Finding the deceased's documents

Typically, the task falls to surviving relatives.

The deceased may have left his or her affairs in good order. Perhaps he or she tended to be organised, with statements, bills and other documents easy to locate and already in separate folders.

Many people are not so organised, and relatives may find themselves with the task of searching through drawers, cupboards and boxes. It may take a few hours.

Relatives faced with this task may wish to clear a table and use the space to organise the deceased’s documents into categories, such as bank accounts, share certificates, property and so on.

The latest statements

For each bank account, utility and other service, only the most recent statement or bill is required. 

Organise documents

Once the key documents have been collected together, we recommend keeping them in a ring binder, lever arch folder or a document box for easy access during the probate process.

Keep everything

For the time being, we recommend keeping all documents, even old statements and other documents which may no longer be required. This is just in case some things were missed first time around.

These documents may be destroyed at the end of the probate process, but be careful not to destroy any document which may be referred to in the future. This includes the grant of representation, the will, inheritance tax forms and receipts.