Probate

UK Certificates offers a secure online ordering service for officially certified copies of any Will and/or Grant of Representation issued in England & Wales since 1858.

What is a Probate?

Probate can be defined as a legal way of collecting any money, paying any debts and distributing a person’s assets upon their death to those people entitled.

Grant of Probate

If the person who has died leaves a Will, one or more Executors may be named in the Will to deal with the affairs of the deceased.

The Executor applies for a Grant of Probate from the Probate Registry. The grant is a legal document which confirms that the Executor has the authority to deal with the deceased person’s assets.

Letters of Administration

If there is no Will, a close relative of the deceased can apply to the Probate Registry to deal with the estate. In this case they apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration. If the grant is given, they are known as Administrators’ of the estate. Like the Grant of Probate, the Grant of Letters of Administration is a legal document which confirms the Administrator’s authority to deal with the deceased person’s assets.

Grant of Representation

This is a general term which includes Grants of Probate and Grants of Letters of Administration.

An entry will only be listed in the Probate Indexes if a Grant of Representation was required to administer the estate.

Copy of Will

Our service includes a manual search of the Probate Indexes and if we successfully locate a match based on your criteria, an official copy Will and/or Letters of Administration will be provided.

A certified copy of a Will provides full beneficiary details of the deceased person’s estate.

It also contains very useful genealogical information to trace missing people and assist in building a family tree.

If we are unable to trace a match, we will provide a negative report.