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Costs Estimate

Before you instruct us to act on your behalf in a probate/estate administration transaction, we will provide you with our cost estimate based on the information we have at the time. Should the information change since the issuing of the costs estimate and or anything occurs during the transaction that was not foreseen at the time of making the initial costs estimate, it may be necessary to revise the estimate.

Example of our Costs for a Simple Probate Transaction

This would include applying for the Grant, collecting and distributing the assets within the estate.

We anticipate this will take between 10 and 20 hours work at between £260 and £280 per hour. Total costs estimated at £2,600 – £5,200 plus VAT and disbursements*.

Additional costs will depend on the individual circumstances of each matter. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the scale. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end. If our firm have been appointed as professional executors within the will then a value factor of up to but not exceeding 0.75% of the value of the property (or the deceased’s share of the property if any) and 1.5% of the gross estate (less the value of the property) will be added to the final fee.

We will handle the full process for you and your matter will be handled from beginning to end by our Director, Kate Perry or one of our Associates. This quote is for estates where: –

  • There is a valid will
  • There is no more than one property
  • There are no more than 4 bank or building society accounts
  • There are no other intangible assets
  • There are between 1 and 4 beneficiaries
  • There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets. If disputes arise this is likely to lead to increased costs.
  • There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC (please note that in certain circumstances a full account is required even if no inheritance tax is payable).
  • There are no claims made against the estate

Disbursements Not Subject To VAT

Bankruptcy Search Fees £2.00 each
Probate Court Settling Fee £10.00
Probate Court Fee £155.00
Oath swearing Fee (per Executor) £5.00
Additional exhibits (per Executor) £2.00 each

Disbursements Subject To VAT

Search Pack to include: £600
  • Financial Asset Search
  • Post in the London Gazette & Local Newspaper (protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors)
  • Certainty Combined Will Search
Identification Search Fee £6.25

Potential Additional Costs

  • Where there is no will, or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and/or bonds) there is likely to be additional costs 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.
  • Handling the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included. We can give you a quote for this on request.
  • If this matter does not proceed to completion, or if this firm does not complete the work, we will charge you for the work that we have carried out on the basis referred to above. Our bill will also include VAT and any other expenses that have already been incurred. This charge will be payable within 30 days.

Timescales

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 6 – 12 months.  Typically, obtaining a grant of probate takes 8 to 16 weeks.  Collecting the estate assets will follow which can take between 4 and 12 weeks.  Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets which normally takes 2 to 4 weeks.  (Please note however if statutory advertisements are placed this can delay the asset distribution by up to 8 weeks.  (PLEASE NOTE – during the current pandemic these timescales are very likely to be exceeded)

* N.B. The total amount of fees, VAT, and other payments may be subject to alteration if the rates are changed.