The Probate process

We would be very happy to assist you with all aspects of the administration of an estate.

Our fees

Unlike many solicitors, we do not charge “fixed” fees for probate work that we carry out.  Nor do we use the value of the estate as the primary means of calculating costs.  Instead we work out how much work we believe will need to be carried out and calculate our charges based on this.

As we are sure you will appreciate, an estate with only a small number of different assets, no Inheritance Tax to be paid and only a small number of beneficiaries will require considerably less work than one with a large number of different assets, many beneficiaries and the payment of Inheritance Tax.

To give you an idea of likely costs, we would say that in connection with uncontested estates, whether or not the deceased left a valid Will:

• For the administration of an estate with less than 5 different assets and beneficiaries, where the Executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC, costs should be in the region of between £1,350.00 and £1,600.00 plus V.A.T.
• For the administration of an estate where there are more assets and beneficiaries but still where the Executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC, costs should be in the region of between £1,850.00 and £2,600.00 plus V.A.T.
• For the administration of an estate where a full account needs to be submitted to HMRC, costs should be in the region of between £3,750.00 and £5,500.00 plus V.A.T.

In addition to the above costs, we also charge the following:

Therefore, on the basis of the above, and assuming there are no unforeseen complications, the matter should usually be completed within six months, if no Inheritance Tax is payable.  If Inheritance Tax does need to be paid, the above timescales will need to be extended as we cannot apply for the Grant of Probate until HMRC has acknowledged receipt of the tax paid and this takes 5 weeks.

All work is carried out by our solicitor, Julia Betts, who has over 40 years’ experience in this type of work, assisted by support staff.  Julia’s hourly fee is currently £230.00 plus V.A.T.

Additional costs may be involved if the:-

• assets include a large number of shareholdings
• residuary beneficiaries include charities
• beneficiaries are in dispute about any aspect of the administration of the Estate

but, if this proved to be the case, we would discuss this with you and agree costs.

Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included in the above prices.

Should you wish to deal with most of the administration of the Estate yourself and just wish us to deal with obtaining the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration for you, we would be very happy to do this as well.

Our costs for doing this will usually be approximately £510.00 plus V.A.T. if a full HMRC Inheritance Tax Account does not need to be submitted.

If we are also required to prepare an HMRC Inheritance Tax Account and liaise with HMRC over payment of the tax due, costs will be in the region of £860.00 - £1,210.00 plus V.A.T.

Our service for obtaining a Grant of Probate only is as follows:

• We will start by sending you a very brief questionnaire to complete to give us an idea of the size of the estate.
• We will then write to you setting out our anticipated costs and disbursements and terms for acting.
• If you are happy to proceed, we will ask you to provide proof of your identification so that we can carry out our identification and anti-money laundering checks.
• We will then ascertain the monies in the Estate by writing to the financial institutions where assets are held. This part of the process usually takes between 6 and 8 weeks.
• This information enables us to prepare the Legal Statement which we will send to you for approval and signing.
• At the same time the relevant H M Revenue & Customs forms are prepared and any Inheritance Tax that is due will be calculated – taking into account the allowances that are available. These forms will also be sent to you for checking and signing.
• If Inheritance Tax is due, then this needs to be paid prior to sending the Legal Statement to the Probate Registry. We can usually take the amount due from the deceased’s bank accounts.
• The Statement is then sent to the Probate Registry, with the probate court fee, for the issuing of the Grant of Probate which is currently taking between 10 and 12 weeks.

As above, this work would be carried out by our Solicitor, Julia Betts, assisted by support staff.