Assisting Your Executors - A Solicitor's Guide

Experienced probate solicitors understand that whilst being an executor can be a demanding and time consuming job at the best of times, the role can be made all the more difficult if you do not give proper thought to the problems your executors will face.

There are steps you can take to make sure your executors are able to administer your estate as efficiently as possible. You may want to consider the following suggestions:

1. Keep a list of all your investments, bank accounts, premium bonds, insurances, pensions and other allowances, shareholdings and other valuables. Keep a copy at home in a safe place, and ask your solicitor to put a copy with your will. Update this periodically.

2. Include details of your buildings and contents insurance on this list. It is important your executors notify them of what has happened and agree with them arrangements for visiting the property etc if it is empty. Make sure your executors know the code to your security alarm, if relevant.

3. If you have particular funeral wishes, make sure your executors are aware of these. You can leave a memo with your will that includes these. Being faced with having to arrange a funeral when you do not know what the person's wishes were is very stressful.

4. If you move home, make sure you inform both your solicitor and executors. It sounds obvious but in the stress of the move, many people forget!

5. Make sure details of any "free insurance - often provided with bank accounts - are kept.

6. Keep all original documents, such as share certificates, passbooks, bank statements, insurance policy documents - together and in a secure place such as a safe and make sure that your executors know where this is and any access codes/the location of any keys.

7. Contemplate including any pension death benefits or life assurances in a Trust so that payouts are made directly to the beneficiaries under the will, rather than into the estate. This can mean your beneficiaries pay reduced inheritance taxes, whilst releasing cash for them sooner.

8. Register any title to land you own with the land registry if this has not already been done - this may facilitate a subsequent transfer.

9. Keep your will in a safe place - many solicitors will store your will for you in a safe facility free of charge. Take care to inform your executors of the location of your original will.

10. Make sure your executors know the name and contact details of your solicitor, so they can get help and advice if they need it.

11. To ensure that your executors can claim all available inheritance allowances on your death, if relevant keep a copy of your birth and death certificate with your will and, if relevant, those of your spouse together with a copy of your marriage certificate.

Applying for and attaining probate after the death of a relative or friend can be emotionally difficult as well as a complicated procedure. Most probate solicitors can you handle probate - alternatively when preparing your will, you may prefer to appoint your trusted solicitor as a professional executor on your behalf.