Executor of a will: duties, timeline and what you can delegate

This guide sets out what the job involves, roughly when each part happens, what you are personally responsible for, and which parts you can hand to someone else.

What an executor of a will actually does

The executor is legally responsible for administering the estate from the date of death until the final penny is distributed. The core duties are consistent whatever the size of the estate.

Register the death and obtain death certificates. You cannot do anything with banks, pensions or property until the death is registered and you have certified copies. Order several at once, as most institutions want to see one. Certified copies cost £12.50 each in England and Wales. Our guide on how many death certificates you need covers how many to order.

Secure the assets. Make sure the property is insured and locked, vehicles are covered, and valuables are safe. If the deceased lived alone, tell the home insurer that the property is now unoccupied, because standard cover often lapses after 30 to 60 days empty.

Identify and value everything. This means every bank account, savings account, pension, ISA, premium bond, shareholding, property, vehicle and personal possession, minus every debt. This valuation decides whether the estate owes inheritance tax and whether you need probate at all. See how to value an estate for probate.

Apply for the grant of probate. The grant is the court document that proves you have the authority to deal with the estate. Banks and the Land Registry will ask for it before they release money or transfer property above their limits.

Pay debts and inheritance tax. Debts are paid from the estate before beneficiaries receive anything. Inheritance tax, where due, must usually be paid before the grant is issued.

Distribute the estate. Once debts and tax are settled, you pay the beneficiaries what the will leaves them and keep a clear record of what went where.

The executor's timeline: what happens and when

There is no fixed length for administering an estate. A simple estate with one property and a few accounts can be settled in six to nine months. An estate with a business, foreign assets or a dispute can run well beyond a year. The sequence, though, is predictable.

The first two weeks

Register the death, arrange the funeral, and locate the will and any letter of wishes. Tell the main organisations. The government's Tell Us Once service notifies most government departments in one step, but it does not cover banks, pensions or private companies, so you still contact those yourself.

The first two months

Build the full picture of the estate. Write to every bank, pension provider and creditor for date-of-death balances. Value the property, usually with two or three estate agent valuations or a formal RICS valuation for larger estates. Find any accounts the deceased may have forgotten using the free My Lost Account service and the Pension Tracing Service.

Months two to six

Report to HMRC and pay any inheritance tax. Apply for the grant of probate. The probate application fee in England and Wales is £526 from July 2026, with no fee for estates valued at £5,000 or less. Extra sealed copies of the grant cost £1.50 each when you apply, and ordering several saves time later because you can send them to different institutions at once. Once the grant arrives, collect in the assets: close accounts, sell or transfer the property, and cash in investments.

Months six to twelve

Settle the final bills, prepare estate accounts showing every sum in and out, and distribute the estate to the beneficiaries. Most executors distribute after the six-month point to allow time for any claims against the estate.

For a fuller breakdown of the wait at each stage, including current Probate Registry processing times, read how long does probate take.

What is the executor's year?

The executor's year is the convention that an executor has twelve months from the date of death to administer the estate before beneficiaries can reasonably demand their inheritance. It is not a deadline for finishing, and it is not a rule that you must wait a year. It means a beneficiary cannot force a distribution or charge you interest for late payment inside the first twelve months. If the estate is straightforward, you can and should move faster.

What an executor is personally liable for

An executor is personally liable for mistakes in administering the estate, and that liability can mean paying money out of your own pocket. This is the part most people do not expect.

If you distribute the estate and a creditor then appears with a valid debt, you can be pursued for it personally. If you pay the wrong beneficiary, undervalue an asset for inheritance tax, or miss a debt, HMRC or the correct beneficiary can come to you. Two steps reduce this risk. First, place a deceased estates notice in The Gazette and a local newspaper, which gives creditors two months to come forward and protects you against unknown debts after that. Second, search properly for assets and liabilities before you distribute, so nothing surfaces later.

Keep every receipt, valuation and bank statement. The estate accounts are your evidence that you administered the estate correctly.

Can you refuse to be an executor?

Yes. Being named in a will does not force you to act. You have three options if you do not want the job.

You can renounce, which means stepping back completely before you have started dealing with the estate. You sign a deed of renunciation and take no further part. You cannot renounce once you have begun acting, known as intermeddling, so decide early.

You can have power reserved, which means a co-executor handles the estate now while you keep the right to step in later if needed. This is common where one executor lives abroad or is unwell.

You can appoint an attorney to act on your behalf, or instruct a solicitor to do the work while you remain the executor of record.

If everyone named renounces, or there is no will, someone applies for letters of administration instead and becomes the administrator. The duties are the same. Where there is no will at all, the intestacy rules decide who inherits.

How many executors can there be?

A will can name any number of executors, but a maximum of four can apply for the grant of probate and be named on it. Where a will names more than four, the first four to apply act, and the others can have power reserved. Where the estate includes property held in trust or minor beneficiaries, at least two executors are usually needed.

Executors act jointly. Decisions and signatures generally need all acting executors to agree, which is worth knowing before you accept the role alongside someone you may disagree with.

What documents do you need as an executor?

You need the original will, several certified copies of the death certificate, and, once issued, the grant of probate. Alongside these you build a file of date-of-death statements from every bank, pension provider and creditor, plus valuations for the property and any significant possessions.

Find the original will first, because a photocopy is not enough to apply for probate. Check the deceased's home, their solicitor, their bank, and the National Will Register. The will names you, sets out the gifts, and may include a letter of wishes that is not legally binding but explains what the person wanted. If the will is missing or was never made, you cannot act as executor, and the estate is dealt with under the intestacy rules instead.

Do executors get paid?

A lay executor, meaning a family member or friend, is not paid for the time they spend, but they are entitled to reclaim reasonable expenses from the estate. Postage, probate fees, travel, property insurance and valuation costs all come back to you from the estate, so keep the receipts.

A professional executor, such as a solicitor or a bank named in the will, does charge, and their fees are paid from the estate. Where a will names a professional executor you do not want to use, you can sometimes ask them to step aside, though a bank named as executor can be difficult to remove. Check who the will names before you assume the job is yours alone.

When you might not need probate

You may not need probate at all if the estate is small and simple. Where the deceased owned no property in their sole name and every account sits below the bank's release threshold, the banks can pay out on a signed indemnity and a death certificate, with no grant required. Thresholds vary by bank, from around £5,000 to £50,000.

You will almost always need probate where the deceased owned a property in their sole name, held a large sum with a single institution, or the estate owes inheritance tax. If you are unsure, ask each institution what it requires before you apply, because the answer decides whether the grant is worth the fee and the wait.

What you can delegate, and what you cannot

You remain legally responsible as executor, but you do not have to do every task yourself. Knowing what to hand over is the difference between an estate that takes six months and one that swallows your evenings for a year.

The grant application and legal work can go to a probate solicitor or a specialist probate service, particularly where inheritance tax is due, the estate includes a business or foreign assets, or the will is being contested. You pay for this from the estate, not personally.

Property and asset valuations can go to an estate agent or an RICS surveyor for property, and to a specialist valuer for antiques, jewellery or shares. A formal valuation also protects you if HMRC later questions the figures.

The account discovery and notification work, which is the most time-consuming part and the least skilled, can be handled centrally rather than provider by provider. Writing to twenty or thirty banks, pension providers, utilities and subscription services, each with its own bereavement form and its own call queue, is where weeks disappear. This is exactly the part Legacy Trail takes off your hands.

What you cannot delegate is the responsibility itself. You sign the estate accounts, you make the final decisions, and you carry the liability. Delegation reduces the workload. It does not remove your name from the role.

Legacy Trail finds the accounts and services the deceased held and notifies them centrally, so you avoid weeks of tracking down providers and repeating the same details to each one.