Applying for the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions (their ‘estate’) when they die is called ‘applying for probate’.
If the person left a will, you’ll get a ‘grant of probate’. If the person did not leave a will, you’ll get ‘letters of administration’.
Letters of administration allow a family member or friend to act as the administrator of an estate. An administrator will only become responsible for managing the estate, when an executor has not been legally appointed and after the probate registry issues what is known as a grant of letters of administration.
Letters of Administration are similar to a Grant of Probate, but are issued instead to the next of kin, of an individual who dies without a Will.
Letters of Administration is the document issued by the Probate Registry to the administrators authorising them to deal with the estate.