Wills, LPAs & Uncontested Probate Fees

Our Wills and Probate services can help by providing:

• A face to face meeting or a video/ phone call if you prefer to have a remote appointment.
• An experienced and dedicated adviser will be assigned to you, ensuring that they are familiar with all aspects relating to your matter and can provide you with continuity.
• Our Fees start from £250 +Vat for standard Wills
• Vat is 20%

The administration of the Estate of someone who has died is a complex area and no two cases are the same. Accordingly, our fees for dealing with work of this type tend to vary depending upon the particular features of each case and take into account complexity, skill, documents required, risk factors and the expenses incurred.

Our fees below are therefore are only intended to be a guide to assist you, illustrating where we would charge on an hourly or value basis. For a more accurate quote please contact us so we can prepare an estimate based on your particular circumstances. We will discuss and agree the basis of our charges with you during your initial consultation and these fees are not binding until the letter of engagement and terms and conditions have been signed and returned to us by the executors of the Estate.

Broadly speaking, the administration of an Estate will often break down into four stages, some of which may overlap.

Probate – The process from the death of an individual up to the application for a Grant of Probate, will involve establishing details of the assets of their Estate and obtaining valuations of those assets and, where appropriate, completing an Inheritance Tax return and paying any Inheritance Tax that may be due on the Estate before the application for the Grant of Probate may be made.

Gathering the assets – Registering the Grant of Probate once it has been issued by the Court with the various asset holders and cashing in the assets of the Estate and gathering them together; bank accounts, shareholdings and any property to be sold.

Tax and Administration – The Executors will need to pay the debts of the Estate and deal with various complex administrative matters, in particular liaising with HMRC in relation to tax affairs.

Winding up and distribution – Once all of the assets of the Estate have been gathered and the liabilities and tax affairs resolved then the Executors can wind up and distribute the Estate to the beneficiaries. To do this they will need to prepare the Estate accounts showing the assets and how they have been dealt with, ready for distribution.

You will usually get the grant of probate or letters of administration within 16 weeks of submitting your application. It can take longer if you need to provide additional information.

Where a Yomi Oni-Williams is an Executor of an Estate, the following percentages are applied:

• Value of main residence: 0.75%
• Gross value of the rest of the Estate 1.25%

In all other cases:

• Value of main residence: 0.5%
• Gross value of the rest of the Estate 1%

We allocate the most appropriate member of our team once you instruct us, taking into account the size and complexity of the Estate and experienced required.

In certain cases, particularly where there is a high level of complexity, but relatively low value, we would generally charge purely on a time-spent basis in which case the fees will be based on the without the value factor hourly rate.

Every Estate is different, but to give you an understanding of our Probate pricing here are some examples of our fixed fee Probate quotations for Estates of varying size and complexity.

These examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not a guarantee of the fixed fee quotation that you will receive, which will be tailored to your specific situation:

Simple Estate

• 1 property
• 2-4 bank accounts
• Valid Will
• No liabilities
• 4 Beneficiaries
• Estate value £145,000 – £250,000

Our fixed fee Probate quotation for this Estate would be £3,500 (+ VAT and disbursements)

Standard Estate

• 1 property
• 4-6 bank accounts
• Valid Will
• 4 Beneficiaries / Personal Representatives
• Estate value £250,000 – £500,000

Our fixed fee Probate quotation for this Estate would be £8,500.00 (+ VAT and disbursements)

Complex Estate

• 1 property
• 6-8 bank / financial institution accounts
• No Will (Intestate)
• 4 Beneficiaries
• Estate value £500,000 -750,000

Our fixed fee Probate quotation for this Estate would be £15,000.00(+ VAT and disbursements)

High Value Estate

• 2-4 x properties
• 12 Bank/ financial institutions accounts
• Valid Will
• 4-6 Beneficiaries
• Estate value £750,000 -2.5 million

Our fixed fee Probate quotation for this Estate would be £25,000 -£30,000 (+ VAT and disbursements)

During the administration of an Estate, various fees may be payable on your behalf (known as disbursements).

These may include:

• Professional valuation fees – for example Estate Agents for the property – but these will vary depending on the value of the Estate.
• Probate Registry fee (for issuing the Grant) £155.00 (No VAT) plus 50p for each Court sealed copy.
• Commissioner’s fee (the charge for swearing each applicant’s oath) £5.00 per applicant (no VAT) Plus £2.00 per exhibit (No VAT).
• Unclaimed Assets Register Search fee £25 (Plus VAT).
• Bankruptcy Searches against each beneficiary prior to a payment being made to them £2 per name searched (No VAT).
• Statutory Advertisements (based on adverts being placed in the London Gazette and one local paper) £100-300 (Plus VAT).
• Office copy entries £3.00 per property (Plus VAT).