No, you do not have to act as an Executor. You have a couple of options. Your first option is to give up all rights to act as Executor as long as you have taken no steps in relation to the estate administration. Your other option, if there are other Executors named in the Will, is to choose to have ‘power reserved’. This allows the other Executors to act but you can apply to ‘join in’ the Probate process later on if you want to or need to.
If you instruct us to complete Probate for you, you can remain as Executor, or you can sometimes give Power of Attorney to us. In that case, we can obtain the Grant of Probate in our name.