Probate & Estate Administration

When someone dies there are many decisions and arrangements to be made.  Unfortunately these often have to be made at the time of personal distress and you may require help with the administrative and financial issues arising out of a bereavement.

Our team will be happy to assist you and guide you at any stage through the complex and complicated area of administering an estate so as to reduce the anxiety and worries of being an executor or administrator.  We can help you to apply to the Probate Court for a Grant of Probate where there is a Will or a Grant of Letters of Administration where there is no Will and the deceased has died intestate.  Where appropriate, we can also advise you in relation to a Deed of Variation under which the Will can be altered after someone’s death.  This type of arrangement is often used in order to re-distribute wealth as part of a general strategy to save inheritance tax.

You may find there are unfortunate circumstances in which problems arise with the administration of an estate or you have reason to challenge the Will or the rules of intestacy which set out who gets what where someone dies without a Will.  On those occasions we can offer initial advice and our Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team can assist you if the matter becomes contentious.

Probate
Probate is required where an estate is worth more than £5,000.00 and we are able to obtain a Grant of Probate on your behalf if you are the executor named in the Will. As you would expect, no two estates are the same and the costs involved in obtaining a Grant of Probate will vary with the amount of legal help that is required and the complexity of the estate and the value of the assets contained in it. It is therefore difficult to predict the exact cost of any probate, however the following is a guideline only and our team will be more than happy to provide you with a more tailored estimate at the initial interview and we often find that clients benefit from a fixed fee quotation so that they know from the outset how much their fees are going to be.

Estate Administration
Clients often instruct us to deal with probate and the administration of estates and this involves dealing with all the assets and accounting to the beneficiaries for the moneys due to them as set out in the Will. As no estate is the same, then we have divided them into three distinct types for cost purposes.

How much does it cost?
For cost purposes we have divided estates into three types of category.

Straightforward estates
Intermediate estates
Complex estates

Straightforward Estates
Our costs to obtain probate and administer a straightforward estate will usually range between £1,750.00 to £3,500.00 plus VAT and disbursements. Such estates normally include a residential property, no more than four bank accounts and one to four beneficiaries.

Intermediate Estates
These estates normally include property and other assets which mean inheritance tax may be payable and/or a claim for a relief or exemption from inheritance tax is made using the relevant IHT forms. Typically such estates are valued in excess of £325,000.00 and our costs for dealing with these will usually range between £3,000.00 and £6,500.00 plus VAT and disbursements.

Complex Estates

Complex estates involve the payment of inheritance tax and usually include agricultural or business interests as well as significant assets valued in excess of £325,000.00. Our costs for dealing with these types of estates will usually range between £6,500.00 and £15,000.00 plus VAT and disbursements. Often we are able to claim reliefs and exemptions on behalf of the executors and beneficiaries which results in a saving to inheritance tax of estates up to a value of £1,000,000 subject to certain conditions applying.

Our average charging rate per hour is based upon the level of expertise required and the staff working on your case. Staff include paralegals and admin assistants £180.00 per hour plus VAT, solicitors & legal executives £250.00 per hour plus VAT and solicitor and department head £280.00 per hour plus VAT and disbursements.

Disbursements:
Disbursements are payments made to third parties and are in addition to the fees quoted above. The most common disbursements are:
1. Probate Court fee of £300.00 (under present rates)
2. Probate fee copy of Grant £1.50 per copy
3. Land Registry Search for property £6.00 per property
4. Bankruptcy Searches £2.00 per beneficiary
5. Section 27 statutory Notice and advertisement in the local newspaper approximately £350.00
6. Certainty Will Search £95.00 plus VAT

Fixed fee Grant of Probate only type applications:
We offer a fixed fee for estates where the executors provide all the information about the deceased’s assets and simply want us to obtain a Grant of Probate on their behalf so that they can then administer the estate in accordance with the terms of the Will. If the estate is one where inheritance tax is not payable our fixed fee is £1,100.00 plus VAT and disbursements in cases where we do not have to complete the long IHT forms. If we have to complete the long IHT400 forms our fixed fee is £2,200.00 plus VAT and disbursements.  These costs estimates are based upon all relevant information being supplied to this firm about the value of the estate and its component elements.

All costs estimates are subject to VAT which is currently charged at 20%.

Timescales : The first stage in any application where Probate is required is to obtain a full picture of the estate to include value of any property and assets as well as any liabilities.  This can take 4-8 weeks and is dependent on how quickly replies to our enquiries are received.

In standard estates we would normally expect to receive a Grant of Probate or Administration within 10 weeks of application to the Probate Court.  If an estate is more complex and requires clearance through HMRC for Inheritance Tax purposes then an initial application will need to be made to HMRC which can take 20-35 working days.  In both cases these timescales are beyond our control.