds of policies payable to the estate; open an estate account and put everything through it.
Pay the debts, in the order the law sets (funeral, administration, secured, then unsecured), before anyone else; advertise for creditors where the country requires or permits it.
File the final tax return and the estate's returns; pay what is due before distributing; in Canada get the clearance certificate, in the United States the closing letter if a Form 706 was filed.
Value what must be valued: property, the business, the collection, at the date of death, by a professional, because the valuation sets the beneficiaries' cost base and the executor's defence.
Distribute specific gifts, then the residue, with receipts and a signed release from each beneficiary; keep the estate accounts and show them to the beneficiaries.
Personal liability
An executor who distributes before the debts and tax are paid can be personally liable for the shortfall, and the tax authorities in every one of the seven countries will look to the executor first. An executor who takes a beneficiary's word for a valuation, or sells the house to a relative below market, answers for it to the other beneficiaries. An executor who delays without reason answers for the lost interest and the fallen market. The protections are simple: pay debts and tax first, take professional valuations, advertise for creditors, keep accounts, get releases, and ask the court where the will is unclear rather than guessing.
The question the checklist cannot answer
What would she have wanted. It arrives on day one and every day after, from the family, about the house, the business, the dog, the grandson, the ring. The will answers what and who. Only the person answers why, and the executor's hardest month is spent guessing at it, and being told by each sibling, separately, that the guess is wrong.
Frequently asked
How long does probate take?+
Four to sixteen weeks for the grant in most countries, depending on the court's backlog; the whole administration commonly takes nine months to a year, and longer with a business, property abroad or a claim.
Can an executor be paid?+
Professional executors charge, typically 1% to 4% of the estate or an hourly rate; a family executor is usually unpaid unless the will provides or the court allows commission, though expenses are reimbursed.
Can I refuse to be an executor?+
Yes, by renouncing before you start to act. Once you have intermeddled with the estate, you cannot.
What if the will is missing?+
The estate is administered as intestate unless a copy can be proved; check with the lawyer who drew it, the will registries some countries keep, and the bank's safe custody.
Can beneficiaries demand their money early?+
Not before the debts and tax are settled. The executor's year is the customary period, and interim distributions are at the executor's discretion once the liabilities are known.
Record the part the documents cannot hold
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