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Probate Charges

This information relates to Probate within the jurisdiction of England and Wales and which is uncontested, and where all assets and the person who has died was domiciled in England and Wales.

There are two main elements to the legal costs of Probate, which is the process or administering the affairs of a deceased person:

  1. our charges;
  2. expenses we may pay out of your behalf
Our charges

Our hourly rates for this service depend on the experience and seniority of the solicitor with conduct of the transaction.

Our hourly rates are: –

For Mr. James McCarville Partner £350 plus VAT

For Mr. Brent Hill Consultant Solicitor £350 plus VAT

For Mr Andrea Di Ceglie Trainee Solicitor £200 plus VAT

Our costs start at £1200 plus VAT  and may be exceed £10,000 plus VAT  depending on the circumstances of each case, such as:

  • Whether there is a valid original Will;
  • Who the executors and trustees in the Will are. If we are the executors and trustees, we shall be responsible for all tasks relating to the Probate, which can be a daily or weekly undertaking. This increases costs.
  • The value and nature of the assets and the requirements pertaining to their distribution in accordance with the wishes of the person that has died; • Whether assets are owned jointly with other people and the legal nature of that joint ownership.
  • Whether the value of the assets exceeds the value of any debts and liabilities and therefore whether the estate of the person who has died in solvent; • Where the beneficiaries live. Beneficiaries living abroad present a complication in verifying their identity and account details for receipt of cash assets. • Any post death arrangements that are required. 2
  • The complexity of the estate for tax purposes.

Our charges are likely to be at the lower end of this range, if for example there is a valid will, the assets comprise a jointly owned property and a few jointly or solely owned bank accounts, all of which passes either to the surviving joint owner or a handful or people closely connected to the person who has died.

We reserve the right to increase the hourly rates if the work done is particularly complex or urgent, or the nature of your instructions require us to work outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will agree an appropriate rate. We will review our hourly rates on a periodic basis. We will give you advance notice of any change to our hourly rates.

VAT: –

Our charges do not include VAT, which we will add to your bill at the prevailing rate. VAT is charged at the relevant rate set by central government. At present the VAT rate is 20%. For example, on an hourly rate of £350, VAT is charged at £70, and so the total charge for 1 hour of time is £420.

Expenses

We would usually expect to incur certain expenses your behalf which we will also add to your bill, or more likely, we shall ask you to make a payment on account of those costs. Such costs can include: –

  • Trustee Act Notices regarding unknown creditors. This varies depending on location of death. Usually this does not exceed £200.00 including VAT
  • Court Fee – For the Grant of Probate £273 plus £1.50p per additional copy of the Grant (no VAT

We cannot give an exact figures for all expenses we will incur on your behalf, as this depends on the nature of the estate.

A typical probate matter includes the following services: –
  • Obtaining the will and evidence of death
  • Obtaining and reviewing the deceased papers, usually collected from their home, to determine what assets and liabilities exist.
  • Obtaining date or death valuations for assets and debts, including funeral expenses, in order to complete the inheritance tax return and oath for the personal representatives;
  • Preparing the Inheritance Tax Return and Legal Statement
  • Applying for the Grant of Representation
  • If required, following receipt of the Grant, collecting in the assets and settling debts.
  • We may be required to sell a property, but that is charged separately as a conveyancing matter. Please see our separate guidance on this.
  • Preparing estate accounts;
  • Distributing the estate in accordance with the Will.
Likely timescale and key stages: –

Where possible, we aim to have applied for and received the grant within 6 months of our instructions and to finalise the estate within 6 months of receiving the Grant.

If there is a property to sell, this may take much longer.

If any complications  arise the matter may take a longer.

Our expertise: –

Our team has over 50 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to probate and estate administration.

For details of the members of the team who may work on your matter, please see visit our website rmllp.co.uk

 

Rushford & McCarville LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Our SRA registration number is 623726.

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