The executor's document checklist for settling an estate in England and Wales

A solicitor who handles estate administration once described the first few weeks after a death as a paper excavation. The executor — often a grieving spouse or adult child — finds themselves opening drawers, ringing pension providers, and posting letters to banks they didn't know existed, all while trying to register the death and arrange a funeral. The legal process cannot begin in earnest until certain documents are assembled. In practice, those documents are almost never ready.

What follows is a working checklist for executors in England and Wales, organised in roughly the order you will need things. It is not legal advice, and where an estate is complicated — foreign assets, business interests, disputed liabilities — a probate solicitor is worth instructing early.

What you need before you apply for a Grant of Probate

The application to the Probate Registry (made through HMCTS) requires a specific set of documents, and you cannot substitute or defer them.

• The original will. Not a copy, not a photograph — the original, wet-signed document. If the deceased used a solicitor to draft the will, the firm may have stored it. If the will was home-stored, this is often the first crisis: it cannot be found, or a version is found but no one is certain it is the last one.
• The death certificate. You will need the original from the General Register Office or the registrar, and almost certainly multiple certified copies — banks, pension providers and insurers each want one and will not return it. Order at least six when you register the death.
• Inheritance Tax forms. Before the Probate Registry will issue a grant, HMRC must be satisfied about Inheritance Tax. For most straightforward estates this means completing an IHT205 (or its successor form, as HMRC has updated the process in recent years — confirm the current form at Gov.uk). For larger or more complex estates, a full IHT400 is required. Any tax due must generally be paid before probate is granted, which creates a practical problem: assets are often frozen until probate, yet tax must be paid from those same assets. Speak to the deceased's bank early about making a direct payment to HMRC.

In addition to these three anchors, you will need a clear picture of everything the estate contains and owes.

The asset and liability papers that executors spend weeks tracking down

The will tells you who inherits. The probate forms tell the court what the estate is worth. To complete those forms accurately, you need documentation for every asset and every liability.

Bank and savings accounts. Recent statements showing balances at the date of death. If the deceased held accounts at multiple institutions — which is common after decades of switching and opening ISAs — each one must be identified and contacted individually.

Investment and pension statements. Defined contribution pension funds do not automatically form part of the estate and often pass outside probate entirely, but the executor still needs to notify the scheme and request a statement of value. For defined benefit schemes, contact the scheme administrator. Share portfolios and ISAs held through brokers require up-to-date valuations; most brokers will provide these once they receive a death certificate.

Life insurance policies. Policies written in trust pass outside the estate and can be claimed directly by the beneficiary; policies not written in trust form part of the estate and must be declared. Find the original policy documents and contact the insurer to confirm which applies.

Property deeds and the Land Registry title. For registered land — the vast majority of property in England and Wales — you can download an official copy of the title register from the Land Registry for a small fee. For any property with a mortgage outstanding, you will need a redemption statement from the lender showing the balance owed at death.

Liabilities. Credit cards, personal loans, outstanding utility bills, hire purchase agreements. These reduce the net estate value and must be listed. The executor is responsible for settling them from estate funds before distributing to beneficiaries.

Business interests. If the deceased held shares in a private company, was a partner in a business, or operated as a sole trader, specialist valuation and advice will almost certainly be needed.

The pattern that emerges from this list is consistent: none of it is obscure, and all of it takes longer to assemble than anyone expects. A pension started at a previous employer in the 1990s. An old building society account converted to shares years ago. A life policy in a drawer without a trust deed. Each one requires a separate letter, a separate wait, a separate certified copy of the death certificate.

The honest answer to why families so rarely have this ready is that assembling it requires a living person to do unglamorous administrative work, and to leave behind a record that is explicitly organised for whoever comes after them. Most people do not do it. The preparation that would compress weeks of executor stress into days is, almost without exception, left undone.

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