Probate: Grants, Administration and Common Traps
What the exam expects
Probate questions test the machinery of administering a deceased person's estate. You must know when a grant of probate (with a will) or letters of administration (intestacy or no valid executor) is needed, who has priority to apply, and the difference between a grant of representation and the office of personal representative. Understand the executor's chain of title: an executor derives title from the will, while an administrator derives title from the grant. Learn the order of application in intestacy under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 as amended, and the statutory legacy rules. Know that the personal representative must pay funeral and testamentary expenses, debts and liabilities before distributing, and that the six-month period from the grant is significant for creditor claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Traps to watch
Questions frequently confuse the executor's power to act before the grant with the administrator's lack of it. Another trap is the difference between a grant of probate and a grant of letters of administration with the will annexed, and the priority between applicants. Watch for questions on the surviving spouse's statutory legacy and the treatment of jointly owned property, which passes outside the estate by survivorship. Do not assume a will is invalid merely because it is unwitnessed in the wrong way; check the Wills Act 1837 formalities.
Worked example
A person dies intestate leaving a spouse and two children and an estate of £500,000. The spouse takes the statutory legacy, personal chattels and half the residue, with the children sharing the other half. Rule of thumb: identify the beneficiaries, apply the statutory order, then check whether the estate exceeds the legacy threshold before splitting the residue.