What is a Personal Representative?
This topic covers off the following themes:
What is a Personal Representative?
Personal Representative is the term used for the person(s) responsible for handling the affairs of someone who has died. The term includes both Executors or Administrators.
Executor
An Executor is a person who has been named in a Will to carry out the instructions of the Will and handle their estate. Up to four Executors can be named in a Will. An Executor is responsible for applying for probate.
Administrator
If the person who died did not leave a Will, a person’s Next of Kin can usually apply to be an Administrator. An Administrator’s role is the same as an Executor but they are required to follow the rules of intestacy as no wishes have been left in a Will. The process is the same as applying for probate but a Grant of Letter of Administration will be issued instead.
What are the responsibilities of a Personal Representative?
There are many responsibilities that fall to the Personal Representative(s) as they are responsible for handling the deceased’s affairs. If there was a Will, they are responsible for carrying out the wishes left in the Will. If the deceased had no Will, they must follow the rules of intestacy. Personal Representatives responsibilities can include the following tasks:
• Identifying all assets and debts
• Dealing with the property
• Submitting and paying Inheritance Tax
• Distributing inheritance to the beneficiaries.
This process is known as estate administration and a full list of what could be involved can be found here.
As well as taking on these tasks, the Executor is also responsible for maximising the value of the estate throughout the process to ensure the beneficiaries receive their rightful inheritance. This means that the Personal Representative is required to always act within the best interests of the estate.
How do I know if I'm a Personal Representative?
Executor
As an Executor is named in a Will, most people tend to tell the person or people they’ve nominated to be Executor(s) in advance. However, there are no legal requirements for the person who created the Will to inform the Executor(s). Therefore, you may not find out until the Will has been retrieved.
Administrator
If the person who died did not leave a Will, you will not know that you’re the Administrator in advance. You would have to nominate yourself if you’d like to take on the responsibility of handling their estate. You can’t officially take on the role of an Administrator until you receive Letters of Administration to prove you have the legal right to do so.
The person’s Next of Kin will usually apply to be the Administrator if they are willing to take on responsibility. This could include a spouse, civil partner or child. If those immediate family members are not available or they do not wish to take on the role, then other family members can apply. This includes the deceased’s grandchildren, surviving parents, surviving siblings, nephews and nieces, and other relatives.
I am a Personal Representative - do I have to do all the work myself?
If more than one Executor has been named in the Will, you can share the responsibility with the other Personal Representatives. If you’re the Administrator, you are the only person legally entitled to administer the estate. However, that doesn’t mean that as a Personal Representative (an Executor or Administrator) you have to do everything on your own.
You can choose to appoint a professional estate administration provider to handle the estate on your behalf or you can employ agents to carry out specific tasks (for example, estate agents).
Although you are not required to do all the work yourself, you may still retain the legal and financial responsibility. Take a look at the ‘instructing professionals to do estate administration’ section if you’d like to find out more about seeking professional help.
What if not all Personal Representatives want to be involved?
Any Executor named in a Will can choose to not take on the role if they do not want to get involved in dealing with the estate. They will be required to renounce (resign) from their responsibilities by signing a Renunciation document. Once they have renounced, they will no longer be involved in dealing with the estate and someone else will usually take on the role. This could be another Executor if there was multiple named in the Will or it could be one of the beneficiaries.
Executors may choose to renounce for several reasons including being unwell, not having the time or simply because they do not want to take on the responsibility.
If an Executor does not want to be involved in dealing with the estate, it’s advisable to renounce as soon as possible after the person has died. This is to avoid complications during the estate administration process.
Renouncing from the role of an Executor will not affect their inheritance if they are also named as a beneficiary in the Will.
Are there any risks involved in being a Personal Representative?
Personal Representatives take on the legal and financial responsibility of handling the affairs of the person who died. That responsibility comes with a number of risks. These include:
Inheritance Tax
Personal Representatives may face a fine if they make any errors or late submissions on Inheritance Tax payments.
Income Tax
Personal Representatives are required to make sure that the Income Tax position of the person who has died is finalised, up to the date of death and for the period following death until payments are made to the beneficiaries.
Incorrect distribution
If the estate is incorrectly distributed to beneficiaries, the Personal Representative(s) could be held personally liable for the mistake.
Claims (England and Wales)
If a member of the deceased’s family or a dependent believes that the Will or intestacy rules do not make reasonable financial provision for them, they may make a family provision claim. Relatives and dependents have up to six months from when the Grant of Probate or Letter of Administration was issued.
Personal Representatives are required to consider whether there is anyone who may make a claim. If you believe there is a chance that someone could make a claim, it is advisable to wait until the six-month deadline has passed before distributing the inheritance to beneficiaries.
How long is it going to take to deal with the estate?
Estate administration can be a lengthy process and will vary depending on the work involved. Every person’s estate includes different assets so it’s hard to predict how long each estate will take.
On average, it is predicted that estate administration takes around 12 months from start to finish. However, it really does depend on the makeup of the estate.
There are some aspects of the process that may slow things down including tax delays, arranging a property sale, claims and missing beneficiaries.
Tax delays
Dealing with tax affairs can cause delays – it’s undoubtedly the most complicated part of the estate administration process.
Property sale
Like with any property sale, there is a risk that you could face delays when trying to sell the deceased’s property.
Claims against the estate
There are a number of different types of claims that can delay the estate administration. These include legal disputes for or against the estate, arguments between family members, debt claims from creditors, and settling pension and benefit aspects.
Missing beneficiaries
If the location or identity of any of the people that are entitled to inherit is unknown, then a search will be required to try to locate them so they can receive their inheritance.
Foreign assets
The process may also be slowed down if there are any overseas assets to deal with. The deceased may have owned an overseas property, had shares in a company located overseas or even had a bank account in another country.
A full list of what tasks could be involved can be found in the ‘estate administration’ section.