Here at Affinion Probate we specialise in providing low cost high quality probate services to hundreds of satisfied customers each year.
However, we do offer much more than just a Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration as we understand that everyone who needs probate have their own unique requirements as to exactly what kind of and how much help and support they need. Therefore, providing a choice of services to our customers is very important to us.
In this blog we are going to take a look at the other services we provide.
As well as our market leading Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration services we also provide what is referred to as ‘End to End Probate and full Estate Administration’. This service comprises of not just obtaining the grant of probate but also completing all of the required estate administration tasks on their behalf as well. This includes writing to all of the asset holders and gathering in the assets of the estate, paying any debts or liabilities against the estate, posting legal notices in local papers to ensure no monies are owed from the estate to unknown third parties, distributing the remainder of the estate to the beneficiaries and preparing the estate accounts. This service provides total coverage on behalf of the customer allowing them to be released from some of the burdens and responsibilities of obtaining the probate and dealing with the administration of the estate.
Approximately seventy per cent of estates requiring probate have a property and these must be either sold or transferred to the ownership of the beneficiaries. We can arrange for the transfer of ownership from the sole name of the deceased into the names of the beneficiaries or from a jointly held property into the name of the surviving joint owner. Where a property is going to be sold we provide services for marketing the property with top performing local estate agents, arranging viewings and agreeing the sale price right through to the legal conveyancing work required. We also provide a service for the valuation of properties for probate purposes that satisfy HMRC requirements.
Where the personal representatives of an estate wish to protect themselves from any liabilities against claims from creditors of the deceased’s estate we can post ‘Statutory Notices’ in the London Gazette (which the legal industry refer to) and the local newspaper where the deceased lived. These notices advertise the intention to distribute the estate in accordance with the wishes set out in the Will or by the Rules of intestacy where there is no Will. Any interested parties have a maximum of two months to come forward with any claims they think they may have, after this time period they cannot raise a claim.
Dealing with probate can be difficult enough and when you add to that the emotional strain of dealing the loss of a loved one, the more help and support that is available the better. We help many of our customers not only with probate and the other services we have discussed but also by providing a notification service to inform banks, building societies, utility providers and insurance companies about the bereavement on the customer’s behalf. In addition we can also stop unwanted junk mail being sent to the deceased person’s address which can be distressing. We provide this service free of charge and within 2-3 months of registering, sales and marketing letters will stop.
So as you can see Affinion Probate help customers not only with the legal and tax elements of obtaining probate but also across every step of the way when dealing with a recent bereavement.