Uncontested Probate and Estate Administration

Whether or not the deceased person left a Will, our experienced team are available to assist in this difficult time.

Our fees are calculated by reference to the time spent on the estate administration based on our current hourly rates plus VAT and Rosemary Stokes, who is an experienced Solicitor currently deals with all uncontested probate matters and Rosemary’s hourly rate is £325 plus VAT. Rosemary is supervised by Nazia Rahman who is one of the Partners and her hourly rate is £350 plus VAT. For more information about our Solicitors please see: Solicitors at Alpha Lexis Law Firm

Please note, however that these fees may be increased to include an additional charge to reflect the intricacy and value of the estate in question.

By way of an estimate as we do find that the fees for carrying out the full administration of a deceased’s persons estate will lie somewhere in the region of 1% – 2% of the value of the estate plus VAT, which includes both our time spent and any additional charge to be accounted for. Dealing with the full administration includes the following matters, though these are not exhaustive:

• Reviewing all of the relevant estate papers.
• Carrying out a full investigation into the value of the estate assets and any liabilities and making direct contact with the relevant institutions.
• Preparing Inheritance Tax Returns/Accounts where necessary.
• Applying for and obtaining the Grant of Probate/Administration.
• Arranging the sale (other than land), closure or transfer of estate assets once the Grant of Probate has been obtained.
• Settling any estate liabilities identified from the estate assets.
• Dealing with any income tax liability owing at the date of death, unless this is already being dealt with by the deceased’s accountant, for example.
• Dealing with any income tax liability arising during the estate administration period.
• Dealing with any capital gains tax liability arising during the estate administration period and advising on ways to mitigate this, if possible.
• Setting up any trusts created by the Will
• Overseeing distribution of estate assets.
• Preparing final, detailed Estate Accounts for the residuary beneficiaries of the estate.

Please note that a deceased person’s estate consists of their half share of any jointly-owned assets plus the assets which they own solely, for example ISAs etc., but this does not normally include pension funds which are generally outside of the estate.

Our fees can be lower than 1% (particularly if we are dealing with a higher value estate where there may be economies of scale), but will rarely exceed 2% of the value of the estate unless the matter is particularly complicated or time-consuming or is subject to a dispute or claim; if we are dealing with a very low value estate (as we are sometimes asked to do) the charges may be proportionately higher because there is a minimum amount of time needed to deal with the administration of an estate, however simple.

There are a number of factors that will influence our fees for administering an estate and below is a non-exhaustive list of those factors which can increase our fees:

• The estate is subject to Inheritance Tax.
• There are a substantial number of beneficiaries.
• There are assets overseas.
• There are a large number of assets and investments with various institutions.
• There is potential for disagreement/dispute between executors/beneficiaries and/or actual or potential claims against the estate.
• The deceased’s income tax affairs are complicated.
• There are lifetime gifts that need to be brought into account.
• The Will creates a trust or trusts or there is a life interest trust the deceased benefitted from
• The administration income tax situation is complicated and requires the completion of formal tax returns and registration of the estate with HMRC.
• The estate is intestate, i.e. there is no Will
• The estate includes unregistered land.

Please note that the above is set out for guidance purposes only and is not a quotation, a bespoke quotation will be prepared once we are able to ascertain the extent of the estate that we shall be dealing with.

Please also note that the fees set out above include the cost of transferring land to a beneficiary, but not, for example, for a sale to a third party which is additional and will be subject to the standard charges of our residential property team. Furthermore, if we are instructed to vary the terms of an estate or prepare a Deed of Variation or disclaimer that will also involve additional fees for which we will provide a separate estimate.

We are likely to incur additional legal expenses (which we call disbursements) which are payable from the Estate, namely:

• Probate Application fees – these are set by the Government and payable to HMCTS please see:  HMCTS Probate Fees
• Swear fees for swearing an Oath, currently £7 if there is a Will but no Codicil
• Certainty Search – these are not obligatory, but we do recommend them. This is a search of the national will register to check to see if there may be a later Will on the register that the executors do not know about – this protects the executor from personal liability in certain circumstances and usually costs about £108 plus VAT
• Trustee Act Notices – these are searches in the London Gazette and local newspaper that advertise for unknown claims against the Estate and provide statutory protection for the executors in relation to claims of which they are innocently unaware. Again they are not mandatory, but we do recommend them in all cases. The cost is usually about £200.
• Unclaimed Assets search (where necessary) – £25.
• Land Registry fees (where applicable) which will vary according to the nature of the transaction
• Incidental expenses such as bankruptcy searches to verify that the executors may safely distribute assets to the beneficiaries – £2 plus VAT per person

We generally find that it takes between two and five months to obtain the Grant of Probate for a straightforward estate. For taxable estates, this is usually three to six months. Thereafter, we act on behalf of the executors to deal with the estate assets and liabilities. We hope to conclude the administration of straightforward estates within six to twelve months, but it can of course take longer and will depend upon individual circumstances.

VAT at the prevailing rate of 20% is set by the Government.