There is no set time limit for the estate to be settled and paid out to the beneficiaries.
Section 44 Administration of Estates Act 1925 states that “subject to the foregoing provisions of this Act, a personal representative is not bound to distribute the estate of the deceased before the expiration of one year from the death.”
This means that a Personal Representative cannot be forced to distribute the estate before the first anniversary of death. Even after the expiry of that year, a court would not order the Personal Representative to distribute the estate where they can show there are good reasons for retaining the assets and that they are acting honestly.
However, the Personal Representative are not obligated to keep hold of the estate assets until that one year has passed. If the estate is ready to be distributed, then the remaining estate can be paid out to the beneficiaries.
Some of the difficulties that can prevent the estate from being settled within that year include;
- Liabilities not being immediately identifiable;
- If there is no Will, there can be multiple people who are entitled to apply for Probate and this can cause disputes if agreement cannot be reached;
- In cases where there is no Will, there can also be problems with identifying who has that power to apply for the grant;
- Problems with one or more clauses in the Will (issues with interpretation or validity);
- Delays in obtaining necessary information and access to assets (particularly where there are assets located outside of the UK).
