How Settling works

1. Four questions help us understand the estate

We start with four things: is there a will, are you the only executor or one of several, does the estate include a business, and roughly what the estate is worth. That is enough to start making sense of the path ahead. These answers decide which of the dozens of possible probate steps actually apply to you, so you are not asked to hold the whole process in your head at once.

For example, if there's no will, the checklist adds the steps for applying as an administrator under the intestacy rules instead of as an executor. If there are several executors, it adds the step of agreeing who applies. If the estate holds a business, it adds the extra valuation and notification steps that can otherwise be easy to miss.

2. You get one clear list, in the order you need it

The result is a list of steps in the order you'd realistically do them: registering the death, notifying organisations, valuing the estate, applying for probate, paying any Inheritance Tax due, collecting in the assets, paying debts, and distributing what's left. Steps that do not apply to your estate simply are not there, so the list feels like something you can work through rather than a wall of information to decode.

Each step explains what it is doing, what you may need before you start, and where the official form or guidance lives. You can tick things off as they happen and return later without trying to remember where you had got to.

3. The official source is always beside the step

Settling doesn't try to be the authority on probate rules — GOV.UK, HMRC and The Gazette already are. Each step links directly to the specific government page, form or guidance you need at that point: the probate application on GOV.UK, the right Inheritance Tax form on HMRC, the deceased estates notice on The Gazette, and so on.

You always land on the real government page rather than only a private summary. If the rules change, you are checking the source before you rely on it.

4. Your dashboard becomes somewhere to put it all down

Probate is rarely one sitting; it usually plays out over months. Settling keeps what you have done in one place: which steps are ticked off, the dates things happened, and any estate accounts or figures you have entered along the way. Close the tab and come back weeks later; the record is still there.

That record is also something you can share the shape of with a co-executor, a beneficiary asking where things stand, or a solicitor who joins partway through. It is a plain statement of what has and has not been done, not a legal document.

What Settling cannot do for you

Settling doesn't file or submit anything to GOV.UK, HMRC or the Gazette on your behalf — you do that yourself, using the links it gives you. It isn't legal or financial advice, and it cannot replace a solicitor for estates that are large, contested or unusually complex. We are here to make the process easier to follow, not to make legal decisions for you. See About Settling for the full picture of what it is and is not.