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Yes, absolutely.

If you are the executor or administrator of the estate, you are free to deal with matters yourself. You may have to instruct third parties to deal with reserved activities, such as conveyancing if there is a property in the estate to sell or transfer, but otherwise you can do all of it yourself.

The government have made it much easier for lay executors/administrators to deal with a deceased estate themselves by launching an online probate application system on the HMCTS portal.

But, dealing with a deceased estate can be akin to a full-time job, especially if it is a complex estate.

There are a lot of things to do and get right, which can be daunting if you have never done it before and are not familiar with the forms and requirements. Also, if certain steps are not taken an executor can be held personally responsible for certain claims on the estate.

So, unless you are confident about the procedure, I would encourage you to consider instructing a service provider.  At the very least, you should make enquiries and get cost estimates so that you can weigh up if the financial cost of instructing someone else to do the leg work will save you in time and headaches.

To find out more about dealing with probate yourself,  please do get in touch with our expert team.  You can contact us or visit us at Dalston, Dumfries, Penrith or Workington.