Is Probate Needed After The Death Of A Child Or Young Person?

September 2024

There are many things in life that many of us would prefer not to think about. The death of a child or young person is certainly one of these topics. Unfortunately – though these losses are thankfully rare – they do sometimes happen.

We very much hope you will never need the information we’ve put together in this post, but in the unlikely event that you do, we hope it is helpful.

Do you need to administer the estate of a child or young person?

When an adult dies, there are a range of legal and administrative tasks that need to be completed. Many of these tasks will also need to be dealt with after the death of a child or young person, though in the majority of cases these are likely to be significantly more straight-forward.

Though most children and young people would not leave a significant estate behind them, they would still require a personal representative to handle any assets they did have. In most cases, this would consist of any child savings accounts or ISAs that had been set up in their name, as well as potentially a current account. Some children and young people might be the recipient of a trust fund, and if so this would also need to be taken into consideration.

Of course, some children and young people may leave a more significant estate behind them. This might be because they have received an inheritance themselves, because their parents have saved a substantial amount on their behalf, or because they have earned their own money through modelling, acting or social media influencing.

How would this be managed?

It is unlikely that a child or young person would have made a Will in advance of their death as it is not usually possible to make a Will if you are under 18. The only exception to this is if a young person aged between 16–18 makes a Privileged Will while on active service with the armed forces.

Because of this, a child or young person would be considered to have died intestate with no executors having been appointed. This would need to be addressed in much the same way as if an adult had died intestate.

The first step in the process would be for the closest family members of the person who had died to apply to be appointed as administrators. Usually, it would be the parents of the child or young person who would take on this role, though they may well be supported by other family members.

Once the administrators had been appointed, they would likely need to administer the estate according to the intestacy rules. In the majority of cases, any assets left behind by a child or young person would pass to their parents. If the child or young person’s parents were also no longer living, any assets would pass to the next closest family member.

Will a Grant of Probate be needed?

It is not always necessary to apply for a Grant of Probate when administering an estate. If the estate in question is fairly modest and/or does not include property or savings accounts in the sole name of the person who has died, it can generally be dealt with without a grant.

As the estate left behind by most children and young people would fall into this category, a Grant of Probate is often not required.

However, there are exceptions to this. All banks and building societies have their own rules about whether or not they will allow personal representatives to access accounts without sight of a Grant of Probate. Most financial organisations will have a threshold amount under which they will not require a grant.

This threshold varies hugely. It might be as little as £5,000 or as much as £50,000. Some banks or building societies might require a Grant of Probate to access any account, regardless of how little is held in it. The only way to determine whether or not a Grant will be required in your situation is to speak to the financial organisations in question.

Is support available?

Though the process of administering the estate of a child or young person is likely to be relatively straight-forward, you may not feel able to manage it on your own. Please don’t feel that you can’t ask for help. A specialist probate solicitor will be able to talk you through the process and ensure that nothing is missed.

Though our complimentary eBook What to Do When Someone Dies is primarily written with the death of an adult in mind, a lot of the information it contains may be of help.

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