The Probate process can often involve complicated legal, tax and financial work. It can be hard to work out how much work will be involved in administering an estate, the larger and more complex the estate, the more work is required to administer it.

Key Probate Services

  1. Checking if there’s a will and advising on the terms and construction of the Will. If there’s no Will we’ll advise on who is entitled to apply for authority to administer the estate.
  2. Drafting any relevant documents leading up to the application for the Grant which may include attending a meeting with the client to review and sign the documentation.
  3. Applying for a Grant of Probate/ Letters of Administration. We will lodge the papers in the Probate Office, the timescale for the Grant approval is approximately 6 weeks.
  4. Gathering the estate’s assets, for example money from the sale of the person’s property and registering the Grant of Probate with asset holders as appropriate.
  5. Collecting the assets of the estate and completing Estate Accounts detailing all assets, payments and the distribution of the estate to be approved by the Executor/Administrator .
  6. Paying out the debts existing at the time of death as well post death debts such as ongoing property expenses. Also arranging to pay any Inheritance Tax that’s due.
  7. Distributing the net estate in accordance with the Will or Rules of Intestacy. This means giving any property, money or possessions to the people entitled to it (‘beneficiaries’).

When someone dies, you’ll need to get the legal right to deal with their property, money and possessions (their ‘estate’). This process is known as Probate.

Initial consultation

During our initial meeting, we hope to understand whether the deceased has died intestate or whether they had a Will.  We will ascertain the wishes of the deceased from their Will and provide advice on how the estate is to pass.  However if the deceased died intestate then we will guide you on the laws of intestacy.

We hope to be able to calculate the approximate size of the estate and to provide you with an estimate on the inheritance tax liability which is payable within 6 months of the date of death.

We will also provide you with a summary of the key stages to obtaining probate.

Administration of an estate

Should you instruct us following an initial consultation, you can expect to be provided with the following services:

  • Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate solicitor to work on your matter.
  • Identify the legally appointed executors/administrators and beneficiaries
  • Determining assets and liabilities of the estate;
  • Informing all organisations with whom the deceased had assets;
  • Obtaining valuations for property and contents;
  • Assisting in arranging for the property to be placed on the market;
  • Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application such as IHT205 if there is no inheritance tax to pay or IHT400 in the event the estate attracts the payment of inheritance tax.
  • Satisfying the inheritance tax liability by arranging with the executors for payment to be made from the estate or from another source such as sale of the deceased’s assets.
  • Complete the Probate Application form.
  • Obtain the Grant and securely send copies to you.
  • Collect in and distribute all the assets in the estate.
  • Preparing a final estate account for signing by you.

You may also wish to instruct us to assist with certain other additional aspects of the process.

Timescales

The time it takes to get probate or letters of administration varies according to the circumstances. On average, this type of work entails 20 – 25 hours of work.

However this estimate may be considerably impacted by the following factors:

  • Estates which exceed £1m
  • There is a foreign element such as a property located outside England and Wales
  • There are multiple bank accounts or properties
  • There are multiple beneficiaries
  • A large portfolio of shares
  • A trust is involved
  • Unforeseen complexities
  • Further assets or liabilities coming to light
  • Failure to cooperate with our advice
  • Disagreements with respect to our fees
  • Contested probate
  • Deed of Variation

Our average timescale depends on all parties to the transaction being cooperative and there not being any unreasonable delay from any party in providing documentation or assisting us with the administration of the estate.

The timescale also depends on any unforeseen complications or complexities. However, from the date of instruction, we would usually estimate it would take:

  • 2 to 5 months to collate information and prepare Inheritance Tax forms and legal statements for approval and signature
  • 5 to 10 months to obtain the Grant of Probate/Representation
  • 10 to 14 months to administer the estate, but may be longer where there is a property to sell

Please note that the above timings depend upon how quickly third parties provide information and/or carry out their duties (i.e. HMRC or the Probate Registry).  At present, the Probate Registry is taking approximately 8 weeks to issue the Grants.

The Team

All probate cases will be managed by our specialist Probate team which includes Castelo Partner Ana Afonso and our special counsel who will also work with other members of our team with the appropriate level of experience.

You can find out more about our team at Castelo Solicitors here.

Our Pricing

Castelo Solicitors are required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to provide costs information about certain legal services that we provide in the United Kingdom. For Probate matters our pricing is detailed below.

Initial consultation:

A one-off fixed fee of £300 plus VAT

Probate service:

Our Probate service is typically conducted on hourly rates which are as follows:

Director: £350 per hour plus VAT

Senior Associate/Senior Consultant: £300 per hour plus VAT

Associate Lawyer: £250 per hour plus VAT

Additional service fees:

You also may instruct us to assist with certain other aspects of the process.  Our fees in this respect are as follows:

  • Dealing with the assent of a property: £350 plus VAT (£420 incl. VAT)
  • Preparing a Deed of Variation of a Will or intestacy (if required): £350 plus VAT (£420 incl. VAT)

Note, these are additional services which incur additional fees.

Disbursements

The costs quoted here do not include the payment of disbursements. Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties.

We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. These include:

  • Any court fees such as probate court fees which are currently £273.00, as can be seen in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees
  • Extra copies of the probate document are £1.50 each.
  • London Gazette advertisement to protect against creditors is currently £80 plus VAT per notice, as can be seen in the following link: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/place-notice/pricing
  • Advertisement in local newspaper – this will vary considerably according to location and so we can only advise upon receipt of instructions.
  • Bankruptcy search carried out by Land Charges Department at the Land Registry – £1.00 against each beneficiary.
  • Land Registry office copy entries – £3.00
  • Postage fees such as recorded delivery or special delivery.

We will let you know at the earliest opportunity and before any such fees are incurred by you, if any of these are applicable.

Potential additional costs:

Amongst other Potential Additional Costs are the following, depending on the matter:

  • In order to value some assets, specialist valuations may be required in which case a fee would be payable to the valuer (i.e. property valuation).
  • Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the Estate is not included and depending on the place where the property is located, a conveyancer in the relevant country will be needed.
  • If the Will creates a Trust, there may be additional costs associated with the setting up and registration of the Trust.

Costs are likely to be at the lower end range if the case is straightforward such as if the estate does not attract the payment of inheritance tax or if there are few assets.

Note:

*Our prices do not include VAT which is applicable on our fees at the rate of 20%.

**The pricing information on this page applies only to the services described on this page as provided by Castelo Solicitors and does not apply to services provided outside of scope of those set out here or to services provided outside of the United Kingdom.

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