Our Fees

We are required by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority to publish information on the services we offer and the costs of those services in relation to probate matters. This is to help you understand what we can do and what it may cost for us to do it.

Obtaining a Grant of Probate

We are often asked to simply obtain a Grant of Probate for an estate. This is because it is either all that is needed to be carried out in the administration process, or because our clients are happy to carry out the rest of the administration of the estate themselves. A grant extraction only typically occurs when the estate is under £325,000 and no significant gifts have been made in the 7 years preceding the deceased’s death.

Applying for a Grant of Letters of Administration (where there is no Will)

Where there is no Will or there is a valid Will but it does not appoint any Executors a Grant of Letters of Administration is obtained instead of a Grant of Probate. Again, we are often called upon just to obtain this document. In this case, there may be a little more work involved as we have to ensure that there is no valid Will before we make an application for the Grant.

Administration of an Estate

Where Personal Representatives require assistance or do not want to deal with the administration themselves, we can help.

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 much lower but if there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and many more bank accounts or stocks and shares, costs will be in the higher range suggested above.

We will handle the full process for you. Our fees range depending on a number of factors, including if there is a valid Will, if there are multiple properties, a considerable number of bank accounts, the amount of beneficiaries and possible claims against the estate. There are also third party fees that must be paid; these are disbursements. We will handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Potential 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 range 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.
If a Deed of Variation is required.

The above costs do not include the sale or transfer of the property.

How Long Will It Take?

On average estates which fall in this range are dealt with within 6–12 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 6–8 weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which a further 6–8 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute assets which normally takes a further 2–3 weeks. If there is a property in the estate which is to be sold, this is the part of the estate which can take the longest as it will entirely depend on the market. However we can complete much of the rest of the estate work whilst the property is on the market or being prepared for sale.

Costs

In a more usual estate, perhaps where there is one property and other assets, such as bank accounts and investments, typically this takes between 4 and 20 hours work at £295 plus VAT per hour. Total costs would therefore start from £1,180 + VAT. For an extraction of the Grant of Probate only (non-taxable estate), the fixed fee is £1,000 plus VAT.

There will be fees that have to also be paid to third parties (we call these disbursements) and these are currently: