Print this if it helps. It is a working list, not legal advice. Estate duties sit with you and your solicitor.
Before anyone is booked
- Confirm who has authority to instruct the clearance.
- Find the keys, including sheds, garages and window locks.
- Search for documents, jewellery, cash and medicines.
- Photograph the main rooms and outbuildings.
- Ask whether a contents valuation is needed before anything is removed.
- Write down what must stay, even if it is only one bedroom or one cabinet.
People who may need to know
- Other executors or residuary beneficiaries, if they have a say
- The solicitor, if they are coordinating the estate
- The estate agent, if the house is being prepared for sale
- A neighbour or keyholder, if you are not local
The instruction itself
- Postcode and property type
- Full or partial clearance
- Loft, garage and shed: in or out
- Date constraints: funeral, sale, key handover
- Who will be on site, or who holds the keys
- What happens to items set aside as potentially valuable
On the day
- Keep the written scope to hand
- Do not start new family negotiations in the driveway
- Check the rooms before the van leaves
- Collect keys as agreed
Afterward
- Note what was taken and what was kept
- Tell the agent or solicitor the house is empty, if that is the next step
- Keep any paperwork that was found during the job
The longer explanation is in how probate house clearance works. The booking page is probate house clearance in Evesham.