Immediate steps following death

For helpful checklists dealing with the administration of estates, see Checklists: Estate administration—file checklist and Estate assets, liabilities and personal details—checklist.

For a precedent guide to give to clients explaining the immediate steps following a death, see Precedent: Immediate steps following a death—client guide.

Initial client meeting

The Solicitors Regulation Authority's (SRA) Standards and Regulations came into force on 25 November 2019.

The SRA Standards and Regulations set out the fundamental ethical and professional standards expected of all firms.

The SRA Standards and Regulations is available on the SRA's website.

Additionally the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/692 require the practitioner to conduct preliminary checks on prospective new clients. These can be broken down as follows:

•
conflicts of interest
•
anti-money laundering
•
client vulnerabilities
•
credit checks

For further guidance, see:

•
Practice Notes:
1. ◦
  Preparing for initial client meeting with personal representatives, and
2. ◦
  Preliminary checks on prospective new clients
•
Precedents:
1. ◦
  Authority for firm to deal with creditors
2. ◦
  Beneficiary ID form, and
3. ◦
  Monthly Independent Review Form

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