The costs involved will depend on the assistance you require. Our help can simply involve an application for a grant of probate (i.e. our clients deal with the administration of the Estate without our continued assistance) or our assistance can extend to the full administration of the Estate.

In these types of matters, it is very difficult to estimate the amount of time required to complete the work involved. This can vary depending on the number of assets, how promptly replies are received, and whether any particular problem arises, the number of beneficiaries, whether there is any Inheritance Tax or other Taxes payable, and whether the Estate is subject to any claim, as well as other variables

OUR HOURLY RATES

In certain cases, the charges may be calculated mainly by reference to the time spent by Mathew Jones, Steven Evans, Alison Coles dealing with the matter. We set out below the categories of staff in the Private Client Department, and their hourly charge out rate, which is subject to VAT charged at 20%:

GRANT ONLY

In “Grant Only” matters our clients provide all the information required for the submission to the Probate Registry, including valuations, balances on accounts etc. Our instructions are limited to preparing the application forms for a grant of representation and submitting the same to the Probate Registry. If instructed to simply obtain a grant only, our firm do not deal with the Estate administration – this is seen to be the client personally. Ordinarily our fees will be between £850 to £1150 + VAT (VAT charged at 20%) and disbursements. This estimate is based on the following:-

• There is no requirement for a full Inheritance Tax submission to HMRC;
• There is no Inheritance Tax payable; and
• The deceased left a Will and there is unlikely to be a dispute in respect of the same;

The above is not an exhaustive list of issues that may arise during an Estate administration. Other issues may arise that could result in further, unanticipated expenses/fees.

FULL ADMINISTRATION

In “Full Administration” matters our firm obtain Valuations of all of the Estate’s assets, and details of all liabilities, which enable us to prepare a summary of the position, and the Inland Revenue Account papers which have to be lodged with H.M. Revenue & Customs, and the Statement of Truth which is needed to be lodged with the Court to apply for the Grant of Representation. If the Estate is subject to Inheritance Tax, then arrangements will need to be made to pay all or part of the Tax liability (depending on the type of assets in the Estate) on submission of the application for Grant of Representation. Once Grant of Representation is issued, we deal with registration of this in connection with the assets, realisation of assets, and settlement of known liabilities, property transfers, and preparation of Estate Accounts for your approval and then distribution of the Estate in accordance with the terms of the Will or Intestacy rules (as appropriate). In Inheritance Tax cases, we apply for a Clearance Certificate from H.M. Revenue & Customs, and deal with any necessary correspondence with H.M. Revenue & Customs.

By way of an example, if our firm were instructed to deal with the full administration of an Estate and;

• the gross value of the Estate does not exceed £200,000 (gross);
• there is no need for a full Inheritance Tax submission to HMRC;
• there is no potential dispute or claim against the Estate; and
• there are no more than five organisations holding funds on behalf of the deceased

We would anticipate our fees to be in the region of £2,000.00 to £3,500.00 + VAT charged at 20% and disbursements.

MORE COMPLEX ESTATES

In more complex Estates we charge in accordance with the guidance issued by the Law Society.

The benchmark for calculation of the expenses is by reference to the time spent by the staff in the Firm in dealing with the matter. This time is charged at a lower rate of £130 per hour plus VAT charged at 20%. This is the “expense rate” which essentially covers the cost to us in terms of our own fixed overheads in undertaking the work.

The charges in such cases also contain an element based upon the value of the Estate assets and property with which we have to deal. This is because the value is a reflection of the importance of the matter, and the consequent risk and responsibility falling on the Firm. The relevant percentage is a maximum of 1% of the gross (pre-Tax) value of the Estate, excluding any residence in which the deceased resided, where the rate is 0.5%. (The value of any jointly owned assets which we have to administer is discounted by one-half).

DISBURSEMENTS

In addition to the legal expenses, there will normally also be certain additional payments such as Court fees, Swear fees, charges for official copies of Probate documents, and Land Registry fees. These are known as disbursements. Standard disbursements in an Estate administration are as follows (although the below list is not exhaustive):-

• Probate Registry Fee – £300.00
• Probate Registry Fee for further copies of the grant – £1.50p per copy
• Bankruptcy Search — £2.00 per search

TIMESCALES

It is difficult to provide an estimate as to how long it may take to administer an Estate, as it ultimately depends on the circumstances particular to the matter. We would however anticipate for a Grant only submission to take between 6-12 months to conclude. Often the time it will take to fully administer an Estate is determined by outside factors, such as the sale of a property etc. That said, we will endeavour to provide an estimate of the time it will take to administer an Estate during our initial consultation.

All work is supervised by a qualified Solicitor.

Specific experience can be seen looking at the individual profiles of “Our People”.