What to do when someone close to you dies

The loss of somebody close to you can be a very upsetting time.

In addition to dealing with the personal and emotional effects of the loss, there is a wide range of practical matters that may need to be dealt with. This can be time-consuming and confusing without specialist knowledge.

The main areas to consider are;

1. Registering the death and organising the funeral.

2. Informing relevant parties, such as the deceased person's pension or benefits providers and the Inland Revenue.

3. The administration of the estate which broadly means identifying all assets and liabilities of the deceased, dealing with them as appropriate and distributing the balance in accordance with the will or if there is no will the Intestacy rules.

It is the handling of the administration of the estate of a deceased person that causes concern and difficulty. What is required depends on the individual's circumstances. This can range from just closing one or two accounts and informing a small number of interested parties without the need for obtaining a Grant of Probate through to dealing with a wide variety of investments, property, pensions and taxation and all the requirements and formalities associated with these.

Barker Son & Isherwood has a friendly specialist team who offers a variety of services that can be tailored to the particular circumstances and the requirements of those left behind. To assist this they are now running a Probate Clinic every Monday morning, offering a free 15-minute appointment to give initial advice on what action is necessary and to explore whether any professional help would be beneficial and the likely cost of this.  

For more information, please contact Tom Pettman on 01264 325 821 or send an email to tpettman@bsandi.co.uk.