Administering an estate carries real personal financial risk. A Personal Representative (the Executor if there's a Will, or the Administrator if there isn't) is the person legally responsible for handling the estate.
Anyone acting in that role is exposed to liabilities that can last a lifetime, which many don’t initially realise.
This guide sets out your core liability risks so you can decide whether you are happy to take on the administrative risk or transfer some of it to a solicitor, and when an insurance policy can protect you against underinsurance, or claims that arise after you receive the Grant, such as those that fall under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 or third-party claims such as from creditors, missing Wills or missing beneficiaries.
If any of this seems scary, perhaps it is a sign that you need professional help.
Risk management should be a key part of the probate process and should start well before any work begins.
In our experience, most personal representatives significantly underestimate the amount of work and risk involved. Many we speak to when they have the Grant and when arranging our Estate Protect policy say they wish they’d got help from the start. It is also worth noting that the more professional support you appoint, the larger discount you'll receive on Estate Protect. You could also get broader and inspection-free property insurance if a solicitor arranges Probate Pro on the estate's behalf.
This guide focuses on raising awareness of your risks and how to mitigate them, not the mechanics of administering an estate. For that, you should seek guidance from a solicitor or accountant regulated for probate.
Personal representatives often hold misconceptions about probate risk — some picked up from AI, some from general advice, some from assumptions about their own situation. Below are our responses to the ones we see most often.
Every week, we speak to personal representatives who have opted for DIY estate administration under the misconception that they can insure themselves against making mistakes or missing things.
Solicitors and accountants regulated for probate are required to carry professional indemnity insurance as a condition of their regulatory status. Their insurance is called professional indemnity insurance, which protects you as their client should they provide negligent advice or make mistakes that cause you financial loss.
Appointing them transfers the risk of making mistakes or missing things to them (in line with the service they provide). This is a factor in their pricing because when you appoint them to either apply for the Grant on your behalf or fully administer the estate, you are not just paying for their time and expertise; you are paying them for accepting the administration risk.
Now, you might be confident you can do this yourself, but it's better to be forewarned and accept that risk before starting the process, rather than finding out when you have the Grant – which is usually when people learn this.
AI tools are highly effective for general research and quick answers, but when these are high-risk topics, such as the law, money, health or insurance, these tools should be used with caution.
Here is why:
So, if you are going to use AI to research, make sure you verify everything it tells you and never take it as fact. Before you do anything, it is often best to get advice.
There are some good providers out there, but they do not provide the same level of protection as a solicitor would. Of course, their pricing looks attractive at first glance; however, they can only guide you on what to include in the application; they cannot apply for probate on your behalf, as that's a reserved legal activity that only a regulated firm can undertake.
It is your responsibility to ensure everything is correct, and if there are issues, you are unlikely to have recourse with the firm you appointed, as the risk of making mistakes or missing things falls back on you.
Once you have the Grant, you're on your own to ensure the estate is correctly insured and distributed.
Key point to consider: the risk still sits with you. Whilst the cost is roughly half of what you would pay a solicitor for a Grant-only service (we have seen these services range between £4-500 vs a Solicitor £850+), you still retain the errors and omissions risk as you are applying for probate.
Whereas the solicitor would assume that liability as part of their service. So, if you are concerned about risk, this is something to consider.
Another common misconception is that now that we have the Grant, everything must be OK and we can relax.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. All the probate registry does is check the accuracy of your application. It just checks that you have provided enough information for them to base their decision on.
Your personal liability for errors and omissions doesn't end when the Grant arrives. If mistakes were made, they can surface at any point after you have distributed the estate, sometimes years later, and the claim can come back to you personally.
Again, if you are concerned about risk, this is another reason to appoint a solicitor or regulated accountant, as this risk is transferred to them.
Family disputes are among the most underappreciated risks in probate. Most personal representatives assume they know their family well enough to rule out a dispute; however, disputes against estates are on the rise.
A recent case shows what a major dispute actually looks like.
In April 2026, the High Court ruled on a family dispute over a £600,000 South Woodford family home following an intestate death in 2016. After eight years of litigation between three siblings who should have inherited equally, the brother who brought the case was ordered to pay £265,000 in legal costs.
The estate had lost close to half its value to legal fees and expenses.
The judge described the outcome as "a tragedy, not a victory for anyone involved." The property had been left unoccupied and unmaintained for most of that eight-year period.
Whilst this case is large, it isn’t unique, and the pattern of claims indicates a more litigious society when it comes to probate.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on probate disputes that reach court, and clearly shows an upward trend.
Whilst the number of court cases is growing annually, they don’t reflect the true picture.
Roythornes Solicitors, a contentious probate specialist, estimates that between 90–95% of contentious probate matters settle before trial, through solicitor negotiation, mediation, or one party backing down after receiving advice. Every one of those settled matters still involves legal fees, delay, and personal cost for the personal representative.
Using the conservative 90% estimate, the annual number of probate disputes in the UK could look more like this:
| Year | Disputes reaching court |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 8,543 |
| 2021 | 9,926 |
| 2022 | 9,154 |
| 2023 | 10,409 |
| 2024* | 11,065 |
*2024 figure is an estimate. Actual Ministry of Justice data covers January to end-September 2024 (8,299 disputes reaching court); the full-year figure has been annualised.
So, based on this data, the true annual number of probate disputes runs into the tens of thousands, which is significant, given that approximately 330,000 Grants of Representation are issued each year.
Cases that settle before court still typically involve legal mediation, thereby reducing the estate's value through costs and expenses and delaying distribution to beneficiaries.
Sources:
The UK Inheritance Expectations Report 2025 surveyed 2,000 UK adults on their attitudes to inheritance:
And the financial pressures underpinning those attitudes:
A dispute doesn't mean your family is dysfunctional. It means inheritance introduces dynamics that weren't there before, such as differential treatment, new partners of the deceased, adult children with different financial pressures, and siblings whose relationships were mediated by parents who are no longer there.
Families that get along great in normal life sometimes don't when significant money is on the table. The personal representative is the one carrying the risk when they don't.
Where a known concern exists, such as an estranged dependant, a second family, someone who has already raised issues, the honest answer is to speak to a contentious probate specialist before distributing anything.
Insurance is not the answer to a known dispute, although it can be to unforeseen disputes depending on the point at which you have the grant. Insuristic’s Estate Protect Direct probate legal indemnity insurance is designed for unforeseen risks; this is mentioned again later.
As you may have read above, probate risk management comes down to what risks:
Most personal representatives never make these choices consciously. They have often started the process and are nearing the end when they learn about their risks, often after reading Insuristic’s content.
The rest of this guide sets out the risks in order, aligning with the probate process.
Phase 1: the property. If there's a property in the estate, your liability for protecting and insuring it begins at the date of death and ends when the property is sold, or the deeds are transferred to a beneficiary. It is easy to make mistakes at this stage; you might be grieving and likely already have a lot on your plate. In this section, we quickly outline what you need to consider.
Phase 2: before you apply for probate. You need to ensure you have correctly assessed all the assets and liabilities of the estate, and check whether you're applying for the Grant on the right basis. There are asset, liability, and Will searches to consider, plus genealogist involvement if the estate is intestate. These are essential steps and will help protect against future liability.
Phase 3: Protect against third-party liability once you have the Grant. When you are ready to distribute the estate, you need to consider protecting yourself from third-party liability claims, which can come from creditors, dependants, missing Wills, and, if the estate is intestate, missing beneficiaries. These are potentially significant liabilities that last for years.
When someone passes away, their property immediately becomes the responsibility of the executors (if there is a Will) or the administrators (if there is no Will), referred to as the personal representatives.
The personal representatives have a duty of care for the property and are the only people with an insurable interest, which makes them responsible for insuring it. If they fail to do so adequately or underinsure, they are liable for any shortfall, not the estate.
The challenges:
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Before you apply for probate, you need to make sure you are doing so on the right basis:
As soon as you have received probate, the personal representatives should consider insuring their liability for third-party claims. These risks can be around for years after distribution, such as claims:
You have a liability as soon as probate is granted, so you should arrange cover as close to that date as possible to ensure you have the protection of insurance. If a claim comes in prior to arranging cover, you are unlikely to get insurance for it.
Most personal representatives aren't sure what cover they need. We have written two guides to help you:
Probate legal indemnity cover starts from the moment you arrange the policy and runs in perpetuity, but it responds to claims arising once the estate has been distributed. So if you are going to insure, there is no real need to delay (provided there are no known issues). Once the cover is in place, you can distribute as soon as you have your Grant of Probate (where there is a Will) or Letters of Administration (no Will).
Each of these policies can be arranged as soon as you have the Grant:
In this section, we have answered common questions about probate that require risk-management consideration based on our experience and insurance knowledge. We have not answered purely administrative questions; for the answers to those, you should seek legal advice from a solicitor or accountant regulated for probate.
Probate is the process of determining who has the legal authority to act on behalf of the person who has sadly passed away, collect their assets, pay any debts, and distribute what is left to the right people.
There are two routes to probate:
The legal term for either is called the Grant of Representation - a document from the Probate Registry confirming who has the legal authority to administer the estate.
Last year, over 328,000 Grants were issued in England and Wales (according to the Probate Service via IRN Reports), and hundreds of thousands are typically issued each year.
So that’s a lot of executors and administrators all being concerned about similar things to you.
The above is a legal definition that you will find on most solicitor and probate provider websites, but what most are really bad at is explaining your liability.
Insuristic is focused on advancing education in probate risk management and delivering tailored insurance solutions.
Whatever role you have, it needs to be taken seriously, as it will take up a huge amount of your time, as well as exposing you and the others undertaking the role to significant liabilities for errors, omissions, conflicts of interest (particularly if you are also a beneficiary) and third-party claims, many of which may surface years down the line.
Any claim that you are liable for could seriously threaten your financial future. If it is a large claim, you could be putting your home, savings and other assets on the line.
Most people in your situation are considering doing this themselves, and it is something you should think carefully about. Any legal advice (and insurance) can be treated as an estate expense.
Here is the thing – you can’t insure yourself against making a mistake or missing something, only a solicitor or regulated probate accountant can (through their Professional Indemnity Policy).
Whether you have a solicitor or not, you should arrange adequate insurance:
You only need to search for “contentious probate" on Google to see how many legal firms operate to resolve disputes during the probate process or after the Grant has been received.
You should seek legal advice if you are concerned about any of this and seek to protect your liability.
The short answer is that it depends on the estate's size and complexity, whether there are any known issues likely to cause a dispute, plus how confident you are in doing this, balanced against your lifelong liability.
Yes. If you're named as an executor, or you're entitled to apply as an administrator where there's no will, you can act as the personal representative (PR) yourself without appointing anyone.
Plenty of people handle an estate themselves. According to IRN Legal, in 2024, 42.3% of Grants in England and Wales went to private individuals.
The role means applying for the Grant, valuing the estate, settling debts and any tax, collecting in the assets, distributing what's left to the right people, and keeping proper estate accounts along the way. None of it requires legal training, and for a straightforward estate, the Probate Registry's process is designed for ordinary applicants.
But what you need to know is:
Many people that we speak to towards the end of the process underestimate the amount of work involved and the risk they have taken on (usually after reading our content). Many wish they had appointed a professional when comparing the cost, their time and risk.
This really depends on how comfortable you are with the liability you take on, as well as the estate's complexity and size.
There are two options that are worthy of consideration:
Keep in mind:
If you haven’t appointed a solicitor to distribute the estate, it is your responsibility, not the solicitor's, and you can still make mistakes that you would be liable for. If you are concerned about this, paying for full estate administration may be the way to go.
Whether you handle the estate yourself or appoint a solicitor, the third-party risk remains: claims resulting from a missing beneficiary, a missing will, an unknown creditor, or a claim under the Inheritance Act are your liability. A solicitor's professional indemnity won’t cover them either, so make sure you understand your risks.
If there is a Will, read: What Insurance Should I Consider For a Testate Estate?
If there isn’t a Will, read: What Insurance Should I Consider For an Intestate Estate?
The cost of administering and insuring the estate is paid by the estate, not by you personally – although if funds are not available, you may need to make purchases upfront and then reclaim them from the estate once it has funds.
If an expense is reasonable and linked to the estate's administration, it is usually allowable; examples include property maintenance, insurance, estate agent fees, valuations, search fees, and professional advice.
Remember, you have a significant liability when undertaking this role:
The cost of probate will depend mostly on how much of the work you hand to a solicitor, and whether the estate is straightforward or complex.
According to IRN Legal Reports (November 2025), the larger national providers typically charge from
This data is skewed towards the big national firms, particularly for smaller estates.
In my experience, you'll usually find more competitive options from specialist probate solicitors.
As a rough guide, at the time of writing:
Which end of these ranges you fall on depends on the estate's size and complexity.
A grant-only application service is relatively fixed, so you'll usually get a clear price up front.
Full estate administration is different, as it's normally quoted on the solicitor's assessment of what's involved. If the estate is complex, it will be more work for the solicitor and may push the price up, such as when the estate is liable for inheritance tax, is intestate, has many beneficiaries, includes property portfolios and businesses, and has potential for disputes. There may be other reasons that make the estate complex, but the solicitor will explain this to you.
On top of any fees quoted, you will need to consider the Probate Registry charges, the amount of inheritance tax that might be payable, as well as other professional fees like will, asset and liability searches, probate insurance, estate agency fees, property maintenance costs, genealogy fees to trace missing or unknown beneficiaries, etc.
The key thing to remember is that all of this is paid for by the estate.
Rob Faulkner is the founder of Insuristic and an expert in Probate Property, Legal Indemnity and Unoccupied Home Insurance with 30 years’ experience in the UK insurance market.
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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