You will find that many insurance providers’ cover ends the moment you get the Grant of Probate (if there is a Will), or the Letters of Administration (If There Isn’t a Will).
The challenge and risks for you are that under the Administration of Estates Act 1925, the personal representatives' duty to ensure the assets in the estate is a continuous one. You need to insure from the point the owner passes away, until it is sold, or inherited.
If you don’t realise the cover you have has suddenly ended, or you are forced to purchase a more standard Unoccupied Home Insurance Policy, it can leave you with big gaps in cover, as many policies you will find only offer basic fire, lightning, explosion and earthquake cover, often called FLEE Insurance.
If the property isn’t fully insured and you then have a burst pipe, theft, or vandalism at the property, you would have breached your duty to properly insure the property. The beneficiaries are likely to require you to make good the loss by paying for repairs or replacement of the damaged or lost property.
If you don’t have the funds or refuse to pay, then the Beneficiaries would be within their right to take legal action against all the Personal Representatives.
Insuring with a Specialist like Insuristic can help protect your liabilities.
Our cover can start as soon as the property becomes empty, as this is the start of the probate process, even though you may not have started the application process.
Our cover ends when any of the following occurs:
Our approach to how long the cover lasts removes the risk that the cover will suddenly end once you receive confirmation of Probate. Plus, the questions we ask and the cover we offer are all designed for insuring an empty property in probate, whether you need cover for a few months or years.
To find out more about our cover or get a quote, visit our Probate House Insurance page. If you have further questions, visit our Probate Insurance FAQs page.
Rob Faulkner is a leading expert in Probate Insurance, Probate Risk Management, Property Insurance (especially Unoccupied Home Insurance), with nearly 30 years’ experience in the UK insurance market. He is the founder of Insuristic, a specialist provider of probate-related insurance solutions and educational content for executors.
Rob is an ACII Chartered Insurance Broker, a Chartered Manager, and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His background spans insurers, brokers, and Insurtechs, always focused on innovation, transparency, simplicity, and fair value.
Rob is passionate about product development and improving insurance education through marketing, helping people understand what they are buying. These values sit at the heart of everything we do at Insuristic.
His mission is to make Insurance smarter, easier to understand, and faster to buy. Particularly for the Probate market, where Rob has identified friction points and solved them for lay clients and solicitors alike.
Want to learn more? Visit my author page or follow me on LinkedIn.
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