Administration of Estates

We offer two levels of service for estate administration:

 Grant Only

Where the estate is very straightforward and you feel capable of taking on the liability of dealing with many of the legal aspects yourself then you may wish to use our Grant Only Service, where our involvement is limited to helping complete the paperwork to make the application to the court for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.

 Our Costs

In most cases we are able to offer a fixed fee of £1,250 plus VAT for this service.

However, additional charges will apply if it transpires that the estate does not qualify for the “excepted estates procedure” and a full inheritance tax return is required to be reported to HM Revenue & Customs.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments for services which are required for the legal process, but which are not provided by us, for example court fees and specialist services. The following disbursements will also be payable:

  • Application fee for the Probate Registry which ranges from £273 to £280

Our ‘Grant Only’ service includes:

  • Advising you what information we require to complete the application to the Probate Court;
  • Completion of the excepted estates inheritance tax form, if required;
  • Preparing the Legal Statement using the Court’s online platform;
  • Arranging for you to sign the Legal Statement and sign any inheritance tax forms;
  • Submitting the Grant application to the Probate Registry;
  • Sending the ‘sealed copies’ of the Grant to you.

Our ‘Grant Only’ service does not include:

  • Making enquiries about the deceased’s assets and affairs;
  • Liaising with the relevant people/organisations to gather the information required for the inheritance tax return;
  • Any other part of the administration of the estate, such as:
    • paying income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax;
    • the collection and distribution of money, property and other assets;
    • the preparation of estate accounts;
    • verifying and paying the beneficiaries named in the Will.

Procedure and Timescales

  • Once we have confirmation of your instructions, we will advise you what information we need from you so that we can prepare the paperwork.
  • When we have received all relevant information from you, we will prepare draft papers for your approval. This usually takes 3 to 4 weeks from receipt of all information we have requested.
  • When you have approved and signed the paperwork, we will send it to the Probate Registry within 2 working days of receipt.
  • The Probate Registry usually issue the Grant within 4 to 8 weeks of us sending the signed paperwork to them.
  • We will check the Grant and send you the ‘sealed copies’ which you can then send out to the various banks and financial institutions. We will also send you our bill at this stage.

 Full Administration of the Estate

If you want the certainty that the whole estate be administered correctly and according to the law’s requirements, then our Full Administration service will be appropriate.

Our Costs

Our charges for full estate administration are based upon our hourly rate of £250 plus VAT. At the beginning of the matter we will give you an estimate of how many hours’ work we estimate is involved to complete the estate administration. It is very unlikely that we can fully administer an estate in fewer than 12 hours and so our charges will start at £3,000 plus VAT. This will be a for a very simple excepted estate with a valid Will, only one or two beneficiaries, no property to sell, a few bank accounts, and no inheritance tax to pay.

A typical estate with a valid Will, a single property to sell, a small portfolio of assets which includes a few bank accounts and some UK based shares or investments and inheritance tax to pay will typically take between 30 and 50 hours to administer, costing between £7,500 and £12,500 plus VAT and disbursements.

Factors that will increase the time involved in administering a typical estate, and accordingly tend towards the higher end of these costs include (but are by no means limited to):

  • More than one property to sell;
  • Several UK shares;
  • Multiple investments and bank accounts;
  • Where there are several beneficiaries;
  • Where estates are subject to inheritance tax, capital gains tax or income tax issues.

These are intended as an illustrative example and will vary depending on the particular circumstances. In estates where there is no Will or the Will creates trusts, there are offshore accounts or shares or the executors do not get along our charges are likely to be in excess of £15,000.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments for services which are required for the legal process, but which are not provided by us, for example court fees and specialist services. The following disbursements will also be payable:

  • Application fee for the Probate Registry which ranges from £273 to £280;
  • Bankruptcy Search fees of £2 plus VAT per person for each beneficiary;
  • Land Registry searches of £3 plus VAT for each property;
  • Special delivery postage charges when posting the original Will of between £7.25 to £8 plus VAT each time;
  • Optional costs to protect executors, including:
    • Advertisement notices on average of £250 plus VAT;
    • Search for additional financial assets at £155 plus VAT;
    • Search for a Will at £100 plus VAT

Our ‘Full administration’ service includes:

  • Meeting with you to take your instructions;
  • Writing to and liaising with financial institutions, utilities providers, local council, Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC to obtain information to value the estate;
  • Completing the inheritance tax forms for your approval;
  • Preparing the Legal Statement using the Court’s online platform;
  • Arranging for you to sign the Legal Statement and inheritance tax forms;
  • Submitting the inheritance tax return and arranging for the payment of any tax due from the estate assets;
  • Submitting the Grant application to the Probate Registry;
  • Obtaining the Grant and registering it with all financial institutions;
  • Collecting money and property belonging to the estate;
  • Verifying the identity of beneficiaries;
  • Preparing accounts showing the transactions made by the estate;
  • Distributing the estate according to the terms of the Will.

Our ‘Full administration’ service does not include:

  • The sale or transfer of any property. However, we work very closely with our residential conveyancing colleagues who we can approach on your behalf to provide you with an estimate of for the costs of such sale or transfer.

Procedure and Timescales

It is not possible to give an exact timescale for the administration of an estate. There are many factors which may affect how long each stage takes. The following is intended as an illustrative example of a simple estate, which is likely to take 10 to 12 months to administer. Please be aware that this is not the precise time that it may take your particular estate to be concluded. A complex estate with a high value and a number of investments and properties to be sold or transferred can take significantly longer than this – sometimes up to 2 years.

  • Once we have confirmation of your instructions, we will write to the various financial institutions to gather the information we require. This can take up to 3 months;
  • We will then prepare the inheritance tax forms and Legal Statement for your approval. That can take up to 1 month, as there may be outstanding items of information we require.
  • If inheritance tax is payable, we will send the completed tax return to HMRC, with the tax payment. We then have to wait 4 weeks before the Court will permit us to submit the probate application.
  • The Probate Registry will then take about 4 to 8 weeks to issue the Grant.
  • When we receive the Grant, we will send it to the various institutions, collect in monies, sell or transfer any shares and investments and pay liabilities. Depending on the nature and location of the assets this can take up to two months. If there is a property or properties to sell, it is impossible to estimate how long this stage will take.
  • Once the assets have been dealt with, we will prepare accounts for your approval and distribute the estate. This usually takes another 4 to 6 weeks.

We will bill you during the course of the administration of the estate, usually monthly. We will usually be able to take our costs from estate funds which come to us.

Where we act as Executor

There may be occasions where the deceased has appointed us to act as executor, either solely or jointly with you. In line with our core principals of honesty and integrity we do not routinely advise people to appoint us as executor. However, there may be circumstances where the person making the Will wished to appoint us for a specific reason. We will have advised the person making the Will that this will mean an increased charge to their estate.

If we are appointed executor, we will discuss with you the options before proceeding. If we proceed to act as executor, then we would currently charge an hourly rate of £250 plus VAT for administering the estate. The larger or more complicated the estate, the more time we may spend on the matter. It is the firm’s rates at the time that we carry out any work for the estate that would apply.

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