Probate and Estate Administration
We can help you through this difficult process and offer different services depending on your needs and budgetary requirements. You may wish to limit our involvement to dealing with HMRC Tax forms and obtaining the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. Or, you may prefer us to deal with the whole estate administration which include obtaining the Grant of Probate, managing the collection and distribution of assets, preparing estate accounts and finalising all tax and other related estate-related matters. We can tailor our service and offer a price package according to your individual requirements.
The majority of the work will be carried out by partners and experienced solicitors with hourly rates of £220 - £250 plus VAT.
The fees stated are indicative only as each estate is different. Please contact Gill Collins by calling us or emailing Gill for an estimate based on the information about your specific case.
Full Service
For details on the work undertaken in our Full Service please view our Private Client Services page.
We generally charge an ahourly rate based on the number of hours spent on the case together with a percentage of the estate. The percentages where we are not appointed as executors are 1% of the gross “liquid” estate (excluding the deceased’s property), and 0.5% of the gross value of the deceased’s property plus VAT. Where we are executors the percentages are 1.5% and 0.75% plus VAT respectively.
In a scenario where there is a valid Will, a sole beneficiary, one property and a couple of bank accounts: this work would typically takes between 2-3 hours hours to prepare the papers for HMRC and submit the application to Probate with a further 3-4 hours to collect in the assets, reconcile the bank accounts, transfer the property and prepare final estate accounts. Based on an hourly rate of £250, the likely total cost would be between £1,250 - £1,750 plus VAT ous the percentage as outlined above.
The fees we charge are subject to the “fair and reasonable” rule, which means that if circumstances dictate, they will be reduced. For example, if a deceased has £1 million in one bank account and nothing else then it may not be fair and reasonable to charge the full percentages and our fees would be reduced.
Inheritance Tax Form(s) and Grant of Probate only
For details on the work undertaken in our Probabte only service please view our Private Client Services page.
We charge a fixed fee, the amount of which will be discussed at the outset and will depend upon which Inheritance Tax account(s) are required, whether inheritance tax is payable and whether there are any other complexities in the accounts such as lifetime gifts, exempt / non-exempt beneficiaries. Our fee range for the vast majority of cases is between £1,500 - £3,500 plus VAT.
Factors which might increase our fee
- - There is no valid will
- - There is more than one property, or property overseas (Please note that the costs and expenses) of foreign lawyers are not included in our fee)
- - There are numerous bank accounts
- - There are other intangible assets, eg stocks and bonds
- - There are multiple beneficiaries
- - Disputes between beneficiaries
- - Claims are made against the estate
Potential additional costs
The costs set out above do not include the following services:
- - Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate
- - Dealing with any disputes which arise concerning the estate
- - Assisting with any HMRC audit of the estate
- - Liaising with foreign lawyers over the sale of any overseas property
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Court fees. We will deal with payment of disbursements on your behalf to make the process smoother.
Typical disbursements | |
Probate application fee | £155 plus £1.50 for every office copy of the Grant |
Bankruptcy search | £2.90 per deceased, executor and beneficiary |
Advertisement in the London Gazette (if required) | £190 approx |
Land Registry Fees (if required) | £6-12 |
Valuation fees (if required) | These depend on the assets |
Landmark missing asset search (if required) | £170 approx |
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