What is a probate document and should i apply for it?

[Moojay]

My lovely Grandad passes away a few months ago. Due to family rubbish ( not him but his daughter, my mother) I didn't go to funeral, bur I said goodbye on chapel of rest, and wrote his wife a letter to pardon myself from Funeral and to just talk about my memories of him.
I have not heard anything more since, but I just had a look on that find a will pr probate thingy on direct.gov and found that his has a record of a will or probate, what does this mean? Is that a copy of his will? Is it a good idea to order it? I curious to see it, id like to know if there is any mention of me or my brothers.

[dollylucy]

You apply for probate when you want to deal with someone's affairs after they have passed.
Not sure what you are looking at but it could be that his wife has applied for probate to deal with his affairs.

You can search to see if he had a will, I think

[dollylucy]

But not the details

[MiracletoCome]

I just looked at the direct.gov page out of interest as I am waiting for the Grant of Probate for DM, it looks like when the grant is given it appears on there and thenyou can order a copy of the Grant and Will if there is one as it is then a public record.

[WandaFuca]

I've used probatesearch.service.gov.uk/ to search for wills. It's all done electronically, so after finding the right person, you enter your details, plus credit card, and then you get an email a bit later with a link to download the probate document and the will, both in pdf. You do have to register first.

The probate document shows who applied for probate and an indication of how much the estate was worth. The will, of course, shows how the deceased wished his/her estate to be distributed.

It can be quite emotionally difficult to see what's in the will, when you're part of a somewhat dysfunctional family. I went NC with my mother very many years ago, which also meant being NC with the rest of her family. I recently downloaded my parents' wills and also that of my maternal aunt. All just basic wills. I didn't get a mention, but then I didn't expect to. What was interesting, though, is that in none of those wills did my smug, superior, "golden child" sister get a mention either. Sometimes seeing what someone put in their will can be distressing; occasionally, it can be validating.

The link to download the probate and will is only available for a certain amount of time. But you could download the documents and then you can choose when you want to look at them.

[sparechange]

Sorry to derail but is it strange if a will doesn't show up on that search site?

[WandaFuca]

sparechange - I assume that's because the deceased didn't leave a will, or a will couldn't be found.

I recall a UK documentary series, some years ago, which included council officers dealing with deceased persons where there wasn't a will nor much in the way of evidence of family. From what I remember, it was the local authority who applied for probate in those cases.

If you want to investigate further, it might be worth paying for the probate, just to see who applied for it.

[sparechange]

Wanda

They definitely had a will because the family bickered over it. It won't have been a huge estate, maybe a few hundred thousand? They were survived by a spouse, would that effect it?

[MissBattleaxe]

Just to say: you don't always see amount. I think that's only if there's inheritance tax to pay. I got Probate for my late parent and the amount of the estate is not on public record, although the will is. We were under the IT threshhold which I believe is currently still about 325k?.