We offer a full service to deal with the administration of the estate of someone who has died.  This page should help you understand the costs involved and how they are calculated.  Please contact us if you need more information.

Applying for the Grant, Collecting and Distributing the Assets
We anticipate this will typically take between 12 and 40 hours’ work at £200 per hour, plus VAT (£240.00 inc VAT).  All work is undertaken by qualified solicitors with at least 8 years experience.  Total costs estimated at £2,500 to £7,500 plus VAT (£3,000 to £9,000 inc VAT).

We also charge an additional fee to reflect the complexity and value of the matter.  This is usually ½% of the value of property held by the estate and 1% of the value of other assets in accordance with Law Society guidelines.

The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter.  For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range.  If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

We will handle the full process for you.  The estimate given is for estates where:-
• There is a valid Will and no disputes between Executors
• There is no more than one property
• There are up to 4 residuary beneficiaries and up to 4 legatees
• There is no inheritance tax payable and the Executors do not need to submit an Inheritance Tax Account to HMRC
• There are no claims made against the estate

We anticipate that the following disbursements (payments to others) will be payable on a typical estate:
• Probate application fee of £155 plus £1.50 per copy Grant required (no VAT charged)
• Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£2 per beneficiary) (no VAT charged)
• £80-200 (inc VAT) Statutory Notices to creditors (these protect against unexplained claims from unknown creditors)

Potential additional costs

• If there is no Will or if the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds), investments and if there are a higher number of beneficiaries (or the whereabouts of a beneficiary is unknown), properties or foreign assets, if the deceased made substantial lifetime gifts or had an interest in a trust, or if the Will contains a trust, 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.
• Dealing with the sale, transfer or registration of any property in the estate is not included

How Long Will this take?

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 6-12 months.  Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 6-12 weeks from the time that all necessary information is available.  Collecting liquid assets then follows, which can take between 4-8 weeks.  Selling the property may take longer.  It can take several months to finalise the deceased’s income tax affairs.  Once the executors are satisfied that all of the assets collected in and all of the liabilities paid, and Statutory Notices have expired, estate accounts are prepared and approved, we can distribute the assets.  The distribution of the estate after approval of the estate accounts generally takes 2-3 weeks.

Grant-only Probate and Administration (Fixed Fee)
We offer a fixed-fee service where we obtain the Grant of Probate on behalf of an executor.  The executor then undertakes the process of collecting in and distributing the assets.    We rely on the executor to provide all necessary information.  If this is delayed or we have to make further enquiries ourselves then costs may rise.  We will discuss this with you and agree any additional costs before proceeding.

Fees are a minimum of £850+VAT and depend upon which HMRC forms need to be completed and whether there is any inheritance tax payable.  Relevant factors:-
• Value of deceased’s estate
• Nature of the deceased’s assets including lifetime gifts made and any interest in a trust
• Who is inheriting the estate ie spouse, children, charities
• Marital status of the deceased (where the deceased is a widow/er, what happened to the assets of the first spouse who died)

The fees below are for the application for a  Grant of  Representation and the stated HMRC form

HMRC Form IHT205 only
• £850+VAT (£1,020 inc VAT)
• Value of estate is less than £325,000 or less than £1m and spouse/charity exemption applies.

HMRC Forms IHT205 & IHT217
• £950+VAT (£1,140 inc VAT)
• Value of estate is less than £650,000 and 100% of Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band of first spouse is available to transfer.

HMRC Inheritance Tax Account IHT400
• £1,200 to £2,000+VAT (£1,440 to £2,400 inc VAT)
• Where estate passes to surviving spouse/charity but value of estate is over £1m.
• Where less than 100% of first spouse’s Nil Rate Band is available to transfer, or
• Where Residence Nil Rate Band or transferable Residence Nil Rate Band needs to be claimed.

Disbursements (payments to others) also payable:
• Probate application fee of £155 plus £1.50 per copy Grant required (no VAT charged)

How Long Will this take?

Obtaining the Grant of Probate typically takes 6-12 weeks from the date the executor provides us with all the information we require in order to submit the Probate application.  If an Inheritance Tax Account IHT400 is required and/or Inheritance Tax is payable, the higher range of this timescale is likely to apply.