Grant of Probate Guide

Grant of Probate

When a person makes a Will they appoint an Executor to administer their estate when they die. The Executor will have power to sell, encash or transfer assets belonging to the person who has died (the Testator) and to pay funeral expenses, debts and liabilities of the Testator. Generally speaking, if the Testator leaves assets worth more than £5,000 these will be released to the Executor on sight of a Grant of Probate. This is an Order of the High Court of Justice and confirms the authority of the Executor to administer the Testator’s property in England and Wales.

Grant of Letters of Administration With Will Annexed

A person (the Testator) may have made a valid Will but failed to appoint an Executor. The Executor may have died before the Testator or be unable to act due to ill health, old age or lack of mental capacity. He may decide he does not want to act and will renounce his office. A simplified order of priority of those people who are entitled to take out a Grant of Letters of Administration with Will annexed is set out below.

  • A person who holds a residuary gift in the Will on trust for someone else e.g. where the Will contains a gift of the remainder of the Testator’s estate to A and B in trust for C and D, then A and B will have first priority to the Grant.
  • Any other residuary beneficiary e.g. any person who is entitled to a share in the remainder of the Testator’s estate.
  • The personal representative of anyone in (2) above e.g. if the Testator left his estate to X who survived the Testator but died before taking out the Grant, then his personal representative could do this in his place.
  • A person who was left a gift in the Will e.g. a gift of money or a property.
  • The personal representative of anyone in (4) above

The Grant which is extracted will confer authority on the person to act in the administration of the Testator’s estate.


Grant of Letters of Administration

A person (the Intestate) may die without leaving a Will. The order of priority of entitlement to the Grant of Letters of Administration is the same as the order of entitlement to benefit from the Intestate’s estate.

  1. A spouse/civil partner
  2. Issue (i.e.children or remoter lineal descendants)
  3. Parent(s)
  4. Brother(s) or sister(s) of the whole blood or their issue
  5. Brother(s) or sister(s) of the half blood or their issue
  6. Grandparent(s)
  7. Uncle(s) or aunt(s) of the whole blood or their issue
  8. Uncle(s) or aunt(s) of the half blood or their issue
  9. The Crown, (The Treasury Solicitor)

The Grant which is extracted will confer authority on the person to act in the administration of the Testator’s estate.

Re-Sealing a Grant in the UK

Sometimes people living in a country outside the United Kingdom die leaving assets in the United Kingdom. A grant is taken out in that country and it can then be re-sealed by a Probate Registry in England and Wales thereby constituting the Grantee the representative of the deceased’s estate in England and Wales so the assets can be distributed. Only Grants issued in the territories to which the Colonial Probates Acts apply may be resealed in the United Kingdom and reciprocal arrangements enable Grants issued in England and Wales to be resealed in the same countries.