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Probate

Our Wills and Probate team has extensive experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to the drafting of your Will, creating Lasting Powers of Attorneys and administrating your estate after your death. There a very few scenarios that will arise that someone will have not dealt with before and you can be assured that we will make the transaction as easy and stress free as it can be.

Our Wills and Probate team has extensive experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to the drafting of your Will, creating Lasting Powers of Attorneys and administrating your estate after your death. There a very few scenarios that will arise that someone will have not dealt with before and you can be assured that we will make the transaction as easy and stress free as it can be.

Our Probate Team

 

You will be allocated a designated member of the team who will have the responsibility for the day to day running of your transaction. The team is made up of:
 

Katy Sturgeon – Solicitor

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All of our lawyers undertake regular training both in-house and via external courses to ensure that they remain up to date with the law and procedures. You can also be reassured by the fact that our firm is accredited against the Lexcel legal practice quality mark. You can read more about each of our team members by clicking here.

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Introduction

 

As part of our professional rules, we aim to ensure that anyone wishing to use our services has the information they need to make an informed choice of legal services provider, including understanding what the costs may be.

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Estate Administration: Applying for the grant, collecting and distributing the assets

 

What the service includes

 

We will:

 

  • Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate solicitor to work on your matter

  • Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries

  • Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require

  • Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application and liaise with all relevant organisations

  • Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms

  • Draft a Statement of Truth for you to sign

  • Make the application to the Probate Registry on your behalf

  • Obtain Grant of Probate and office copies

  • Deal with closure of accounts, collect in estate funds and pay any liabilities

  • Prepare a final estate account and distribute the estate to the beneficiaries

 

Anticipated charges and expenses

 

As we have stated earlier, it is difficult to be precise about the anticipated costs as the exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. Therefore, we have set out below the estimated costs of a typical, straightforward transaction. For this example we have assumed:

 

  • There is a valid will

  • An estate in which there are no more than three bank accounts;

  • No more than one property in the sole name of the deceased;

  • No debts;

  • No likelihood of the estate being insolvent;

  • No significant lifetime gifts;

  • No shareholdings;

  • No trusts to be established;

  • No dispute between the beneficiaries on the division of the assets;

  • No Inheritance Tax payable and the Executors do not need to submit a full IHT return to HMRC;

  • No requirement to use the transferable nil rate band or residence nil rate band;

  • No other intangible assets;

  • No claims made against the estate;

  • No agricultural or business element to the estate;

  • No foreign element to the estate.

 

Administration of estates work is normally charged on a time spent basis. We have set out a worked example below to provide some indications of the likely costs of our services. Every matter is different and our aim will be to tailor the costs estimate to the individual demands of your transaction.

 

Estimated time required16 hours

Hourly rate  £220.00 per hour (Solicitor)

Our fees      £3,520.00 excl. VAT

VAT at 20%: £704.00

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Total £4,224.00 + disbursements (see below)

 

Disbursements

 

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Disbursements in addition to the above fees include:

 

Description                                                                                                                 Typical costs

Probate application fee                                                                                                £273.00

Office copies of the Grant of Probate                                                                           £1.50 per copy

Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches                                                 £2.00 per beneficiary

AML Check                                                                                                                   £5.25 & £1.05 VAT

Section 27 Trustee Act notice fee                                                                                 £300.00 - £400.00

Land Registry search fees                                                                                            £3.00

Copy Death Certificate and any other Certificates required                                          £11.00 per Certificate

Telegraphic transfer (alternatively, you can do this via a free 3 working days transfer

then there is no additional cost to you) (this protects the Trustees against creditors)   £16.00

Land Registry fees depending on the value of the property and whether it has been

registered before. Please note that higher-value unregistered property can cost up

to £680 and properties over £1M even more                                                                 £30.00 - £400.00

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Factors that would increase the costs of your matter

 

  • Not having all of the paperwork available or having incorrect information that needs investigation and correction;

  • Third parties not responding to our communications promptly;

  • Dealing with unusual, foreign or complex assets or items.

  • Missing beneficiaries.

  • Advertising in London Gazette and local newspapers to protect against unexpected claims etc.

  • Additional documents or affidavits are required to correct any errors in the Will or if an executor wishes to renounce their right to apply for the Grant.

 

Potential additional costs

 

If there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) or assets with more than three different organisations, there are likely to be additional costs that could range significantly depending on the estate and how the assets are to be dealt with. Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included in the above costs.

 

We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information. Where a matter does not proceed to completion you may be charged for the work carried out on the abortive matter. This is based on the amount of time spent on your matter and calculated by the team members’ hourly rate.

 

How long will this take?

 

It is difficult to estimate with any precision how long a Probate matter will take as it will be influenced by many factors, some of which are outside of our control. However, on average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 6-9 months.

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Application for Grant of Probate only

 

What the service includes

 

We will:

 

  • Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate solicitor to work on your matter

  • Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries

  • Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require

  • Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application

  • Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms

  • Draft a Statement of Truth for you to sign

  • Make the application to the Probate Registry on your behalf

  • Obtain the Grant of Probate and securely send copies to you

 

Anticipated charges and expenses

 

We can help our clients through this difficult process by obtaining the Grant of Probate on their behalf. Grant of Probate work is normally charged on a fixed fee basis. We have set out a worked example below to provide some indications of the likely costs of our services. Every matter is different and our aim will be to tailor the costs estimate to the individual demands of your transaction.

 

Fixed fee:     £800.00 - £1000.00 excl. VAT

VAT at 20%: £160.00 - £200.00

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Total £960.00 - £1200.00 + disbursements (as below)

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Our typical costs for an application for Probate where a full Inheritance Tax Return is required to be submitted to HMRC is as set out below.

 

Fixed fee:     £1000.00 - £1500.00 excl. VAT

VAT at 20%: £200.00 - £300.00

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Total £1200.00 - £1800.00 + disbursements (as above)

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Disbursements

 

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Disbursements in addition to the above fees include:

 

Description                                         Typical costs

Probate application fee                        £273.00

Office copies of the Grant of Probate   £1.50 per copy

 

Please note the above indicative figures are for obtaining a Grant of Probate only and do not include the administration of the estate.

 

We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information. Where a matter does not proceed to completion you may be charged for the work carried out on the abortive matter. This is based on the amount of time spent on your matter and calculated by the team members’ hourly rate. The abortive bill will never be higher than any fixed fee you have been provided (unless this has been discussed with you beforehand).

 

How long will this take?

 

It is difficult to estimate with any precision how long such a matter will take but, on average, such applications are dealt with and finalised within 8-16 weeks.

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