Wills
Standard Single Will - £350 + VAT (£420 total)
Standard Mirror Wills - £600 + VAT (£720 total)
Life Interest Trust Wills - £800 + VAT (£960 total)
Life Interest Trust Wills with Deed of Gift & HMLR TR1/AP1 - £1000 + VAT (£1200 total), plus HMLR fees
Complex Wills - Quote to be provided after discussing requirements
Will Amendments - Quote to be provided after discussing requirements
Lasting/Enduring Powers of Attorney
| LPA Quantity/Type | Our Fee | Total incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1x LPA (Health and Welfare OR Property & Financial Affairs) | £500 | £600 |
| 2x LPAs (both types for a single person, or one type for a couple) | £750 | £900 |
| 4x LPAs (both types of LPA for a couple) | £1,000 | £1,200 |
Registering an EPA - £400 plus VAT (Total £480)
General Power of Attorney (GPA) - £350 plus VAT (Total £420)
For each LPA or EPA, a registation fee of £92 is additionally payable to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), or £46 per LPA/EPA if you qualify for a discount.
A GPA can only be made and used whilst the donor has capacity; this does not need registration with the OPG.
Trusts
Life Interest Trust, HMRC trust registration & updating Land Registry - Trust/HMRC work £600 - £900 + VAT (£720 - £1080 total) & Land Registry work £250 + VAT (£300 total) plus Land Registry fees.
Personal Injury Trust - £850 + VAT (£1,020 total)
Other types of trust - Quote to be provided after discussing requirements
Probate & Administration of Estates
We offer two levels of service: Grant-only and full estate administration. Our Grant-only fees are fixed. Our estate administration is a custom service: we will provide you with an estimate based on the size and complexity of the estate, and if it is subject to inheritance tax and other taxes or not. Fees may vary depending on the information you provide to us initially and, during the process, they may increase if there are unforeseen complications or other information comes to light.
We will outline the work we will undertake for you in our client care information and on agreement with you, although this may need to change throughout the process.
The time it takes to obtain a Grant and administer an estate is dependent on several factors outside of our control (for example, the time it takes institutions and executors/beneficiaries to respond to us). If it is necessary to complete the IHT400 forms on a taxable estate, the documents will be submitted to HMRC and 21 days must elapse before we can submit the application to the Probate Registry. The Probate Registry takes 16 weeks (as of February 2023) from the time they start processing an application until they issue the Grant if there are no problems. Cashing in/selling assets, paying debts and tax, and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries are all dependent on the organisations and individuals providing us with what we request.
As a rough guide, after obtaining the Grant (if needed), estate administration takes up to six months in a non-taxable estate and one year in a taxable estate, but this widely varies.
Please note that most institutions we deal with during estate administration have a significant backlog caused by various factors and it may take them some time to deal with correspondence. We do contact them on a regular but reasonable basis until they provide us with what we need to progress.
Timescales are also dependent on if conveyancing of a property is necessary in the estate, which could increase the length of time it takes to complete the administration. If you require conveyancing assistance for a property in the estate, our property department can provide you with a quote for this separately.
Disbursements
The most common disbursements that relate to probate services are:
- Grant of Representation application fee: £526.00 for estates worth over £5,000 (no fee if below £5,000)
- £2.00 per office copy of the Grant of Representation
- Land registry search when required: £7.00 per search
- Statutory notices when required: £450-£500
- Valuation reports if required: approximately £200-£300 per valuation
- ID/AML checks: £4 per person (more if you live abroad)
- Bankruptcy searches: £2 person
Grant of probate only (fixed fee)
Non-taxable estates - to obtain Grant of Representation only
This service includes:
- An initial consultation (face to face, video or telephone meeting)
- Client provides all necessary details
- Preparation of the legal statement and getting the executors or administrators to sign it
- Sending either an online or postal application to the Probate Registry (varies by application)
- Posting all relevant documentation to the Probate Registry
- Posting the Grant of Representation via recorded delivery to the client once it has been received
Price: £1,500 plus VAT (£1,800 total) and disbursements
Taxable estates - to obtain Grant of Representation only
This service includes:
- An initial consultation (face to face, video or telephone meeting)
- Client provides all necessary details
- Preparation of the IHT400 form (HMRC inheritance tax return) and relevant supporting forms
- Sending the IHT400 and relevant supporting forms to all the executors or administrators to be approved and signed, and lodging with HMRC
- Arranging payment of tax
- Preparation of the legal statement and getting the executors or administrators to sign it
- Sending either an online or postal application to the Probate Registry (varies by application)
- Posting all relevant documentation to the Probate Registry
- Posting the Grant of Representation via recorded delivery to the client once it has been received
Price: £2,500 plus VAT (£3,000 total) and disbursements
Applications for more complex inheritance tax reliefs, like business or agricultural relief, will incur extra fees.
Full estate administration (estimate available on request)
Non-taxable estates - no grant required
This service includes:
- An initial consultation (face to face, video or telephone meeting)
- Notifying the relevant institutions about the death and requesting all necessary information and forms
- Providing the executors or administrators with all the relevant forms required to transfer/close/sell the assets
- Sending the completed forms to the relevant institutions
- Chasing any of the institutions when required
- Arranging the payment of the deceased’s outstanding debts
- Contacting beneficiaries to inform them of their inheritance
- Distributing the estate to the beneficiaries
- Completing estate accounts
Estimate available on request, dependent on value & complexity of the estate
Non-taxable estates - to obtain Grant of Representation and administer the estate
This service includes:
- An initial consultation (face to face, video or telephone meeting)
- Notifying the relevant institutions about the death and requesting all necessary information and forms
- Organising for statutory notices to be placed and other safeguarding measures
- Preparation of the legal statement and getting the executors or administrators to sign it
- Sending either an online or postal application to the Probate Registry (varies by application)
- Posting all relevant documentation to the Probate Registry
- Providing the executors or administrators with all of the relevant forms required to transfer/close/sell the assets
- Sending the completed forms to the relevant institutions once we have the Grant
- Chasing any of the institutions when required
- Arranging the payment of the deceased’s outstanding debts
- Dealing with income / capital gains tax and benefits issues where necessary
- Contacting beneficiaries to inform them of their inheritance
- Distributing the estate to the beneficiaries
- Completing estate accounts
Estimate available on request, dependent on value & complexity of the estate
Taxable estates - to obtain Grant of Representation and administer the estate
This service includes:
- An initial consultation (face to face, video or telephone meeting)
- Notifying the relevant institutions about the death and requesting all necessary information and forms
- Organising for statutory notices to be placed and other safeguarding measures
- Preparation of the IHT400 form (HMRC inheritance tax return) and relevant supporting forms
- Sending the IHT400 and relevant supporting forms to all the executors or administrators to be approved and signed, and lodging with HMRC
- Arranging payment of tax
- Preparation of the legal statement and getting the executors or administrators to sign it
- Sending either an online or postal application to the Probate Registry (varies by application)
- Posting all relevant documentation to the Probate Registry
- Providing the executors with all of the relevant forms required to transfer/close/sell the assets
- Sending the completed forms to the relevant institutions once we have the Grant
- Chasing any of the institutions when required
- Arranging the payment of the deceased’s outstanding debts
- Dealing with income / capital gains tax and benefits issues where necessary
- Contacting beneficiaries to inform them of their inheritance
- Distributing the estate to the beneficiaries
- Completing estate accounts
Estimate available on request, dependent on value & complexity of the estate
NB: timescales and fees are subject to change – please ask for details.
