What to do when someone dies: Scotland

1. Register the death and obtain copies of the death certificate.
2. Attend to the funeral, burial, cremation, etc.
3. Find and review the deceased's Will.
4. Find out who the executors are and whether they are able and willing to act. If they can't, or if the deceased didn't leave a valid Will, determine who will act as administrators of the estate.
5. Secure the house and/or other property of the deceased, insuring the house, car and any other valuable items as necessary.
6. Apply to the Commissary Department of the Sheriff Court serving the area in which the deceased was domiciled at the time of death (which may be different from the place where the deceased died) for the forms required for Confirmation (the Scottish equivalent of probate).
7. Organise yourself for valuing assets, corresponding with others, keeping financial records and receiving the deceased's mail. Open an executors' bank account.
8. Write to all financial and business organisations in which the deceased had an interest. Include a copy of the death certificate and request the necessary information for the Confirmation application.
9. List the deceased's assets and liabilities. Review them. Is it necessary to apply for Confirmation?
10. If the estate appears to be worth more than £275,000, make arrangements to raise money (e.g. by borrowing or selling some of the deceased's personal property) to pay inheritance tax before Confirmation can be issued.
11. Fill out the Confirmation forms as information is collected and return them to the Sheriff Court concerned. If the deceased didn't leave a Will, then normally it's necessary for a Bond of Caution (an insurance indemnity) to be obtained from an insurance company and lodged with the application for Confirmation. However, it wouldn't be required if there was a surviving spouse as the deceased's estate would pass to that spouse in terms of the Law of Intestate Succession in Scotland.
12. Pay any inheritance tax due at the time of application and arrange for instalment payments if any of the assets qualify.
13. The Sheriff Court concerned sends Confirmation to you by post along with any Certificates of Confirmation.
14. Send copies of the appropriate Certificate of Confirmation to each organisation contacted in Step 9 to show the executors' entitlement to deal with the deceased's assets. A withdrawal authority signed by all the executors who have obtained the grant ('proved' the Will) will have to be submitted to the appropriate financial institution and final income tax certificates and closing statement should be requested. In return, the organisations will release the deceased's assets to the executors and close or transfer the deceased's accounts and files.
15. Advertise for creditors, if necessary. If any large or unexpected claims result, you should consider consulting a solicitor.
16. Respond to any queries raised by the Inland Revenue concerning the values of assets or liabilities of the estate. Agree final figures with them. Report any additional assets or liabilities that have come to light since Confirmation was granted.
17. When all the assets are collected, pay the debts, including any unpaid income tax and capital gains tax relating to the deceased's income up to the time of death.
18. Ask the Inspector of Taxes for an income tax return and complete it with details of the income of the estate to the end of the tax year during which the deceased died. Pay any tax due. A return may also be needed for each subsequent tax year if the administration of the estate isn't complete within one tax year.
19. Ask the Inland Revenue's Capital Taxes Office for Form IHT30 (Application for formal discharge from Inheritance Tax); complete it and in due course receive the signed discharge certificate from the Revenue.
20. Ensure that there have been no claims against the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 during the six months following Confirmation. Barring any such challenges to the Will, the estate can be distributed.
21. When all the assets have been accounted for and debts paid, legacies can be distributed. Get a receipt from each beneficiary.
22. Draw up estate accounts and if necessary consider the apportionment of the inheritance tax. Get approval of the accounts from all residuary beneficiaries (or those entitled under the intestacy laws) and send them copies. Issue Inland Revenue Form R185 (Estate Income) to the residuary beneficiaries showing their shares of the income of the estate and the tax deducted from it during the tax year.
23. Cheques representing the distributions for the residuary beneficiaries can now be sent out. A receipt should be obtained from each beneficiary. In some cases interim distributions may have been paid at an earlier stage, but only if the executors were certain that there would be sufficient assets to pay all the liabilities.
24. When all cheques have cleared, close the executors' account.
25. The administration of the estate is now complete. All accounts should be saved for 12 years.

Law stated as at 1 April, 2005