Someone has died,
what do I do?
Someone has died,
what do I do?
Someone has died,
what do I do?
Step 10 - Distributing the Estate
Distributing the Estate
As the administration comes to an end, it is worth running through the list below to check that everything has been completed:
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Did you notify all of the utilities when the house was sold / transferred and all the balances paid or refunded?
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Have you paid all of the Debts and Expenses?
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Have you recognised and collected in all of the Assets?
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Are all of the Assets now sold or transferred to the beneficiaries?
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Have you got clearance from HMRC for Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax (where applicable and Inheritance Tax?
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Are you happy you have identified all of the beneficiaries, you have their ID and you have carried out Bankruptcy searches?
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Have all of the beneficiaries and personal representatives approved the accounts?
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Have you waited 6 months from the date of death before distributing the estate?
Income Tax Certificates
You will have realised that the money the beneficiaries have received will be made up of capital, cash, actual assets etc. and some of it will be income, bank account interest, share dividends etc. It is important to let the beneficiaries know the details of the income so that they can disclose this in their own Tax Return. You do this by issuing a R185, Certificate of deduction of income tax form, to each of the residuary beneficiaries.
Helping the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries will have inherited, what might be a life changing amount of money, and as such they may require advice on how to invest their Inheritance. Many asset management companies or Independent Financial Advisers can help with this and you may find that the beneficiary already has someone in mind. If they do not we can point them in the right direction and refer them to one of our carefully selected partners. Contact us for more information.
Final Administration Tasks
To finish the administration there are a couple of small tasks that need to be completed, detailed below:
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Make sure you have all of the receipts from the beneficiaries.
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Close the Executor bank account – make sure there are no funds remaining before closing this.
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Tidy up your files and make sure all of your worksheets are complete and up-to-date. You need to keep all of the information for 12 years and you may find that you need to refer back to this from time to time.