Simple Estates – Fee Structure
Includes Estates where:
- There is a valid Will
- There are no international assets
- The assets of the Estate have already been ascertained
- There is no property / land in the Estate
- There are up to 5 building society / bank accounts / investment portfolios
- There are no more than 7 beneficiaries inheriting from the Will
- There are no disputes
- All beneficiaries are adult beneficiaries within England and Wales and whose whereabouts are known or easily traceable
- No inheritance tax is payable
- The Personal Representatives do not need to send a full account to HM Revenue & Customs
- There will be no income tax or capital gains tax liabilities
- There are no claims against the Estate
How can we help?
- We will advise you on the provisions contained in the Will and if there are any clauses you do not understand, we can explain these fully to you
- We will contact the establishments with whom we know the deceased to have had dealings to establish date of death values of the assets
- We will prepare a Schedule of Assets & Liabilities for the Estate
- We will prepare the relevant forms required for the application for the Grant, including preparing the Oath and the short form inheritance tax return
This can process can take approximately a 3 – 6 months
- Upon extraction of the Grant, we will advise on how you can protect your position as Personal Representative against any unknown creditors of the Estate
- We will complete the account closure forms required to gather in the assets
- We will send the forms to the relevant departments and can arrange to hold the Estate funds in our Client Account in readiness for distribution
- We will arrange payment of any outstanding Estate liabilities, such as outstanding utility bills / credit card balances / outstanding debts owed by the Deceased / and our invoices
- We will contact the beneficiaries and obtain the required proofs of ID and address and confirmation of how they wish to receive their inheritance
- We will carry out bankruptcy searches on the beneficiaries and then arrange the final distributions of the Estate assets
Unless something unexpected arises, this can process can take approximately a further 3 – 6 months
Costs Range for a Simple Probate
We estimate up to 20 hours’ work would be involved in a Simple Probate. At the average hourly rate of our department, this would be approximately £5,900 plus VAT at 20%.
Please note that this is with respect to our costs only, and do not include additional costs/payments that can arise throughout the administration process, such as:
- Probate fee (free for estates under £5,000.00 & £300 for estates over £5,000.00 plus £1.50 for every sealed copy)
- Section 27 Notice (ranges between £60 – £150 depending on the Estate)
- Bankruptcy searches (£2 per person)
This also does not include any tax liabilities that may arise throughout the administration of the Estate, such as Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax.
What are our hourly rates?
| Lawyer | Fee |
|---|---|
| Claire Martin – Head of Department | £325 + VAT at 20% |
| Prue Abrahams | £325 + VAT at 20% |
| Samantha Fennah | £250 + VAT at 20% |
| Samuel Ha | £240 + VAT at 20% |
| Trainees / Paralegals | £160 + VAT at 20% |
Supplementary work for additional matters that can arise
The above sets out the usual matters that must be dealt with in a regular Simple, Standard or Complex probate matter. However, there are unexpected issues that can arise, which may require additional work. It is impossible to cover all aspects, but we provide the following examples below:
- There are times where upon administering the Estate of the second spouse to die it becomes apparent that the Estate of the first spouse to have died was not fully administered. In those circumstances, it may be that there are two separate, concurrent administrations that need to be dealt with.
- The beneficiaries of the Estate may wish to enter into a Deed of Variation in order to change the provisions of a Will or Rules of Intestacy. In those circumstances, there will be additional drafting and it may be that the beneficiaries need to seek independent legal advice.
- Whilst we have a general process to follow when the Estate has shareholdings, the requirements from the share registrars can vary and where there are many different shareholdings the work involved to administer them can be significantly greater than Estates with few shareholdings. As there can be a considerable range in the work involved, we will be able to give a more accurate quote once we have more information.
- Where Estates include trusts, you may seek advice on the tax consequences of keeping the trusts as created in the Will, or whether it is beneficial in the circumstances for those trusts to be wound up.
- When assets such as property and / or shares are being sold, you may need advice on the benefits of ‘appropriation’ in order to reduce the Capital Gains Tax liability of the Estate.
- Where there is an extensive property portfolio of investment properties, that require selling
