When someone dies
The order things have to happen in, when nobody feels like working it out.
Ends with: Knowing what has to happen first, and what can wait.
People arrive at this page in a state where sequence is exactly what they need and nobody has given them one. There is a great deal of advice about grief and very little about which form goes where, in what order, and what can safely wait until next week.
So the first thing this pathway says is the most useful: almost nothing is urgent in the first few days except telling the bank. Accounts in the deceased person's sole name are frozen, joint accounts behave differently, and many banks will release money for funeral costs before probate is granted. Beyond that, the estate is not going anywhere and neither are the deadlines. If you take a fortnight before opening any of it, nothing is lost.
After that the order is genuinely fixed by the process rather than by preference. Whether probate is required depends on the size and shape of the estate, and until it is granted very little can be distributed. The executor's work comes next: locating assets, notifying creditors, paying debts, filing a final tax return, and only then distributing what remains. It carries real legal duties, an executor can be personally liable for getting it wrong, and it almost always takes longer than anyone expects.
Then distribution, which follows the will where there is one and the intestacy rules where there is not. Those rules give set shares in a set order and frequently do not match what the person would have wanted, which is the strongest argument there is for writing a will.
The last two steps are for anyone reading this before it happens rather than after, which is by far the best time to read it. Doing your own estate planning is the step that spares somebody else this entire pathway.
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Telling the bank
The first practical step. Accounts are frozen, joint accounts behave differently, and some banks will release funeral costs before probate.
Work out your own: Funeral Cost Calculator 8 min read -
Whether probate is needed
Below a threshold an estate can often be dealt with without it. Above that, almost nothing can be distributed until probate is granted.
Work out your own: Estate Value Calculator 9 min read -
What an executor actually does
Locate assets, pay debts, file final tax, then distribute. It carries legal duties and personal liability, and it usually takes longer than anyone expects.
10 min read -
How an estate is divided
With a will, as the will says, subject to claims. Without one, the intestacy rules decide, and they may not match what anyone expected.
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If it was your partner
Jointly owned property, the surviving partner pension, and the accounts that were only ever in one name. The practical list nobody hands you.
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The accounts nobody thinks about
Photos, subscriptions, cloud storage and anything with a login. A will reaches none of it unless somebody wrote the details down.
7 min read -
Doing this for yourself
If you are reading this before it happens, this is the step that spares somebody else the whole pathway.
Work out your own: Estate Value Calculator 8 min read -
Your will and your EPA
The enduring power of attorney matters sooner than the will, because it is what lets someone act for you while you are still alive.
9 min read
When to stop and get someone else
An estate lawyer is worth engaging early if there is property, a trust, a business or any disagreement between beneficiaries. Being an executor carries real legal duties and you can be personally liable for getting it wrong, so it is not a role to accept casually or to carry alone.
This pathway is information, not financial advice. Rates, thresholds and rules change; every guide carries the date it was last reviewed.
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