Free tool
Probate timeline planner
Enter the date of death and see the stages most estates go through, with typical durations and where house clearance usually sits. Indicative only — every estate is different.
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About the probate timeline planner
What this tool does
The planner takes a date of death and maps out the stages most estates in England and Wales pass through, with typical durations attached to each one. It shows registering the death, gathering and valuing assets, applying for the grant of probate, settling any inheritance tax, dealing with the property, and distributing what remains to beneficiaries.
It is built for executors and administrators who have never done this before and need a sense of shape: what happens first, what cannot start until something else finishes, and roughly how many weeks or months the whole thing is likely to take. No sign-up is required and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Where house clearance sits
Clearance is one of the most commonly mistimed steps in an estate. Two errors recur. The first is clearing too early: contents are removed before they have been valued, which causes problems where inheritance tax is in play or where beneficiaries later disagree about what was in the property. The second is clearing too late, when an agreed sale is waiting on an empty house and the chain starts to wobble.
The planner marks the usual window — after valuation and after family members have taken keepsakes, but before completion of a sale or the start of a tenancy. Seeing that window on a timeline makes it far easier to decide when to book, and how much notice to give.
What affects the durations shown
Timings vary widely. A straightforward estate with a valid will, one property and a couple of bank accounts can complete in six to nine months. Estates involving inheritance tax, business assets, property abroad, missing beneficiaries, a contested will or no will at all take considerably longer, and the grant itself can be slow when the probate registry is busy.
The durations here are typical rather than promised. They reflect how most estates behave, not how yours definitely will. Use them to plan and to set expectations with family members, and revise them as real dates come in.
Important limits
This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. It cannot take account of the specific facts of an estate. For anything contested, unusually valuable, or involving intestacy, foreign assets or trusts, speak to a probate solicitor or a qualified adviser.
What we can advise on is the clearance itself: when to book it, what the property needs to have ready, how contents are searched and itemised for the estate, and how disposal is documented. If the timeline raises a practical question about the property, a short phone call will usually answer it faster than more reading.
Timeline planner questions
About the author
Mariusz Baran
Founder & Owner
Mariusz Baran is the founder and owner of Probate Clearance London, We Clear Everything London Ltd and House and Office Clearance Ltd. He has extensive hands-on experience in probate, bereavement and general property clearance across Greater London.
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