What does not differ is that it is an onerous job with many things to sort out, for example:
Once everything is sorted out, what is left will need to be distributed between the people (and/or charities) entitled to it.
Before you can start the administration of an estate, you will first need to find out whether the deceased made a Will.
In the Netherlands, you can request this from the Central Register of Wills. England does not have such a central register, but of course there are other ways to check whether there is a Will. We are happy to help you with this.
In the Netherlands, after a death you often go to the notary to have a Certificate of Inheritance (‘Verklaring van Erfrecht’) or Declaration of Execution (‘Verklaring van Executele’) drawn up, which can be used to settle many matters related to the death.
When someone dies in England, it is also necessary to establish who is authorised to arrange everything. If there is an English Will including the appointment of an executor, then chances are that the executor will have to apply to the court in England to issue a Grant of Probate. With that Grant of Probate, the executor can then set about settling the estate (legacy),
If there is no Will, then the heirs can apply to the court for Letters of Administration that will allow them to settle everything around the estate.
If there are assets in both countries, it is common that an English Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration) cannot automatically be used to deal with the non-English assets. Conversely, the bank in England usually cannot use a Certificate of Inheritance (‘Verklaring van Erfrecht’) or Declaration of Executorship (‘Verklaring van Executele’) issued by the Dutch notary.
