If you’ve lost a loved one who lived in one country, but owned assets elsewhere, then the legal requirements to administer their estate can be complicated. Our international estate administration team can help you with these often complex multi-jurisdictional estates.
For our overseas clients with assets in the UK, or UK clients with assets overseas, we can administer their estates from start to finish. We take the stress out of what can be a difficult situation due to the different laws and taxes that apply around the world. We work closely with you and professionals in the relevant jurisdictions to ensure that the estates are dealt with smoothly and efficiently.
If an individual dies domiciled outside of England and Wales, leaving assets registered in England and Wales, then in most cases banks and other relevant financial institutions will require an English grant of representation (the Grant). This provides evidence that the deceased’s personal representatives have authority to deal with the deceased’s money or assets.
We work closely with those personal representatives, their lawyers and other professionals to guide them smoothly through the process for obtaining the Grant.
If the Grant has been issued by a court local to the deceased, then we will assist in ensuring that the Grant is formally recognised by the UK Courts. This process of recognition is known as "resealing".
If there is no local Grant, then we will work with the personal representatives to obtain the correct UK Grant.
We have particular expertise in working with Middle Eastern clients. We have regularly assisted in obtaining English Grants in estates where the deceased's domicile was in the Middle East, and their estate is governed by Sharia Law.
In every case we will ensure that all inheritance tax compliance for the estate is dealt with. We will assist in completing all necessary inheritance tax accounts. And where appropriate, we will advise on the time limits applicable to both the submission of the accounts and the payment of inheritance tax.
Once the Grant has been issued we can assist to administer the UK assets, whether that be property, cash, private company shares or other types of investments.
We are equally used to dealing with the estate of UK domiciled individuals who own assets in overseas jurisdictions. Often our clients will own assets in multiple jurisdictions and so we are called upon to co-ordinate the worldwide administration. In those circumstances we call on our large network of international contacts to recommend local lawyers and other professionals who can assist.
