Probate Pricing

Obtaining a grant of probate and administering the estate of someone who has died

We have a team of experts who can help you navigate the difficult process of administering someone’s estate from obtaining the grant of probate on your behalf to collecting and distributing the assets to the beneficiaries.

We can be flexible in the way we work for you in relation to Probate/Estate administration work. For example, we will accept instructions on a ‘Grant Only’ basis – i.e. we will obtain the Grant of Probate for you if you furnish us with the financial information and you deal with the administration of the estate yourselves. Our fee for working on a ‘Grant only’ basis will depend if a full account to HMRC is required or not. Our fees for ‘Grant Only’ applications start from £750 plus VAT.

We also provide a “start to finish” service, including advising on the terms of the will (if relevant), dealing with all inheritance tax returns and claims for relief from inheritance tax, dealing with income tax or capital gains tax during the administration (or asking an accountant to do so), dealing with the Probate Registry, and arranging distributions of monies and dealing with estate accounts.

We charge a fixed fee based on a percentage (usually 2%) of the gross probate value of the estate but with a minimum fee of £2,500 plus VAT and disbursements. The following are not included in our fixed fee:

• Property sale (if applicable).
• Advice on any change in legislation during the course of the administration of the estate.
• Deed of Variations for the beneficiaries.
• Any investigations by HMRC into the deceased’s lifetime tax affairs or into the information and values contained in the Inheritance Tax Account submitted.
• Trusts, including where the deceased was a beneficiary.
• Trusts set up by the deceased under the will.
• Personal taxation of estate beneficiaries.
•  Any claims on the estate i.e. pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 or otherwise

We and our colleagues in other departments can, of course, assist with any of these aspects, if required.

In some cases we may charge for the work on the basis of time spent. The work will either be carried out by a partner, who will have at least 10 years’ experience in the field, and/or by an assistant or associate solicitor or legal executive, who will range in experience from newly-qualified to 20 years’ experience.  Our partner rates for this work are £280 plus VAT per hour; an assistant or associate solicitor’s time would be at least £240 plus VAT.

*all VAT @20%