The Deadlines That Follow a Death, and When to Set a Reminder

Grief does not pause for paperwork, and the paperwork has dates on it. Some of those dates carry interest and penalties, and they arrive in the months when nobody is thinking about forms.

This is not a guide to probate. It is a list of the deadlines that exist, taken from GOV.UK, and an honest account of why they are so easily missed.

What has to happen in the first week?

Registering the death, and the window is short. GOV.UK is specific: "register the death within 5 days (8 days in Scotland) of getting the confirmation." The clock starts when the medical certificate is issued, not at the moment of death, which is a distinction that matters if there has been a delay.

Almost everything else depends on this step, because registering produces the death certificate that banks, pension providers and the probate registry will each ask for. It is worth getting several certified copies at the time — organisations generally will not accept photocopies, and going back for more later is slower than asking once.

There is also Tell Us Once, a government service that informs the relevant departments in a single process rather than contacting each separately. Using it at the point of registration saves a great deal of repetition later, and most people only discover it afterwards.

Which deadlines actually carry a penalty?

Two, and they are months apart. GOV.UK states them plainly.

Inheritance Tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death, and the consequence of missing it is interest: "you must pay Inheritance Tax by the end of the sixth month after the person died to avoid paying interest." The example the guidance itself gives is "if the person died in January, you must pay by 31 July."

The IHT400 account must be submitted within twelve months: "you must submit the form within 12 months of the person dying and before applying for probate (if you need it)," and "you may have to pay a financial penalty if you miss the deadline without a reasonable excuse."

Read the ordering in that second quote carefully, because it surprises people. The form goes in before applying for probate — and probate is typically what unlocks the deceased's accounts. Executors regularly find that money is owed on a schedule that runs ahead of their access to the estate it is owed from. If that is your situation, it is a question for a solicitor or the probate registry rather than something to improvise; there are established routes through it.

Why are these particular dates so easy to miss?

Because of where they fall. The first week is crowded — registration, funeral, family — and nothing gets forgotten because everything is happening at once.

Then it goes quiet. Months two through five contain no deadline at all. The intensity drops, everyone returns to their own lives, and the executor is left holding an obligation with no next action attached to it. The six-month date then arrives in a month that feels entirely unconnected to the death.

There is a second reason, which is harder to say. Bereavement affects concentration and memory, and the person carrying this is usually also the person who was closest to the deceased. They are being asked to perform careful administrative work in the months when they are least able to, and to do it from memory, because nothing in the process sends a reminder.

That is not a character failing. It is a badly shaped task landing on someone at the worst possible moment.

Which reminders are worth setting?

Four, set once, early — ideally by someone helping rather than by the executor themselves:

• Day 3, if the death is not yet registered. A short backstop inside the five-day window.
• Month 4. Not a deadline — a prompt to start, so the six-month date is met by work already underway rather than a scramble. This is the one that does the real work.
• Month 5, two weeks before the Inheritance Tax date. The last comfortable moment.
• Month 10. Ahead of the twelve-month IHT400 deadline, with enough runway to get help if the estate is complicated.

If you are supporting someone through this, setting those four on their behalf is a genuinely useful thing to do — more useful than most offers of help, and it costs you ten minutes. In ReminderIt you can set them by message and it reads each date back before saving. Reminders for someone else's number need their agreement: the system places a consent call to that number before anything is delivered.

Keep the wording gentle and factual. A reminder that says "Inheritance Tax deadline is in two weeks" is help. One that implies they are behind is not.

What this page is not

It is not legal or tax advice, and it does not cover the substance of any of these steps — valuing an estate, whether probate is needed at all, what is exempt, or what to do when the numbers are unclear.

The dates above are the published ones for England and Wales, with the Scottish registration window noted. Rules differ elsewhere in the UK and internationally, and individual circumstances change what applies.

If the estate is anything other than simple, a probate solicitor is worth the fee, and many offer a fixed-price first conversation. GOV.UK's own guidance is free, thorough and the right starting point. What a reminder does is small by comparison: it makes sure a date that carries interest does not pass unnoticed in a month when nobody was counting.

Source: GOV.UK — What to do when someone dies (registration within 5 days, 8 in Scotland; Tell Us Once) and How to value an estate for Inheritance Tax and report its value (payment by the end of the sixth month to avoid interest; IHT400 within 12 months, penalty for missing it without reasonable excuse).