1. How to Execute Your Will?

2. What to do When Someone Dies?

• Registering the Death?
• Administration of The Estate?

HOW TO EXECUTE YOUR WILL

To Be Legally Binding Your Will Must Be Signed And Witnessed In The Following Manner:

1. Before you sign
   
   
• Read through the Will which you should be able to understand fully, because it is written in plain English  

• Make sure that this Will reflects your instructions and intentions.  Only sign if it does.  Please contact Family Wills if you have any queries.

2. Your Witness
   
   
• You must have at least two witnesses 

• Neither witness nor his/her spouse should be a beneficiary under your Will (i.e. due to receive a gift)

• Neither witness nor his/her spouse should be named as an Executor, Trustee or Guardian under your Will. 

3. Attestation (signing)
   
   
• You should sign your Will in the presence of both witnesses, who should both see you sign.  You should tell your witnesses that you have read and understood the contents of your Will.

• Both witnesses should then sign in your presence, adding their addresses and the date below their signature. 

• The witnesses do not need to read or know the contents of your Will.

If a correction has been made on a page, you should initial it in ink alongside in the margin where indicated, in the joint presence of the two witnesses. Then each witness should initial it in your presence.

WARNING: Do not make any subsequent alterations or additions to your Will or Codicil.  Do not pin, staple, paperclip or in any other way attach anything to your Will or Codicil.

WHAT TO DO WHEN SOMEONE DIES

 It is a difficult time when someone dies with many things to do.

• Immediate action
• Registering the Death
• Administering the Estate

IMMEDIATE ACTION

• Did the Death take place at home?
• Did the Death take place in hospital?

At Home: please contact the following people;

1. the family Doctor
2. the nearest relative
3. a Funeral Director, a list of local recommended Funeral Directors are shown in the links section of this website.
4. the police only if you feel that the circumstance s of the death were  unusual.

IMPORTANT – do not move anything in the room and ensure that any medicines/ pills that the deceased has been taking are available.

 A Coroner may be called by the Doctor if they are unsure of the cause of death.  A post-mortem may then be arranged.

Hospital/Care Home:  please contact the following people;

1. the Hospital regarding funeral arrangements
2. the Doctor at the Hospital regarding organ donation , if applicable
3. a Funeral Director

REGISTERING THE DEATH

Where do I go?

When someone dies in England or Wales the death needs to be registered within 5 days at the register office for the district in which it happened. You can go to a different office if it is more convenient, but the process will take a day or two longer because the registrar will need to forward your information to the original district where the registrar will issue and send out the death certificate and other paperwork. Doing things this way may mean a slight delay to the funeral, since it is not possible for a burial or cremation to take place until after the registrar has issued the necessary paperwork.

Register office opening hours vary from one district to another and most operate an appointment system.

To find details of your local or other register office, visit the appropriate county council (or London or Metropolitan borough) website. Alternatively, addresses and phone numbers for local register offices can be found in the local area phone book.
You should allow about half an hour to complete the registration process.

What documents do I need?

You just need the medical certificate of cause of death which was issued by the doctor treating the person who has died. The registrar will need to refer to it when making the registration. If possible, you should also take the deceased’s NHS medical card.
If the death has been reported to the coroner, the registrar will need additional documentation from him or her before the death can be registered.

What information will I be asked for?

The registrar will ask you for the following details:

• date and place of death
• name and surname of the deceased
• maiden surname, if the deceased was a woman who had married
• date and place of birth
• occupation
• name and occupation of spouse, where the deceased was married or widowed
• name and occupation of civil partner, where the deceased was in a civil partnership or was a surviving civil partner
• usual address
• whether the deceased received a pension or allowance from public funds
• if the deceased was married or in a civil partnership, the date of birth of the surviving spouse or civil partner

You will not be asked about the cause of death, as the registrar will take this information from the doctor’s medical certificate.
It is vital that all the information recorded in the death register is completely correct as mistakes can take quite a bit of time and trouble to put right. This is why the person registering the death should check the information very carefully before signing the entry.

Who should register?

If the person died in a house or hospital, the death can be registered by:

• a relative
• someone present at the death
• an occupant of the house/official from the hospital, if that is where the death occurred
• the person making the arrangements with the funeral directors

Deaths taking place anywhere else can be registered by:

• a relative
• someone present at the death
• the person who found the body
• the person in charge of the body
• the person making the arrangements with the funeral directors

The majority of deaths are registered by a relative of the deceased. The registrar would normally allow one of the other people listed above to register the death only if there are no relatives available to do it.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE ESTATE

Please contact our free probate helpline on 0845 126 0891.  They will guide you all that they can over the phone. 

• It may not be necessary to obtain a grant where a home is held in joint names and is passing by survivorship to the other joint owner.
• Where a joint bank or building society account is held, production of a death certificate may be sufficient for the monies to be transferred to the joint holder.
• Certain institutions may release monies without a grant being produced if the amount held by the deceased was small. Apply to the institutions to see if they will release monies without a grant.

If the gross value of the total estate is less than £5,000 (England, Wales & Northern Ireland) or £25,000 before debts (Scotland) it is called a "small estate" and can be distributed without a Grant of Probate or Confirmation of the Estate. However, where there are shares or a home in the deceased name, grant of probate will be required.