How long after a person dies will beneficiaries be notified?

How long it takes to notify a beneficiary after the death of a benefactor will vary from case to case. If will depend on whether there is a valid Will or if the person has died intestate, and if Probate is required.

Under UK law, there is no set timeframe when the beneficiaries should be notified, but they should be informed of their entitlement shortly after the passing, early on during the Probate process. If a beneficiary cannot easily be traced or contacted, it will inevitably cause a delay.

Who Are the Beneficiaries?

To avoid confusion – and Wills can be confusing – we will briefly look at who are defined as beneficiaries. In very simple terms, a beneficiary is a person nominated to receive an inheritance or portion thereof from a deceased person's estate, assuming the Will is valid and not intestate. Where the Will is declared invalid, it is up to the Court to decide who are the beneficiaries, despite what the original Will stated.

Who Should Notify the Beneficiaries?

It falls to the Executor of the Will, or the Administrator intestate to ensure that all beneficiaries are contacted promptly. This should be done as quickly as possible to avoid other people from making a claim against the estate. Executors and Administrators should also be aware that if a beneficiary is owed money from an estate, and they are not paid, they could be held liable to reimburse the offended party from their own pocket. Executors should therefore fully understand the implication and importance of notifying all mentioned beneficiaries of their entitlement in a timely fashion, before distributing any money from the Estate.

What Happens if it is Not Possible to Trace a Beneficiary?

In many situations, it may take some time to trace the beneficiaries, even if they have been specifically identified in the Will. For instance, their address might have changed since the Will was drafted.

Logically, the first step is for the Executor to make enquiries to the beneficiary's location from the deceased's nearest and dearest. Failing that, they should take out an advertisement in a newspaper within the beneficiary's last known geographical area – known as an S27 notice. This allows the beneficiary (and other creditors) two months to respond to the notice and make their claim.

If all else fails, the Executor should consider the following options to avoid coughing up the portion of the inheritance at a later stage;

Keep an amount reserved equal to the entitlement that the missing beneficiary is due to receive. It is a practical solution in smaller estates that won't cause a hold up in settling the dues of other beneficiaries.
Alternatively, the funds can be distributed to the known beneficiaries, as long as they sign an indemnity to confirm that should the missing beneficiary make a claim in the future, they can recoup the money from the beneficiaries who have received funds.

The Executor can apply for a Benjamin Order – a fanciful name for a court order that allows for the distribution of the Estate on the assumption that the missing beneficiary is deceased. Should the beneficiary come forward at a later stage, they can still claim from the other parties as above, but the representative is protected by not paying the share of the inheritance from their own personal funds. It is, however, expensive and time-consuming.

The Estate can also be distributed with an insurance policy in place that will pay out the relevant portion once the missing beneficiary comes forward.