A trustworthy solicitor helps you to achieve clarity

Making a Will is important as it ensures your possessions are passed onto the people you choose as beneficiaries after your death. A Will also enables you to appoint guardians to take care of your children in the event that there is no one to look after them. It is important to make sure that this is properly executed, giving you peace of mind that your wishes will be carried out in the way that you would like. Probate is the process of carrying out a Will after someone dies and distributing someone’s assets and affairs to those entitled. If you choose to make us the executors of your Will, we can deal with the estate administration process for you, making sure the beneficiaries stated to receive the possessions allocated to them in a prompt and timely manner.

Issues to consider.

If you do not make a Will, intestacy rules will apply to your Estate. This means that your family members will receive your Estate in proportions dictated by these rules. If there are no family members then your possessions will go to the Crown. For those couples who are unmarried, intestacy rules do not recognise unmarried partners as beneficiaries. Civil Partnerships are recognised by intestacy rules. You can make a Will to ensure that they will benefit on your death.

How we can help you.

Our team can help you with a wide range of matters relating to Wills & Probate.

These include:

• Preparation of wills
• Inheritance tax planning
• Creation of trusts
• Grants of probate
• Letters of administration
• Distribution of deceased estates
• Lasting Power of Attorney

What are the costs?

We are a competitively priced firm and will keep you informed of the costs right from the outset so that there are no surprises, giving you time to organise your budget. We will supply you with a breakdown of the legal costs and payment schedule to keep you up to date at all times.

What is probate?

• Probate is the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions (their ‘estate’) when they die.
• You should not make any financial plans or place a property on the market until you’ve got probate
• If the deceased has left a will, then the executor will have the power to apply for probate
• Once the grant of probate is obtained, the executor can deal with the estate
• If a will has not been left, then you would have to apply for letter of administration.

Our services include:-

• Obtaining grants of Probate
• Administering the Estate
• Preparing and obtaining Lasting Power of Attorneys
• Transferring property
• Drafting wills

Timescales

Will generally depend on a number of factors, including the value of the Estate held by the deceased person at the time of death. For example a simple estate with one or two bank accounts, a property in the United Kingdom and one or two beneficiaries could take between 3 to 6 months to complete, However an Estate with larger and complex assets, some of which need to be sold to settle outstanding debts could take a minimum of 12-15 months.

Probate Pricing

Due to the nature of the complexity surrounding probate matters it is difficult to give an exact estimate of costs, and it varies on how small or large an Estate is, typically we base work on hourly rate or charge a percentage of the estate between 1 to 3% plus Vat charged at 20%

We can offer a fixed costs on smaller Estates but would first discuss the matter upon which we can advise.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter which are payable to third parties, such a court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf.

We will also ask for a payment on account to cover basic disbursements.

Examples of the most common disbursements are listed below:

• Probate application fee – £273
• Copies of the Grant (if required) – £1.50 per copy at the date of the main application and £10 per copy thereafter
• Advertisement in The London Gazette to protect against unexpected claims from unknown creditors – £200 (approx.) + VAT charged at 20%.
• Advertisement in a local newspaper to help protect against expected claims – £200 (approx.) + VAT charged at 20%.

Our Work Will Include:

• Providing you with a dedicate experience probate solicitor all legal executive to work on your matter.
• Identifying the legal appointed executor administrator and beneficiaries.
• Obtaining the relevant documents required to apply to court for probate.
• Completing the probate application forms in the submitting the relevant paperwork to HM Revenue & Customs.
• Arranging to pay any inheritance tax due.
• Drafting a statement of truth.
• Submitting the application of court of probate on your behalf.
• Liaising with the beneficiaries.
• Preparing a state accounts for approval by the executors (and any residuary beneficiaries).
• Calculating any income tax and capital gains and tax liabilities accrued during the administration.
• Attaining tax clearance from HM Revenue & Customs.
• Collecting distributing all assets of the estate.