Probate Costs
It is impossible to give exact fees for probate and the administration of estates because no two estates are the same. Our fees are worked out according to the amount of time spent on dealing with your matter. This includes meetings with you and any other people involved with the matter and work on the estate.
Our current charging rate is £345 per hour, inclusive of VAT.
By way of example only, a modest estate where:
- There is a valid will
- There is no more than one property
- There are no more than three bank or building society accounts
- There are no other intangible assets
- There are two beneficiaries
- There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets. There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
- There are no claims made against the estate
would involve between 7 and 10 hours work.
Our fee would therefore be between £2,415 and £3,450 for handling the whole process for you.
The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the estate. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.
The following disbursements would also be payable.
Probate application fee – £161
Bankruptcy searches – £2 per beneficiary
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We 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 includes any share holdings (stocks and bonds) additional time will be needed which could significantly increase the cost of administering the estate. An estate that is liable to inheritance tax will involve significantly more time than a tax free estate.
If disputes arise between beneficiaries this will lead to an increase in costs
We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.
Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.
How long will this take?
On average, the estate in the example given above that fall within this range are dealt with within 3 – 6 months. Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes 16 -20 weeks from when we are instructed. Collecting assets then follows, which can take 3 – 4 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes no more than 2 weeks.