Wills & Probate
Obtaining Probate & Administration of Estates
Look after your loved ones by making a will with one of our professionally trained solicitors. We follow your every wish, ensuring you are in total control of how your assets will be distributed and making things simpler for those you leave behind.
Our experienced team will guide you through the whole process, offering you support and advice at every stage.
Fixed Fees Available
We offer a Fixed Fee Wills service
We know that it can be a stressful and confusing time when a loved one has died and the thought of dealing with their financial affairs and estate can be daunting.
If you have been appointed as an Executor in a Will or Personal Representative if you are dealing with the affairs of a relative who has passed away without a Will, we can help. Our experienced team offers sympathetic, respectful and efficient service, doing everything we can to reduce the stress during this difficult time.
How we can help
Please see below for our probate and estate administration services.
Obtaining Probate (Uncontested)
Where a loved one has passed away, they may or may not have left a Will, which is a legal document that sets out their instructions and wishes for their belongings in the event of their death.
If they have left a Will, they will be considered as having died ‘testate’ but if they have not, they will be considered as having died ‘intestate’. This means that their estate will pass according to a certain set of rules.
There are different rules relating to testacy and intestacy so it is important to understand the implications of each.
Our expert teams can help guide you through the process of obtaining a Grant of Probate (used where a Will has been left) or Letters of Administration (in the case of intestacy).
Costs Information
All quotations will consist of legal costs (the costs for the services provided which are subject to VAT (currently 20%)) and disbursements. Disbursements are necessary third party costs such as Probate Registry fee (currently £300.00) and copy Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration fee ( £1.50 per copy) which may be applicable to your matter. We aim to keep disbursements to a minimum where possible and only incur charges for required disbursements.
We offer a fixed fee service of £795.00 plus VAT ( £954.00 including VAT) for obtaining Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration where the Estate has a value of less that £325000.00.
Where there is no Will and the deceased died intestate, there will be an additional charge of £282.00 plus VAT ( £326.40 including VAT).
As a standard and generally speaking, our fixed fee for obtaining a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration consists of the following:
- Notifying all assets holders of the death and subsequently liaising with all asset and liability providers to obtain the information required for probate and forms of cash in the accounts.
- Preparing the HMRC account and probate forms.
- Sending probate application to Executors/Personal Representatives for approval and signature.
- Paying any Inheritance Tax where necessary.
- Applying for a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration.
- Receiving the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration.
Where a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration is required and the value of the Estate is over the Inheritance Tax threshold of £325,00.00, the work conducted will be undertaken on a hourly rate basis. As a rough estimate, it could take up to 4 hours work, charged at an hourly rate of £282.00 + VAT ( £1088.00 plus VAT ( £1305.60 inclusive of VAT)).
VAT is currently charged at 20%.
Timescale Information
Administering Estates
Costs Information
We strongly recommend that notices are placed in the London Gazette and a local newspaper inviting people who are owed money to come forward by a specified date (within 2 months of the date of the notice). The reason for putting the notices in the papers is that, after the 2-month period has elapsed, you will be personally protected from any claims against the estate of which you have had no notice. If you instruct us to place notices, we will ascertain the fees charged by the newspapers and let you know.
As a very rough guide:
- Where an Estate is insolvent (its liabilities exceed its assets), this would be a complex cases and is likely to involve from 10 hours of work and our costs would be in the region of £2720.00 plus VAT ( £3264.00 including VAT);
- An Estate worth approximately £100000 is likely to involve about 10 hours of work and our costs would be in the region of £2720.00 plus VAT ( £3264.00 including VAT);
- An Estate worth approximately £200000 is likely to involve about 20 hours of work and solicitors costs would be in the region of £5440.00 plus VAT ( £6528.00 including VAT);
- An Estate worth approximately £500000 is likely to involve about 40 hours of work and solicitors costs would be in the region of £10880.00 plus VAT ( £13056.00 including VAT).
We can discuss any circumstances with you with and where possible we may be able to agree a fixed fee.
We also offer a fixed cost Deed of Variation for £950.00 plus VAT ( £1140.00 including VAT). This may be required where the Executors wish to vary the terms of a Will or the rules of intestacy. This may be done for a number of reasons, including reducing the amount of inheritance tax payable, providing for someone who was left out of the Will, to move the deceased’s assets into trust or address any ambiguity in the Will.
As a standard and generally speaking, our fee for administering an estate consists of the following:
- The work referred to above for applying for/receiving the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration; and
- Arranging for Section 27 Notices to be issued in the local paper.
- Arranging for the bank accounts to be closed and cashing in assets once the Grant has been obtained.
- Liaising with Liquidators/Creditors if it is an insolvent estate.
- Dealing with pensions.
- Settling liabilities and any overpayments which may have occurred.
- Settling the income tax position.
- Liaising with Executors/Personal Representatives.
- Contacting beneficiaries with a view to obtaining ID and bank account details.
- Undertaking bankruptcy checks on beneficiaries.
- Transferring the any property in accordance to the Will or Intestacy.
- Preparing Estate Accounts for approval.
- Arranging for distribution to all named beneficiaries in the Will or intestacy.
Timescale Information
Taking the Executor’s Year into account, the timescale involved in the administration of estates can largely vary, dependent on the amount and nature of the deceased’s assets and liabilities.
As the work ultimately involves contacting third-parties and awaiting responses and relevant actions to be taken, it is very difficult to predict the timescales involved, however we would expect the process to follow the following stages:
- Contacting all third parties, preparing the Probate application and any supporting Tax forms – 6 to 8 weeks
- Extracting the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration – 16 weeks
- Extracting the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration on a complex tax case – 16 to 24 weeks
- Providing all assets holders with a copy of the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration with a view to liquidising the same – 4 to 10 weeks (this is of course dependent on third parties engaging with us)
- Statutory Notices being placed – 9 weeks
- Preparing accounts to dealing with final distribution 8 – 12 weeks (this of course will depend to the complexity the case)
If you have any questions or queries regarding our services, please do not hesitate to contact us today.