Our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) require us to provide certain additional information on our services (the SRA Transparency Rules) and we outline this information below.
We specialise in probate cases where all the deceased’s assets are in the UK, including testate and intestate and taxable and non-taxable estates.
A grant of probate is a formal legal document that allows the executors of an estate to deal with the bank accounts, property and possessions of a person who has died. A grant of probate is usually required if the deceased had assets in his or her sole name worth over £5,000.
The people entitled to apply for a grant of probate are the executors the deceased named in his or her will.
If there is no will then it will usually be a close family member, or the person who is the main beneficiary of the estate, who is able to apply for a grant of letters of administration, which is the equivalent legal document to a grant of probate. It does the same thing as a grant of probate and allows the administrator of the estate to deal with all of the deceased’s assets.
You may need to get a grant of probate or letters of administration if your spouse or civil partner owned assets valued over £5,000 in his or her sole name.
If you think you may be the person who has to apply for a grant of probate or letters of administration, contact one of our probate specialists on 0800 092 1534 to discuss the options that may be available to you. We offer an initial telephone conversation free-of-charge, during which a member of our experienced probate team will establish the details of the situation and will advise on your legal position.
An executor (or administrator) is responsible for dealing with the estate of the person who has passed away. It can be a lengthy task and it requires the executor to gather a considerable amount of information about the person who has died. It generally involves valuations of assets and liabilities, as well as closing accounts and selling property and possessions of the deceased, and then distributing the money to the beneficiaries of the estate.
It is important to obtain accurate valuations of all the assets of the person who has passed away, and the executor must ensure that all debts are paid out of assets of the estate before the beneficiaries can take their share.
You can take all the worry and hassle away by using specialist solicitors to help you through this difficult process and obtain the grant of probate on your behalf for a fixed fee.
There is no standard timescale for estate administration, as every estate has its own characteristics which will impact upon timings. However, in a straightforward estate we would anticipate that we will obtain the grant of probate within 4-8 weeks of us commencing work on the matter.
Our probate specialists have many years of experience of obtaining quickly and efficiently a grant of probate or letters of administration, as well as dealing with HMRC regarding any Inheritance Tax that is payable. We use our experience and specialist knowledge to
complete and submit on your behalf the long and complicated forms that are required by the Probate Registry and HMRC.
Our Probate solicitors are;
Breakdown of costs:
In return for our fixed fee we will:
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. We handle payment of disbursements on your behalf, to ensure a smoother process.
If the estate includes investments (stocks, shares and bonds) there is likely to be an additional fee, depending on how you want the investments to be dealt with. We will give you an estimate of our additional fee once we have more information.
Should further assets or liabilities be discovered in the course of the administration of the deceased’s estate, additional costs may arise.
The cost of selling or transferring a property is not included in our fixed fee. If you require this service, please let us know and we will advise you on your legal options in that regard.
There are various factors that will affect any Inheritance Tax due on an estate, including the size of the estate and any measures that were put in place by the deceased to limit his or her tax liability.
It would not be sensible to attempt to provide you with an accurate estimate of any tax that may be payable at this stage. However, if you would like to calculate any Inheritance Tax that may be due we recommend you do so on HMRC’s tax calculators, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-tools-and-calculators#inheritance-tax-and-bereavement
If there are likely to be any additional or unexpected costs we will inform you of them at the earliest opportunity and we will provide you with a clear estimate of those extra costs.
Services which are not included in our fixed fee, and which will incur an additional fee, include: