Wills and Probate

We understand that dealing with the estate of someone who has died can be a difficult and upsetting time for those who are required to manage it.

We can help you through that process by obtaining a grant of probate and dealing with collecting and distributing the assets to the beneficiaries.

We specialise in acting in high value, complex estates with business and property interests.  

We recognise that no two Estates will be exactly the same and so the time that will be taken to complete the administration process will depend on the level of work that needs to be carried out. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, the costs should be lower compared with an Estate where there are a number of beneficiaries, a property to be disposed of/transferred and multiple bank accounts, where it should be expected the costs would be higher.

If you would like us to manage the full administration of an estate for you, we would anticipate this should take between 30 and 35 hours to complete based on the list of assumptions outlined below.

The hourly rates of the lawyers within our Private Client Team range from £135 plus VAT for a paralegal to £385 plus VAT for our most senior partner. When applying an average hourly rate of £255 plus VAT (being the average rate for our existing fee earners), our total professional costs are estimated to be in the region of £7,650 to £8,925 plus VAT (currently at 20%).

Assumptions in our pricing

The estimate of our costs set out above would be for an estate where:

• The person who has died was UK domiciled and resident.
• There is a valid Will appointing one executor who is UK domiciled and resident and who is willing to act in the administration of the estate.
• There is no more than one freehold residential property registered with the Land Registry and this it to be retained and transferred to the beneficiaries and not sold during the administration of the estate.
• There are no more than 3 bank or building society accounts.
• There are no other intangible assets (e.g. patents, trademarks and copyrights).
• There are no foreign assets.
• There are no outstanding creditors of the estate except in relation to the funeral arrangements.
• There are no more than 2 adult UK domiciled and resident beneficiaries who are absolutely entitled under the Will and therefore no continuing Trusts.
• There are no disputes between beneficiaries on the division of estate assets.
• There is no Inheritance Tax payable and the Executors do not need to submit an Inheritance Tax Account (form IHT400) to H M Revenue & Customs.
• There is no requirement for the Estate to submit a tax return, or make any separate/additional tax disclosure, to H M Revenue & Customs.
• There are no claims made against the estate and matters are able to proceed within normal timeframes.

Potential additional costs

If any of the assumptions above do not apply our costs will increase, for example if there is no Will or the estate consists of any shareholdings/other investments. In those circumstances, we can provide you with a more accurate fee estimate once we have more information from you.

There will be additional costs incurred if the type of work to be carried out is particularly complex or urgent for any reason, or the nature of your instructions to us require work to be completed outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will notify you in advance and agree an appropriate rate for the time spent and the work carried out. Again, we can provide you with a more accurate fee estimate once we have more information from you.

Disbursements

Our pricing set out above does not include the disbursement costs which we would expect to incur in managing an Estate. Disbursements are costs related to the matter which are payable to third parties, such as court fees. The most frequent disbursement costs are set out below:

• Probate application fee of £273, on which no VAT is payable.
• Additional ‘office copies’ of the grant of probate can be obtained at the time of applying at a cost of 1.50 each, on which no VAT is payable. It can be helpful to obtain a number of extra copies when administering an Estate.
• Bankruptcy only Land Charges Department search fee of £2 per beneficiary, on which no VAT is payable.
• In the region of £275 plus VAT at 20% to place suitable Press Notices in The London Gazette and in a local newspaper to identify any unknown creditors.

Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes between 12 to 16 weeks from when you ask us to act for you. Collecting in the assets and obtaining all the relevant information will then follow, which can take between 6 to 8 weeks to complete. Once this has been done, Estate Accounts can be prepared for your approval before asking the beneficiaries to agree to the final figures so the assets can be distributed and this normally takes between 6-8 weeks to arrange.

On average, estates of the type set out above should take in the region of 6 months to be complete but this can vary in each case as there will be factors in the administration process which are outside of our direct control, such as when dealing with the banks and waiting to receive the grant of probate. 

Our team has many years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to Wills and Estate Administration. We offer a Partner led service and the team has particular expertise in high value estates, particularly with business and property assets and Inheritance Tax matters. Regardless of who works on your matter, it will be supervised by a Partner.

If you have any questions or would like any assistance please contact us.

For more information regarding Probate, Estates and Inheritance Tax, please click on the independent links below:

Probate: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance

Inheritance Tax: https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax

Probate, Estates and Executors: https://www.legalchoices.org.uk/

Bereavement tax guide: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tools/bereavement/index.htm