Wills

Our typical charges for a single, simple Will are between £50 - £75 plus VAT

Our typical charges for simple, joint (or mirror Wills) are between £90-£120 plus VAT

For more complicated Wills, our charges vary but are typically in the region of £150 - £250 plus VAT but we will be able to give you an accurate quotation once we have taken some information about you and your circumstances.

 

Power of Attorney

Single lasting powers of attorney (LPA) - Property & Finance OR Health & Wellbeing: £250 VAT

If you are making between two and four lasting powers of attorney (for example a husband and wife), which broadly mirror each other, we may provide a discount to take account of this.

If you wish to register your LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), the OPG have a registration fee of £82 per document.

 

Estate Administration and Probate

For taxable and non-taxable estates, the exact cost will vary depending upon individual circumstances. However, based upon the experience of our team, we are able to give the following examples of costs:

1. Very simple estates.

Where there may be one or two bank/building society accounts, personal possessions, little or no debts, one or two beneficiaries and no property then our typical costs for full estate administration work is likely to be between £1,200.00 – £3,000.00 plus VAT and disbursements.

1. Simple estates

Where there may be one or two bank/building society accounts, personal possessions, little or no debts, several beneficiaries and a property then our typical costs for full estate administration work is likely to be between £2,500.00 – £5,500.00 plus VAT and disbursements.

1. Moderately complex estates.

Where there may be several bank/building society accounts, investments, shares, property, some debts, the estate needs to be registered for income/capital gains tax purposes, several beneficiaries and/or where Inheritance Tax allowances may need to be claimed then our typical costs for full estate administration work is likely to be between £4,000.00 – £8,000.00 plus VAT and disbursements.

1. Large and Complicated estates

These will include all the elements for moderately complex estates and may also be subject to larger amounts of Inheritance tax together with lengthy negotiations with HMRC, multiple properties, foreign assets, a large number of investments, a large number of beneficiaries, unusual gifts and/or special features. The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. We can give you an accurate quote once we have more information.

 

We may charge an element based on the value of the Estate.  This is a reflection of the importance of the matter and, consequently, the responsibility of the firm. The value element is included in the estimates given above.

This is something we will discuss and agree with you at the time you make your Will. If we are not appointed as Executors, this is something we will agree with your Executors.

If you are the Executor of the estate (where a person has left a Will) or the proposed Administrator (where a person has not left a Will) and if you want to administer the estate yourself but want our help to extract the Grant for an estate then we would normally be able to do this for you.

 

We will need to discuss with you the assets in the estate and the likely amount of work in preparing the Probate application before agreeing a fixed fee. The typical cost of extracting the Grant for non-taxable estates where a full tax return is not required, known as the IHT 400, will be around £500 - £1,000 plus VAT and disbursements depending on a number of factors which affect the amount of work involved, for example, the size of the estate, the number of assets, whether claims for the residence nil rate band and/or transferable nil rate bands are necessary.

 

For taxable estates, if you are the Executor of the estate (where a person has left a Will) or the proposed Administrator (where a person has not left a Will) and if you want to administer the estate yourself but want our help to extract the Grant for an estate then we would normally be able to do this for you. We will need to discuss with you the assets in the estate and the likely amount of work in preparing the Probate application before agreeing a fixed fee. The typical cost of extracting the Grant for a taxable estate will be around £1,500 - £3,500 depending on a number of factors which affect the amount of work involved, for example, the size of the estate, the number of assets, whether reliefs such as Agricultural Property Relief or Business Property Relief are claimed 

 

Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included in the estimates above.

Disbursements in addition to our professional charges:

·         Probate application fee  - £155 and £1.50 per extra copy (we normally obtain 5 extra copies)

·         Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£2 per beneficiary)

·         Statutory advertisements in The London Gazette and Local Newspaper- we will discuss the benefits of these advertisements which are to protect against unexpected claims from unknown creditors.  We cannot specify the cost of the same as it varies but generally cost in the region £150- £250

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Time Scales

 

On average, probate for the typical estate not subject to inheritance tax usually takes between 3 – 12 months.

If an estate is subject to inheritance tax, it is more usual for the process to take between 12 and 24 months.

These timescales depend largely on whether there is a property to sell.