Our Fees for Wills & Probate Services

Simple Wills £150 plus vat for a single person and £250 plus vat for a married couple.

Where there is a need for a discretionary trust for children, or a trust regarding occupation of the deceased’s property and the like, a full costing would be provided after an initial consultation with us has established the extent of the work required.

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LPA COSTS

£500 plus vat for 1 LPA (Property and Financial Affairs or Health and Welfare) for a single person and £650 plus vat for one of each.

Discounted rates apply where we prepare a will as well as an LPA. Please arrange an appointment to discuss this with us.

PROBATE COSTS

 We charge £175 per hour. For an estate with a value of no more than £325,000.00, to include applying for the grant, completing the necessary IHT Tax Return, collecting and distributing the assets and taking no more than 15 hours our costs for time taken to complete the work will be no more than £2625.00 (+ VAT and disbursements).

The exact cost will depend on the time it will take to complete the work. A simple estate with one or two beneficiaries and very few assets and liabilities will take less time than an estate with a lot of beneficiaries, investments, property and the like be at the lower end of the range.

In addition to our charge for the time we have taken as set out above, in order to reflect the value of the estate and the importance of the service, as well as the speed of completion of the work and our responsibility for administering the estate, we are permitted to charge an additional amount according to the value of the estate in accordance Law Society Guidelines. These are as follows:-

Lay person acting as Executor: 1.0% of the gross estate less property or land, plus 0.5% of the property or land.

Solicitor as Executor: 1.5% of the gross estate less property or land, plus 0.75% of property or land.

Where a property in the estate needs to be sold or transferred we would not charge an additional fee for carrying out the required conveyancing work.

If we are instructed to apply for the grant of probate and to collect and distribute the net assets the rates set out above will cover an estate where a valid Will is available, no more than one property, up to 4 bank or building society accounts, up to 5 beneficiaries and there are no disputes over the estate by beneficiaries/ potential beneficiaries.

We will provide a tailored estimate should the aforesaid criteria not be met. We do reserve the right to revise any quotation given to you if unforeseen matters complicate the completion of the work and we would bring such matters to your attention as and when they arise. A dispute over the estate would probably increase the amount of work required and the costs accordingly.

We are happy to discuss our costs for carrying out only some of the work if that is your preference ie where you instruct us to obtain probate for you but you wish to administer and distribute the estate yourself. Please arrange an appointment to discuss your needs and we will be happy to provide you with a quotation.

In addition to our costs we will also deal with payments to third parties ( “disbursements”) and these are typically as follows:-

• Probate application fee of £155.00
• Bankruptcy only Land Charges searches (£2 per Beneficiary/Executor/Legatee)
• £83.40 Post in The London Gazette – to give an executor protection against unexpected claims from unknown creditors.
• £117.70 Post in a Local Newspaper to give the executor protection against unexpected claims.”