If you want to find out more about Wills and how we can help you, click here.

Standard Fees for straight-forward Wills are:

Standard Fees for more complex Wills i.e. to include a Trust:

Our standard Will preparation service includes:

• A visit to your home or workplace to take your instructions
• Drafting the Will and sending you a draft for approval
• Preparing the Will and supervising execution of the Will at your home or office
• Secure lifetime storage for your Will
• Optional Extra: Registration with Certainty National Will Register (cost £30.00)

Bespoke Wills

A standard Will does not generally involve the following:

• Providing inheritance tax planning advice
• Specific bequests
• Complex assets (including property or assets held outside England and Wales)
• Advising on potential challenges to the Will or claims against your estate
• Obtaining medical confirmation of your mental capacity to make a Will

Where your Will is more complicated, our costs may be higher, but we will usually still be able to offer a fixed fee once we have discussed the matter with you and we understand what you need.  All costs will always be clearly set out before we commence work.

Timescale

We expect the timescale for preparation of your Will to be in the region of 14 to 21 days from the time of the first appointment, but if the matter is more complex, it may take more time.  We will advise you of the likely timescale when we have confirmed your instructions.

Review your Will

If you want to know more about why you should review your Will and why you may need to amend it, click here.

If you would like us to review your will to ensure it is valid, that it reflects your wishes and that it has been correctly drafted, we will charge a fee of £50.00.

If it is our advice that your Will is not valid and/or needs to be amended to reflect your wishes, we will charge the fee for drafting your Will as per the figures quoted above.  However, the review fee of £50.00 will be deducted from the cost of the Will.

If it is our advice that you need to add a straightforward Codicil to your Will, we will charge a fee of £100.00.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)

If you want to find out more about Powers of Attorney and how we can help you, click here.

Disbursements – Power of Attorney Registration Fee

The fee payable to the Office of the Public Guardian for registering each LPA is currently £82.00 per person.  This is payable in addition to the fees quoted above.  If your income is less than £12,000.00 per year or if you are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits, you may be entitled to a fee exemption or reduction. 

You do not have to register the Power of Attorney straightaway.  However, we strongly advise you to do so to ensure that there are no delays if your Attorneys need to use the Powers of Attorney in the future.

Our standard Lasting Powers of Attorney service includes:

• A visit to your home or workplace to take your instructions
• Drafting the Power of Attorney(s) and sending you a copy for your approval
• Preparing the Certificate of Capacity or advising if a Certificate of Capacity is needed
• Sending the Power of Attorney(s) to your Attorneys for signature
• Preparing and submitting an application to register the
• Power of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian;
• Storing your Power of Attorney securely
• Providing a certified copy of your Power of Attorney(s)

N.B. Our standard Lasting Powers of Attorney service will not generally include obtaining medical confirmation of mental capacity to make the Power of Attorney.  If this is required, an additional fee may be charged.

Timescales

We expect the timescale for preparation of your Power of Attorney(s) to be in the region of 14 to 21 days from the time of the first appointment, but if the matter is more complex, it may take more time.  We will advise you of the likely timescale when we have confirmed your instructions.

The timescale for registration of the Power of Attorney will depend how quickly your Attorneys sign and return the Power of Attorney and how quickly the Office of the Public Guardian process your matter.

Probate Service

When a loved one dies, you will need to obtain a Grant of Probate to administer their Estate in accordance with their Will.  We can help you through this difficult process by obtaining a Grant of Probate / Grant of Administration on you behalf.

If you want to find out more about the Grant of Probate and how we can help you, click here.

N.B. The following fees are set on the basis that you will be able to provide us with all of the information and documents we need about your loved ones assets.

Our Grant of Probate service for straightforward estates includes:

• A visit to your home or workplace to confirm your instructions on the assets and liabilities of the Estate and advising you of the next steps
• Preparing the simple Inheritance Tax Return (IHT205)
• Preparing and submitting the application to the Probate Registry
• A visit to your home or workplace for the signing of the Probate registry application
• Providing a Grant of Probate to you

Our Grant of Probate service for complicated estates includes all of the above, but also preparing the Inheritance Tax Return (IHT400) as well as the additional work involved in a more complex matter.

If the estate is very complex, we will advise you before commencing work if we need to charge a higher fee than stated above and the reasons for this.  We will not commence work until you are happy with the proposed fees.

Our Grant of Probate services does not generally include:

• Making Will search enquiries
• Advertising for creditors
• Confirming valuations of the assets and liabilities of the estate
• Collecting the assets of the estate and paying the liabilities
• Paying legacies and distributing the estate
• Preparing estate accounts
• Setting up any necessary Trusts
• Completing the formal income tax or capital gains tax returns

These additional services can be provided for an extra fee.  Please refer to our Estate Administration Service.

Furthermore, we cannot advise you about investments, taxes or selling of properties, but we can put you in touch with Financial Advisers and Solicitors who can help you with these matters.

Disbursements

In addition to our fees, there will be also be payments to third parties.  These are called Disbursements.  The most common Disbursement relating to the Grant of Probate will be as follows:

We will handle the payment of all Disbursements on your behalf.

Timescales

The usual timescale to prepare and submit the application for the Grant of Probate will be between three and five weeks.  Please note there may be a delay in the Probate Registry processing the application.  We will advise you of the likely timescale for the completion of the matter at the time the application is submitted.

(Simple, Non-Contested Affairs / Complex, Contested Affairs)

Following the death of loved one, their estate must be administered in accordance with the terms of their Will.  This can be a complex and time-consuming process at a difficult and emotional time.  We have listed below the usual steps to administer an Estate.  We can assist you with all of these steps to take the stress and worry of dealing with the process away from you.

If you want to find out more about the administration of Estates and how we can help you, click here.

It is difficult to be precise about the amount of time and work involved in administering an estate because every estate will be different i.e. some will be straightforward and some will be complex,  not all the steps will be required for all estates and sometimes additional steps will be required.  Therefore, we cannot charge a Fixed Fee for administering an estate.  We charge on the basis of our hourly rates which are as follows:

Additional Value Element

Where a Solicitor has the added responsibility of being an Executor of the Estate, a value element will be charged in addition to the hourly rates, as follows:

We will, of course, discuss with you our estimate of the cost of administering the estate when we know the full details and we have confirmed your instructions.  We will not commence work until you are happy with the proposed fees.  We will keep you updated about the costs throughout the matter and tell you immediately if the estimate / quote needs to be amended.  We take great care to ensure that our fees are fair and reasonable to the Beneficiaries and to ourselves for the work we do. 

General estimate:

As a general guideline for a simple, non-contested estate, we expect to spend between 15 and 20 hours working on the matter.  Therefore, at a rate of £200.00, our estimated fees would be between £3,000.00 and £4,000.00 plus VAT plus Disbursements (see below).

This estimate of fees will be for simple, non-contested estates where:

• There is a valid Will
• There is one property
• There are no more than 5 bank or building society accounts
• There are no other intangible assets (e.g. Goodwill of a business, Intellectual Property rights etc)
• There are no more than 4 Beneficiaries
• There is no Inheritance Tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
• There are no disputes between Beneficiaries on the division of the assets
• There are no claims made against the estate

Our Administration of Estates service includes the following:

• A visit to your home or workplace to confirm your instructions and advise you about the assets and liabilities of the estate
• Making Will Search enquiries
  Obtaining valuations of assets, including property, of the estate
• Advertising for creditors in the local press and the London Gazette
• Collecting in and distributing the assets of the estate in accordance with the Will
• Paying liabilities and legacies
• Preparing Estate Accounts
• Setting up any necessary Trusts

N.B. We cannot advise you about investments, taxes or selling of properties, but we can put you in touch with Financial Advisers and Solicitors who can help you with these matters.

Disbursements

In addition to our fees, there will be also be payments to third parties.  These are called Disbursements.  The most common disbursement relating to the administration of an Estate will be as follows:

N.B. There may be additional Disbursements depending on the contents of the Estate.  We will advise you of any additional Disbursements when we confirm your instructions or when we become aware of them as we administer the Estate.

We will handle the payment of all Disbursements on your behalf.

Timescales

If the Estate is straightforward, then we would expect to complete the administration of the Estate within 6 to 12 months.  The administration is complete when the Grant of Probate has been obtained, the Estate has been valued, the assets have been collected and distributed and the Estate accounts have been prepared.  We cannot be precise with the timescale because there are factors that could delay it, for example the sale of a Property. 
If the Estate is complex, then we would expect the timescale to be longer than 12 months.

If your loved one has lost the capacity to deal with their affairs, then an application to the Court of Protection will be needed.  This is so that you, or someone else close to your loved one, can be appointed as the official person, called a Deputy, to deal with their affairs for them.

If you want to find out more about the Court of Protection and how we can help you, click here.

We can act on your behalf in connection with the application to the Court of Protection and we can also act as your loved one’s Deputy.

There are many different types of applications to the Court of Protection and the work involved in being a Deputy will be different depending on each person circumstances.  Therefore, we cannot charge a Fixed Fee for applying to the Court of Protection.  We charge on the basis of our hourly rates which are as follows:

General estimate:

As a general guideline for an application to the Court of Protection for you to appointed as the Deputy to manage a person’s property and finances, we estimate it would take approximately 8 hours work.  Therefore, at the rate of £200.00 per hour, our estimated fees would be £1,600.00 plus VAT and Disbursements.

Disbursements

In addition to our fees, there will be also be payments to third parties.  These are called Disbursements.  The most common disbursement relating to an application to the Court of Protection will be as follows:

N.B. If your income is less than £12,000.00 per year or if you are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits, you may be entitled to a fee exemption or reduction.

Timescales

The usual time for an application to the Court of Protection for a person to be appointed as Deputy will generally be in the region of 8 weeks.  We cannot estimate the time it will take the court to process the application as this will depend on the resources of the individual court.

If we cannot offer a Fixed Fee for our services, we charge an hourly rate.  Our hourly rates are as follows:

We will advise you at the outset, when we have confirmed your instructions, of the hourly rate we will charge for your matter and the reason(s) this rate has been applied.  We will not commence work until you are happy with the hourly rate to be applied to your matter.

In addition to our Fixed Fees and Hourly Rates, we offer our clients a choice of packages.  These packages are designed to allow you to maximise the work we do for you and to minimise the charges to try to give you even better value for your money.  Our packages are as follows:

Per Person

Per Couple

N.B. The above packages do not include Bespoke Wills or Disbursements and are subject to the criteria detailed above.