Probate Fees

Our Probate Fees

• Obtaining the grant of representation where a standard inheritance tax return is required – Our Costs £1695.00 plus VAT (£339.00) plus the court fee £300.00 (plus an additional £1.50 per additional copy of the grant requested). Usually not more than five additional copies are requested/required therefore the total court fee is not likely to exceed £304.50. Other potential disbursements may be:
  – London Gazette fee currently £98 plus VAT (£19.20)
  – asset search currently £165 plus VAT (£33.00)
  – ID Check £16.66 plus VAT (£3.34)
  – admin charge for Office Copies £10 plus VAT (2.00)
  and on this basis the total fixed costs including disbursements and VAT would therefore be typically around £2700.00. There may be other disbursements required and if we believe they are required we will discuss this with you and provide you with these costs.
• Obtaining the grant of representation where a full inheritance tax return is required – Our costs £2,695.00 plus VAT (£539.60) plus the court fee £300.00 (plus an additional £1.50 per additional copy of the grant requested). Usually not more than five additional copies are requested/required therefore the total court fee is not likely to exceed £304.50.
  Other potential disbursements may be:
  – London Gazette fee currently £98 plus VAT (£19.20)
  – asset search currently £165 plus VAT (£33.00)
  – ID Check £16.66 plus VAT (£3.34)
  – admin charge for Office Copies £10 plus VAT (2.00)
  and on this basis the total fixed costs including disbursements and VAT would therefore be typically around £3900.00. There may be other disbursements required and if we believe they are required we will discuss this with you and provide you with these costs
  WINDING UP
  Winding up an estate – the charges relating to such work are assessed on a case-by-case basis as all estates differ.• Under £50,000 is a fixed wind-up fee of £2,500 (+VAT +Disbursements)
  • Over £50,000 but under £1,000,000 our charges will usually be a fixed fee ranging from 3% up to 5% of the net estate value (the value of the estate at the date of death, after all debts and liabilities (excluding Inheritance Tax) associated with the estate have been settled) depending on the complexity of the estate plus VAT plus the court fee £300.00 (plus an additional £1.50 per additional copy of the grant requested). Usually not more than five additional copies are requested/required therefore the total court fee is not likely to exceed £304.50. For example;

  EXAMPLE – If an estate had a net value of £150,000.00 and was charged at 3.5% the fixed fee in connection with the same would be £5250.00 plus VAT (£1050.00) plus the court fee (£304.50) excluding disbursements would typically be cost of £6604.50 inc VAT.

EXAMPLE – If an estate had a net value of £150,000.00 but was more complex and was charged at 4% the fixed fee in connection with the same would be
£6000.00 plus VAT (£1200.00) plus the court fee (£304.50) excluding disbursements would typically be cost of £7504.50 inc VAT.
• Estates worth more than £1,000,000 without a property are charged at 2% up to £1,000,000 and 1.5% for anything above £1,000,000,

EXAMPLE – An estate is worth £1,100,000 , our fee would be 2% up to £1,000,000 and the £100,000 would be charged at 1.5%. The total charge for winding up the estate would therefore be £20,000 + £1,500 (plus VAT and Disb). Obviously if there was a property which would require us to carry out a regular visit (exact times set by the insurer) there would be an additional charge of £100 per visit. If we are executors, we would charge between 3% and 5%

However please note: – We estimate 80% of cases dealt with under option TWO usually attract a fixed fee of 4% of the net estate.

Should a property, or properties need to be sold when dealing with an estate, or after obtaining a grant of representation a separate cost quote will be provided by our conveyancing department.
There may be additional fees such as asset searches, statutory notices and property valuation fees and other third party professional charges which do not apply to every case and will be quoted on a case by case basis if applicable.
Our work will include:

Providing you with a dedicated experienced probate professional supervised by a qualified solicitor to work on your matter.
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Identifying the legally appointed executor or administrator and beneficiaries.
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Obtaining the relevant documents required to apply to court for probate.
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Completing the probate application forms where required and submitting the relevant paperwork to HM Revenue & Customs if required.
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Arranging to pay any inheritance tax due.
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Drafting a statement of truth.
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Submitting the application to the Probate Registry on your behalf.
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Liaising with the beneficiaries.
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Preparing estate accounts for approval by the executors (and any residuary beneficiaries).
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Calculating any income tax and capital gains and tax liabilities accrued during the administration.
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Attaining tax clearance from HM Revenue & Customs.
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Collecting distributing all assets of the estate.
Disbursements
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Probate application £304.50 ( which includes the extra grants at £1.50 each) no VAT;
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Swearing of Oaths £7.00 no VAT;
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Bankruptcy searches £2.00 no vat
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Notice to London Gazette £92.00 + VAT
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Asset Search £165.00 + VAT;
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Wills search £195.00 + VAT;
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Office copies admin fee £10.00;
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ID check at £16.67 + VAT
Timescales
In cases where we only obtain the grant of representation, we would estimate this usually takes up to ten weeks unless is exceptional circumstances. However, we are in hands of the Probate Registry whose timescales vary and which have been known to be up to five months long but we will use our best endeavours to obtain the grant as is possible.
Where we deal with the whole estate, we give a time estimate of six to eighteen months for completion. However, this is subject to the complexity of each matter, and we will discuss that with you at the outset.
People carrying out your work
Charlie Kirk, our Head of Probate will carry out your matter and he is assisted by Sophie Beaty supervised by Julia Gibbons.
VAT is charged at the current published rate of 20% & electronic money transfers are charged at £35.00 + vat for each transaction.