A man who successfully challenged his mother's final will is likely to recover the lion's share of his legal costs after the High Court ruled that his brother, who attempted to uphold the will's validity, should pay his costs on the indemnity basis . In...
We can help you through this difficult process by obtaining the Grant of Probate on your behalf. We will also undertake the collecting and distributing of assets.
How much does this service cost?
TOTAL: fixed fee 2.5% of the gross estate or minimum fee of £2,500.00 whichever is the greater.
This includes: all pre-grant enquiries, obtaining the grant, collecting assets and distributing them.
Breakdown of costs:
Legal fees 2.5% of gross estate.
VAT on legal fees 20% of 2.5% of gross estate or £2,500.00.
Disbursements:
- Probate court fee of £155.00 plus 50p per sealed copy
- Swearing of the Oath (per executor) £7.00
- Bankruptcy – only Land Charges Department searches (£2.00 per beneficiary)
- £83.40 Post in the London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors
- £100-£150.00 Post in a Local Newspaper – This also helps to protect against unexpected claims.
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
As part of our fixed fee we will:
- Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate fee earner to work on your matter
- Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries
- Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require
- Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application
- Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms
- Draft a legal Oath for you to swear
- Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf
- Obtain the Probate and securely send two copies to you
- Collect and distribute all assets in the estate
On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 9-12 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 3-4 months if the matter is not complex and no IHT payable. If the matter is complex and IHT payable we would anticipate obtaining a Grant of Probate within 6 months. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 1-2 months. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 3-4 weeks. These timescales do not refer to the sale of property and this can extend the administration of the estate.
Our fixed fees do not include work relating to:-
- Disputes between beneficiaries or claims against the estate
- Conveyancing charges
- Deed of Variation
- Winding up of related Trusts
Services Included:
- Meet with you to take instructions with regard to the estate.
- Write to all asset and liability holders to gather the required information about the estate.
- Arrange valuations of any properties, businesses, shares and investments.
- Arrange valuation of the contents of the house and any other personal effects such as motor vehicles.
- Contact all beneficiaries to verify their details and ID and notify them of their entitlement.
- Placing Trustee Act Notices in the necessary papers so as to protect the executors from personal liability against third party creditors (e.g. if the deceased had any debts in their name of which you were unaware).
- Notify buildings and contents insurers of the death of the deceased and liaise with you over the renewal of insurance and comply with any additional requirements imposed by them.
- Notify utilities and Council Tax and arrange for their transfer or closure.
- Keep creditors informed of the progress of the estate throughout.
- Keep yourself informed of the progress of the estate throughout.
- When all necessary information is gathered in preparing the application papers for the Grant of Probate including the Inland Revenue account to be submitted to HMRC.
- Arranging for the raising of any Tax that is required to be paid before Probate is issued and liaising with you and the relevant banks etc. in connection with that.
- Submitting all papers to the Probate Registry and HMRC
- On receipt of the Grant of Probate completing all claim, withdrawal, transfer and indemnity forms.
- Obtaining your execution of them and submitting them to the relevant asset holders so as to gather in the assets.
- On receipt of sufficient monies to discharging any outstanding Inheritance Tax and other debts of the estate.
- Arranging for updated valuations of the house where required
- To arranging the property to be placed on the market.
- To liaising with estate agents throughout the marketing of the property.
- To liaising with conveyancing department looking after the eventual sale of the property.
- Once all funds are gathered in and liabilities discharged preparing Estate Accounts, getting your and other beneficiaries approval and distributing funds to the entitled beneficiaries.
- This includes all meetings, telephone conversations, e-mails and other correspondence throughout relating to all of the above.
- On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 9-12 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 3-4 months if the matter is not complex and no IHT payable. If the matter is complex and IHT payable we would anticipate obtaining a Grant of Probate within 6 months. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 1-2 months. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 3-4 weeks. These timescales do not refer to the sale of property and this can extend the administration of the estate.
Our fixed fees do not include work relating to:
- Disputes between beneficiaries or claims against the estate
- Conveyancing charges
- Deed of Variation
- Winding up of related Trusts