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For executors· A calm guide£179 once· yours for the whole administration· no subscription

You do not have to do everything at once.

A structured walkthrough of the first 48 hours, two weeks, and three months

There is a structure to what needs to happen. Some things are urgent. Most things can wait. This page walks the practical steps — in the order they actually matter.

The most common first-week mistake is notifying the bank too soon. The sole account freezes; every direct debit fails. We walk the right order, starting with the 30-minute audit that prevents it.

First page of Valoren's drafted notification letters.

Every letter, drafted

The Trusted Person first-contact card.

Who to call, first

First page of the Executor's First Hour pack, prepared for a named executor.

What to do, in what order

laid out in advance · nothing for them to work out

The Executor's First Hour Pack · £179 one-off

A 12-section first-hour brief, prepared by hand for your situation within 12 hours.

First page of the Executor's First Hour pack, prepared for a named executor.

What to do, in what order

A ~22-page composite pack covering twelve operational sections and a 12-month executor timeline. Family meeting structure, professional appointments sequencing, and beneficiary notification approach are integrated into the relevant sections — not separate attachments.

STEP solicitor probate engagement for the full administration of an estate typically costs £3,000–£8,000. The Pack at £179 is 2–6% of that. It is not a substitute for solicitor engagement; it makes the executor's own work efficient so that the solicitor engagement is also efficient.

A short intake, then your personalised pack prepared by hand within 12 hours and delivered as a PDF to the email you provide.14 days. Easy Exit Guarantee.

Nothing you start with is wasted. The £179 counts in full toward the Household Continuity Dossier’s first year for 30 days — £195 becomes £16. Use the same email at checkout and it applies automatically.

What the £179 replaces — and what it doesn't
A generic executor checklist
Free
Any estate's steps in the right order — not your estate's accounts, contacts and reference numbers.
Solicitor time to sequence the first week
£200–£450/hr + VAT
The same sequencing questions, billed by the hour.
A full probate engagement
£3,000–£8,000
A different purchase — the whole administration. The Pack is the first-day layer that makes it efficient; it does not replace it.
Every price on one page
What this can save

Most of an executor's burden is not the decisions. It is the hours, the cost and the wait around them.

0–0 hours
Estate administration

Most of it is discovery and chasing, not paperwork — working in order keeps it nearer the low end.

£0–0
Full solicitor probate

An indicative planning band, not a quote — full professional administration of a straightforward estate (+VAT).

£0 + £0/copy
The DIY probate floor

The court fee for an organised personal applicant, sealed copies extra — no professional fee at all.

None of this is the law's doing. It is the search around it — and the search is the part a prepared estate can spare you.
II· The walk-through· choose a phase

The practical steps, in the order they matter.

48 hours· 2 weeks· 3 months — click any step to expand

The most urgent steps. These protect the estate and prevent complications that are genuinely difficult to undo later.

Check with the solicitor first, then the home, then any safe deposit box.

Required within 5 days in England and Wales.

Attend the local register office with the medical certificate of cause of death.

Order at least 5–10 certified copies — most institutions require an original, not a photocopy.

Call each bank.

Accounts will be frozen once notified — do not delay informing them.

Request final statements.

Joint accounts may continue with the surviving holder, but you will need to confirm this specifically.

Email accounts are the highest priority — email is the recovery route for almost every online service.

Do not close any accounts, factory-reset any devices, or delete any data until you have confirmed there are no digital assets or recovery paths involved.

The registrar will offer this at the point of death registration.

One notification reaches HMRC, DWP, DVLA, the Passport Office, and the local council simultaneously.

It covers public-sector bodies only — private institutions must be contacted separately.

Free reference· ~32 pages· Yours to keep

The Executor's Companion. A guide for the moment after.

Covers the first 72 hours, the probate process in full, IHT thresholds, what to do with digital assets. And what most executors wish they had known before they started.

Contents5 sections· ~32 pages
§01First 72 hours: the urgent checklist
§02Applying for probate — costs, timelines, the digital service
§03Inheritance Tax: when it applies and how (incl. April 2027 pension change)
§04Digital estate: accounts, crypto, and subscriptions
§05When to instruct a solicitor — and when not to
Send to inbox● No account· No marketing

The Companion, by email.

The PDF arrives in your inbox in under a minute. Print to A4, save to your reading list, forward to a sibling — yours to keep.

Free. Sent straight to your inbox. No email client, no account, no follow-up marketing.
Single PDF· ~32 pages· UK 2026 edition
Read on phone, print to A4, forward freely
Never shared· Never sold· No follow-up emails
FAQ

Questions, answered honestly.

The short intake takes about ten minutes.

Once you've paid, your brief is prepared by hand for your situation and delivered as a PDF within 12 hours.

No. The intake, payment and delivery all work without one — no card is taken to start, and there's no follow-up marketing.

No. This is a guide to help you gather the right information and act in the right order.

It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for solicitor engagement — it makes that engagement more efficient if you need one.

You pay first — there is no questionnaire in front of the card.

Straight after payment you are given a short intake, about ten minutes. A Signum specialist prepares your brief from those answers, and it's delivered to your inbox within 12 hours of your details arriving.

The brief flags where professional advice is worth getting — business interests, IHT400 territory, contested wills.

A full STEP solicitor probate engagement typically runs £3,000–£8,000; the Pack is a fraction of that and is designed to make that engagement efficient, not replace it.

Yes — the Easy Exit Guarantee gives you a full refund within 14 days.

Sensitive fields are encrypted end-to-end on your device, and your answers are used solely to prepare your brief.

This is written for a named executor, a co-executor, or anyone who has been asked to handle things — you don't need to be formally appointed yet to use it.

If you're not sure where you stand, the free Executor's Companion below covers who administers an estate when there's no will.

Yes, and for a straightforward estate it may be all you need. The form walkthroughs on this site are free and cover PA1P, IHT400, BD8 and the rest step by step. Tell Us Once reaches HMRC, DWP, DVLA, the Passport Office and the local council in one notification. The free Death Notification Service, accepted by most major UK banks, notifies multiple banks in one submission. Work through those in the right order and you will get there without paying us anything.

What £179 buys is the order itself — your estate's own sequence, deadlines and next actions written up from your answers and delivered within 12 hours, instead of assembling it from forty tabs while grieving. If you have the time and the estate is simple, use the free route: it is on this site because it works.

£179Get your executor's brief
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Secure payment handled by Stripe. We never see your card details.

If the administration feels overwhelming.

A Valoren bereavement specialist can provide structured support. Document gathering, notification letters, professional referrals, and a clear picture of the estate — for situations where the paperwork has become unmanageable or where time is short.

§VI

Transparency commitments

14-day full refund — Easy Exit Guarantee
Sensitive fields end-to-end encrypted on your device
Your records work without us — export any time
No automated decisions
Operated by Standard Index Group, forming in England & Wales
Figure watch · checked weekly

The figures on this page change.

Court fees rise, thresholds move, deadlines shift.

This card watches the same way your Valoren records would — leave an email and we'll tell you when one changes, once, then stop.

Email me when Executor's First Hour change. Only when a figure actually moves — never sales.

One email · then we stop · Privacy
Also for this momentEstate Letters — £149

Library

Free guides behind the Executor's First Hour

These free briefs are what this product builds on. The guides are openly available — the paid product personalises them to your specific records.

Free
Beneficiary Reconciliation Certificate

The Executor's First Hour includes the beneficiary reconciliation document — each beneficiary's entitlement and payment, ready for final sign-off.

Read the guide
Free
Estate Asset Summary

The Executor's First Hour includes the estate asset summary drawn from your records — balances, ownership structure, and whether each asset forms part of the estate.

Read the guide
Free
Estate Bank Account Brief

The Executor's First Hour includes instructions for opening the estate account — with the executor's authority reference and the required documentation.

Read the guide
Free
Estate Debts Priority Guide

The Executor's First Hour includes the creditor priority checklist — so the estate is distributed in the correct statutory order and the executor is protected.

Read the guide
Free
Document Finder Checklist

The Executor's First Hour product contains these checklists personalised to the estate — pre-filled with your specific asset references.

Read the guide

All guides are available free from the Valoren library — no account required.

Other UK references

What to read next.

● Figures checked ·
Statutory figures on this page checked against GOV.UK on · every figure, with its source →
Plate R · Related

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Part of a working library79form walkthroughs90+free guidesevery calculator & checker

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