What Happens After Probate Is Granted?

Once the Grant of Probate (or Grant of Letters of Administration) arrives, the executor’s job shifts from applying for authority to actually using it: registering the grant with every bank, pension provider and the Land Registry, collecting in the estate’s assets, paying off debts and tax, and only then distributing what is left to the beneficiaries. The whole process typically takes a further three to nine months after the grant, depending on how many assets and properties are involved.

Written by Simon Jenkins, Curtis Legal LLP (Firm SRA No. 450129, Simon Jenkins SRA No. 167489). Call us on 0800 214 216 for a same-day callback.

Registering the grant with asset holders

The first practical step is sending a certified copy of the grant to every organisation that held an asset in the deceased’s name: banks and building societies, pension providers, investment platforms, insurance companies, and HMRC. Most institutions will have placed a hold on the account as soon as they were notified of the death, and the grant is what unlocks that hold, allowing the executor to close accounts and move the proceeds into the estate account. Each organisation has its own process and turnaround time, so it is worth writing to all of them in the same week to avoid the administration dragging on longer than necessary.

Dealing with property

Transferring or selling the house

Where the deceased owned a property, the executor must register the grant with HM Land Registry to update the legal ownership before the property can be sold or transferred to a beneficiary. If the house is being sold rather than kept within the family, many of the same considerations around selling a house during probate apply as in any other sale, including getting the property on the market promptly, instructing a conveyancing solicitor, and keeping beneficiaries updated on offers and progress. If a beneficiary is instead inheriting the property outright, the executor arranges an assent, transferring legal title directly into that beneficiary’s name once debts and tax are settled.

Valuing and insuring the property

An empty property should remain insured throughout the administration period, since standard home insurance often lapses or changes terms once a property is unoccupied. Executors should also check that the valuation used for probate and inheritance tax purposes still reflects the property’s condition if there has been a long gap between death and sale.

Settling debts and final tax

Before any money reaches the beneficiaries, the executor must use estate funds to pay off the deceased’s outstanding debts, from credit cards and utility bills to any outstanding mortgage, and to settle any remaining HMRC liabilities, including income tax for the period before death and any further inheritance tax instalments. Dealing with the deceased’s debts correctly and in the right order matters, because certain debts take priority over others if the estate turns out to be insolvent, and an executor who pays the wrong creditor first, or distributes to beneficiaries before debts are cleared, can be made personally liable to repay the shortfall.

Why executors wait before distributing

Even once debts appear to be settled, experienced executors wait at least ten months from the date of the grant before making final distributions. This is because of the protection offered by a Section 27 notice under the Trustee Act 1925, published in The Gazette and a local newspaper, which gives unknown creditors a two-month window to come forward. If an executor distributes the estate before that window closes and an unknown creditor later surfaces, the executor can be personally liable for the debt, even though the beneficiaries have already spent the money. Waiting out this period, while frustrating for beneficiaries keen to receive their inheritance, is one of the most important protections an executor has.

Preparing estate accounts

Before distributing anything, the executor should prepare a full set of estate accounts showing everything that came into the estate (cash, property proceeds, investments), everything that went out (debts, funeral costs, professional fees, tax), and the final balance available for distribution. These accounts do not need to be lodged anywhere, but every beneficiary is entitled to see them, and having clear, itemised accounts is the best protection against a later dispute or a beneficiary querying where the money went.

Distributing to beneficiaries

Once debts, tax, and the creditor notice period are all dealt with, the executor transfers specific gifts (named items or sums) first, then divides the remaining residuary estate among the beneficiaries entitled to it, usually by bank transfer against a signed receipt and discharge form. For estates involving trusts, such as for a beneficiary who is a minor, this final step may instead mean setting up a trust structure rather than paying out directly.

Realistic timescales

Having applied for the grant itself (a process covered in detail in our guide on how to apply for a Grant of Probate), most straightforward estates take a further three to six months to collect in assets, settle debts, and distribute, once the ten-month creditor-notice period is factored in. Estates involving a property sale, inheritance tax instalments, or disputes between beneficiaries commonly take nine to twelve months or longer from the date the grant is issued.