Old letters and papers scattered across a dusty wooden table beside a small bottle, in dim light.
Keepsake

Help for executors, from the first phone call to the last letter

Three probate specialists who will take on the whole estate or only the parts you would rather not do. A fixed fee for each part, written down, and nobody hurrying you.

See what we can take on
A sepia portrait of a woman in a dark bonnet and high-collared coat. An old black and white photograph of a large family posing outside a house. Old photographs, cards and a book spread on a dark wooden table. A sepia portrait of a small child in a knitted hat. The worn edges of an old handwritten ledger. Wooden pigeonholes stuffed with old papers and open books.

Most executors have never done this before, at any age

Usually a son or daughter, sometimes a friend, often with a job and a family of their own. You do not need to know anything to start. You need a death certificate and a kettle.

An older woman in a red cardigan sitting in an armchair in a room with dark wooden furniture.
Executor for her sister house, pension, two bank accounts
A very old woman with white hair and glasses smiling in a brown leather armchair.
Executor at ninety-one we do the running about
A smiling older woman with short blonde hair and a pink cardigan in a bright living room.
A widow as executor we do the forms; she decides
An older woman in a patterned blouse sitting on the edge of a bed, seen from the shoulder.
Executor for a cousin abroad with a notary where the house is
A stone and brick house with white windows and tall chimneys behind a garden wall and a bare tree.

What we can take on

Choose one part or all of them. Each has a fixed fee; the total is never a percentage of the estate.

The grant of probate and the tax forms£1,450

Closing bank accounts and pensions£95 each

Selling or transferring the house£1,200

The final accounts and paying everyone£650

Clearing the house, kindlyquoted after a visit

Before you start

An old wooden desk with an open book and a pen lying across it.

Don't pay the debts yet

Not even the small ones, and not from your own pocket. Bills are paid from the estate once we know what is in it.

Funeral costs are the one exception; banks will usually release money for those.

A dusty old desk by a window with an open book and a glass bottle on it.

Don't give things away

However clearly you remember what she wanted. Until probate, nothing belongs to anyone yet — including the car.

Write a list of what was promised; we will make sure it is honoured.

A quill pen in an ink bottle on a dark desk beside old papers.

Don't throw paper out

Old bank letters, share certificates, premium bonds in a biscuit tin. Bag everything and bring it; we will sort it.

About one estate in five has money in it that nobody knew about.

A black and white photograph of an older man carrying a small child. An old office with typewriters on wooden desks, filing cabinets and red curtains.