Over the years, one of the things that has surprised my friends the most about the fact I’m a solicitor is that I’m often no help with the majority of the legal questions they have.

That is not because I want to be difficult and I’m always happy to help out my friends and family as best I can or at least point them in the right direction, it is often that their questions do not relate to an area of law I have any expertise in – more often than not involving a lease, a contract or an employment issue.

When I do tell them my area of specialism, I often find that the answer I give is often followed by another question. I deal with Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Estate Planning, Trusts and…Probate. “What is Probate?”

Thankfully, this is a question I am able to answer for them.

If you have lost a loved one this may be a phrase you keep coming across and have no idea what it means. “What is Probate?” If you google Probate, you may be met with the explanation that it is the judicial process whereby a will is “proved” in a court and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased.” That’s clarified things for you…right?

Trying to put that a little more simply for you, the Grant of Probate is a document, provided by the Probate Registry, to give the executor named in a Will the legal authority to administer and distribute the estate assets.

Sadly, the questions don’t always stop there and you may come across others like ; “Do I need Probate?”; “What needs to go through Probate?”; “Who applies for Probate?”; “How do I get Probate?”; “What if there is no Will?”; and the list can go on and on.

When you have lost someone close to you, the last thing you would want is to be bombarded with questions about what you can do, what you can’t do or what you have to do. At FJG, I and my colleagues have extensive experience of dealing with estate of all shapes and sizes and we can help you through the process of getting answers to some of the questions you have. We want to ensure that getting expertise to help you at what could be a challenging enough time should be accessible to all.

 

Should you wish to start getting answers to the questions you keep coming up against regarding Probate and wish to discuss how we can help in more detail please contact us on 01206 835261 or via email [email protected] for further information.