Transparent Pricing

Sarah Lamb is the head of our Private Client department and supervises those who deal with administration of estates. For details of other members of the team please see here.

Average Costs and Timescale

The indication of our fees below applies if the estate is one where: 

•  There is a valid Will with named Executors who are all of full age and have capacity 
•  There is no more than one property in the estate and which is a registered freehold property 
•  There are no more than five bank accounts or building society accounts in total 
•  The only pension of the person who has died is a state pension – i.e., there is no private pension or other annuity 
•  There are no foreign assets 
•  The person who has died is not a beneficiary under any Trust or was waiting themselves to inherit 
•  There are no intangible assets such as company shares 
•  There are only one or two beneficiaries who are both of full age and have capacity and there are no specific or pecuniary legacies 
•  There are no disputes between Executors and/or between Beneficiaries and/or between Executors and Beneficiaries regarding the administration of the estate 
•  No claims are made against the estate 
•  The person who has died was not in receipt of means tested benefits 
•  A Deed of Variation will not be required 
•  The estate does not include business or agricultural assets 
•   No Inheritance is payable and there is no need to submit estate accounts to HMRC either for tax reasons or to claim tax allowances 
•  There is no requirement to complete tax returns on behalf of the estate  

Please note that the following types of ancillary matters will require separate specialist advice and therefore will be charged for and quoted separately.

• Property Sale/Transfer

• Trusts arising from the administration

When necessary, we will, in consultation with you obtain such additional advice as is required from appropriately qualified third parties such as valuers and accountants..

Our Fees

We anticipate this will take between 12 and 17 hours work at an average rate of £250 per hour plus VAT at 20%. Total costs estimated at - £3,000.00 - £4,250.00 (+VAT at 20%).

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 at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

Disbursements

Disbursements are additional costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Disbursements include the following (where shown below VAT is added at 20%):

• Probate application fee of £300.00 
• Fee for additional official sealed copies £1.50 per copy 
• Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£2.00 & VAT per beneficiary) 
• Statutory advertisement in The London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors - please see link to TheGazette.co.uk for current prices for deceased estates notices.
•  £100-200 & VAT Statutory advertisement in a Local Newspaper – This also helps to protect against unexpected claims. 
•  Administration fee for each electronic transfer - £30 & VAT for interim and final payments of monies to beneficiaries who do not wish to receive a cheque 
•  Travel costs - £250 & VAT per hour on average plus mileage at £0.45 per mile 

Potentional 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 vary 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.
• Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.

What work is covered by the quote

We will:

• Meet with you to advise on the terms of the deceased’s Will and discuss the duties of the executors. 
• Obtain information on all the assets and liabilities of the deceased 
•  Contact the asset holders to register the death with them and to obtain the information required to enable the asset to be collated 
•  Contact the liabilities to register the death with them and to obtain the information required to enable the liability to be settled 
•  Submit statutory notices (if applicable) 
• Draft the Inheritance Tax forms and the application for the Grant 
•  Meet with you to go through the above documents so they can be submitted to the Probate Registry • Once the Grant is received, we will collect in the assets and pay outstanding liabilities 
• Pay any legacies to legatees and interim distributions to the residuary beneficiaries 
• Submit bankruptcy checks 
• Finalise the income tax position of the deceased 
• Prepare Estate Accounts for approval by the executors 
• Pay out balance to residuary beneficiaries 
• Meet with you to advise on the terms of the deceased’s Will and discuss the duties of the executors. 
• Obtain information on all the assets and liabilities of the deceased 
•  Contact the asset holders to register the death with them and to obtain the information required to enable the asset to be collated 
•  Contact the liabilities to register the death with them and to obtain the information required to enable the liability to be settled 
•  Submit statutory notices (if applicable) 
• Draft the Inheritance Tax forms and the application for the Grant 
•  Meet with you to go through the above documents so they can be submitted to the Probate Registry 
• Once the Grant is received, we will collect in the assets and pay outstanding liabilities 
• Pay any legacies to legatees and interim distributions to the residuary beneficiaries 
• Submit bankruptcy checks 
• Finalise the income tax position of the deceased 
• Prepare Estate Accounts for approval by the executors 
• Pay out balance to residuary beneficiaries 

How long will this take?

Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes16-24 weeks.

Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 4-8 weeks (please do note that this can be longer if a property is being sold as part of the administration process and it has taken time to put it on the market or to find a buyer or to complete due to other parties in the conveyancing process).

Once this has been done, we will need to finalise the income tax and capital gains tax position of the estate at HM Revenue & Customs, which can take 8-12 weeks depending on their workloads.

We are however able to make interim distributions (if appropriate). Once tax clearance is received, we will prepare final estate accounts and (once approved) will distribute the assets, which normally takes 2-4 weeks.

Other Priced Services

Please follow the links below to find out more information about pricing and timings of the following services.

• Residential Conveyancing
• Debt Recovery (Up to £100,000)
• Employment Tribunals (Unfair/Wrongful Dismissal)

Back to main Pricing Information page.

For more information, please contact us.