Our team has over 70 years of collective expertise in helping individuals and families at a time of bereavement.

The cost of having professional help with the administration of an estate is usually payable from the estate and can save the personal representatives a lot of time and stress. In addition, it can provide peace of mind that the estate has been administered correctly according to law.

Our team have an excellent reputation for delivering high quality work in the following areas:

• Wills
• Powers of Attorney
• Estate and Succession Planning
• Probate
• Intestate Estates
• Asset Protection
• Elderly Client Issues
• Court of Protection
• Mental Incapacity Issues
• Trusts

We have nine members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Jo Robinson, Head of Wills and Probate. To meet the team, please click here.

Please find below details of our charges in relation to UK applications for a Grant of Representation and the full administration of an estate, together with details of what our services include and the associated timescales.  Our hourly rates and details of likely disbursements can be found here.

As a Firm we aim to follow the Service Charter of the Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme which is published on the Law Society website at www.lawsociety.org.uk/accreditation/specialist-schemes/wills-inheritance-quality.

Application for a Grant of Representation

If the estate is relatively small or straightforward, clients sometimes choose to instruct us on a ‘Grant only’ basis. This means that we will obtain the Grant based on the figures that you provide us with. If you instruct us to act on a Grant only basis, then we will:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate lawyer to work on your matter
• Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators
• Accurately identify the type of Grant application you will require
• Prepare the Grant application based on you providing us with all the relevant financial information. If there is a property, then the property may need to be valued
• Draft the legal statement for you to sign
• Make the application to the Probate Registry on your behalf
• Obtain the Grant and send this to you with the requested number of copies

Fees

Our fees for applying for a Grant of Representation are:

• Low value and excepted estates – £950.00 plus VAT of £190.00 totalling £1,140.00.
  OR
•  Non excepted estates – £2,000 plus VAT of £400.00 totalling £2,400.00.

Additional Fees

If you require us to carry out any additional work on your behalf then we will provide you with a separate quote based on our hourly charging rates.

Payment of Fees

We will send you our invoice as soon as the Grant of Representation has been issued by the Probate Registry or on the termination of your instructions.

Timescale

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within four to ten weeks of us receiving all the information we require from you, but this is subject to any delays that there may be at the District Probate Registry which are beyond our control

Administration of An Estate

Our clients often prefer to instruct us to deal with the administration of the whole estate for them where we will:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate lawyer to work on your matter
• Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries
• Accurately identify the type of Grant application you will require
• Obtain the relevant information required to make the application
• Obtain professional valuations for any properties owned by the deceased (if applicable)
• Complete the Grant application and the relevant HMRC forms (if applicable)
• Draft the legal statement for you to sign and any other legal documents required in order to apply for the Grant
• Make the application to the Probate Registry on your behalf
• Register the Grant with the various financial institutions
• Collect and distribute all assets in the estate
• Pay the debts of the estate, including reimbursement to the personal representatives
• Provide advice on varying the terms of the Will or intestacy by Deed of Variation
• Pay any legacies left under a Will
• Prepare detailed estate accounts for approval by the personal representatives
• Distribute the estate to the beneficiaries in accordance with the Will or the rules of intestacy

Fees

Our fees depend on the individual circumstances of the matter and are calculated based on both the time spent working on the matter (the time element) and the value of the estate (the value element). The value element is based on 0.5% of the gross value of any residential property and 1% of the gross value of the estate (less the value of the residential property).

Your matter will be allocated to a relevant professional whose hourly charging rate will apply.

If the estate is straightforward to administer, then the time element would be less. Similarly, if the estate is complex or includes multiple assets and/or beneficiaries then the time element would be more.

Example Estate

If there was a Will appointing two executors who were also the residuary beneficiaries of the estate which included the family home (worth £150,000) and several bank accounts (totalling £50,000), then our fees are likely to be:

• Time element – £2,000.00 plus VAT of £400.00 totalling £2,400.00 (being around 10 hours of work to complete the administration of the estate)
• Value element – £1,250.00 plus VAT of £250.00 totalling £1,500.00 (being 0.5% of the gross value of the property and 1% gross value of all other assets)
• Total – £3,250.00 plus VAT of £650.00 totalling £3,900.00

This quote is for estates where:

• There is a valid Will
• There are no other assets
• There are no assets held outside the UK
• There is no inheritance tax to pay and it is an excepted estate
• No formal income or capital gains tax return is required for the estate administration period
• There are no disputes or claims against the estate

Additional Fees

Various complications could mean there would be additional fees that could range significantly depending on the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information, but some common complications are set out below;

• There is no Will
• The estate consists of shareholdings (stocks and bonds) and/or uncashed dividends
• The estate includes business or agricultural assets
• If the estate includes non-UK assets or the deceased was not domiciled in the UK
• If the deceased made substantial gifts during their lifetime
• There is a missing Will or missing assets
• There are missing beneficiaries, or they are located abroad
• Inheritance tax is payable
• The deceased’s tax affairs are not up to date
• The estate is insolvent or has significant liabilities
• The executors/administrators lack capacity or die during the course of the administration of the estate
• A trust arises under the Will
• Disputes arise between executors or between the executors and beneficiaries

In some circumstances, there may also be other professional fees that have to be paid including but not limited to:

• Conveyancing fees for the sale of property
• Valuer’s fees
• House clearance fees
• Accountants fees for the completion of tax returns
• Share registrar fees for the valuation of shares or indemnities for missing share certificates
• Insurance

Our fees do not include the payment of inheritance tax or capital gains tax. To calculate the amount of inheritance tax or capital gains tax that may be due please refer to the Government website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-tools-and-calculators#inheritance-tax-and-bereavement.

Fixed Fee Option

Many clients may prefer the option of a fixed fee so that they have certainty of costs. We would be more than happy to discuss this with you and the fixed fee payable would very much depend on the complexity of the estate and your instructions.

As a very basic guide, you can expect the fixed fee to equate to between 4% to 6% of the gross value of the estate.

Payment of Fees

If we hold sufficient funds then we will arrange for our fees to be paid from these funds on an ongoing basis.

Timescale

The length of time it takes to complete the administration of an estate very much depends on the type of assets that are in the estate and whether there is the potential for a claim to be made against the estate (for example from the Department for Work and Pensions or a disappointed beneficiary), and the number of beneficiaries involved.

As a rough guide though you can expect the administration of an estate to take between 3 and 12 months to complete.

Typically, it takes between 2 – 8 weeks to collate all the information required for the Grant application then a further 2 – 8 weeks for the Grant to be issued (however, they are currently advising of delays up to 14 weeks). If inheritance tax has to be considered then it can take HMRC 4 – 8 weeks to check the forms before the Grant can be applied for.

Collecting in the assets then follows which can take between 6 – 8 weeks but often much longer if there is a property to sell.

Once the assets have been collected in and all debts paid it will then take between 2 – 4 weeks for the estate accounts to be prepared and approved. Then the estate can be distributed.

Once the administration has been completed there might be a need to set up and register trusts which will be treated as a separate matter with separate fees, which will be discussed with you.

Updated 1st February 2023