If you have been appointed as an Executor under a Will, or an Administrator if the person passed away without a Will (an Administrator is also known as a Personal Representative), the expenses involved can be something to cause you concern. In this blog, I explain what expenses can be claimed back from the estate.
The first thing the Executor will be responsible for organising will be the funeral, and often this will be at a great cost. However, even if the deceased’s bank account has been frozen, it is possible for the funeral invoice to be paid directly from their bank account. You can do this by providing the bank with a death certificate and a copy of the funeral account and asking them to pay it directly.
An Executor can claim back from the estate reasonable out of pocket expenses, for example: –
- The cost of Death Certificates
- Travel Expenses
- Probate Registry Fees
- Postage Costs
- House Insurance Costs
- Property Maintenance
- Costs associated with selling a probate property such as clearance costs
- Valuation Fees
There is no conclusive list of expenses as each estate will be unique in its requirements to the next. Therefore, it is important that as an Executor you keep a precise record of all expenses recouped from the estate so that you can produce a record to the Beneficiaries at the end of the administration period.
If the estate is due to pay Inheritance Tax to HM Revenue and Customs, this needs to be paid at the end of the sixth month from the month the person passed away, before interest is added. This can also be a big worry for an Executor. However, as like the funeral account, the Inheritance Tax can be paid directly from the deceased’s own bank account if there is money in there available.
If you have recently been appointed as an Executor in an estate and need some initial guidance, please contact our Private Client Team at the Colchester office on 01206 577676 to ask about our free initial advice for Executors (T&C’s apply). Any email enquiries can be sent to [email protected].