Where Personal Representatives require assistance or do not want to deal with the administration themselves, we can help.
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 much lower but if there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and many more bank accounts or stocks and shares, costs will be in the higher range suggested above.
We will handle the full process for you. Our fees range depending on a number of factors, including if there is a valid Will, if there are multiple properties, a considerable number of bank accounts, the amount of beneficiaries and possible claims against the estate. There are also third party fees that must be paid; these are disbursements. We will handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
Potential additional costs
- If there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) 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.
- If a Deed of Variation is required.
- The above costs do not include the sale or transfer of the property.
How Long Will It Take?
On average estates which fall in this range are dealt with within 6-12 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 6-8 weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which a further 6-8 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute assets which normally takes a further 2-3 weeks. If there is a property in the estate which is to be sold, this is the part of the estate which can take the longest as it will entirely depend on the market. However we can complete much of the rest of the estate work whilst the property is on the market or being prepared for sale.
Costs
In a more usual estate, perhaps where there is one property and other assets, such as bank accounts and investments, typically this takes between 4 and 20 hours work at £295 plus VAT per hour. Total costs would therefore start from £1,180 + VAT. For an extraction of the Grant of Probate only (non-taxable estate), the fixed fee is £1,000 plus VAT.
There will be fees that have to also be paid to third parties (we call these disbursements) and these are currently:-
| Probate Court Application fee | £273.00 |
| Copies of the Grant – we recommend one copy per asset in the estate. | £1.50 per copy |
| Bankruptcy searches against each Executor and Beneficiary’s name | £2.00 plus VAT |
| A post in The London Gazette and in a local newspaper | £103.60 plus VAT (starting from) |