DP is executor of his dad's will and he wants me to deal with it. Where do I start?

[MrsSeanSlater]

Hi dad died a couple of weeks ago, leaving a will which leaves everything to his children and grandchildren. DP is so busy at work that he wants me to start getting the inheritance sorted out. Where do I start? Do we need to appoint a lawyer or is this something we can do ourselves?
One of you lovely ladies must have some experience of this
TIA

There's no house to sell but there are shares and investments to cash in.

Are there any claims on the estate (creditors)

Check that the shares are able to be sold or if all parties are agreeable for them to be kept on.

Thanks.
Are there time limits on when everything has to be sold? The shares have gone down a lot in value over the last few months so hanging on to them for a bit would make sense.

No creditors that I know of.

My mum has some investments and when she dies we are able to either cash them in or continue until the end of the term. This may be worth checking.

If there are no creditors then it should be relatively straight forward.

Depending on how much the investments are for there are also things like capital gains tax to be taken into account.

I hope this helps you

Thanks wings, that's very helpful.

Any more words of wisdom?

When my mum died recently we got the solicitor to look it over (you should be able to get a free half hour type of consultation) and tell us how much it would cost for her to sort it and whether she thought we could sort it ourselves. We did it ourselves, applied for probate etc and although it is a bit of chasing it was much, much cheaper than paying the solicitor. If there is no property to sell I would seriously consider doing it yourself.

Polgara2, how much would the solicitor have been?