Probate (uncontested) Pricing

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Uncontested probate is where there is no dispute over the will and distribution of assets. Below we provide you with information on our legal fees and disbursements required to complete your matter.

We provide a variety of services on a fixed fee basis in order to provide as much flexibility as possible. In dealing with an Estate there are three options, the details of each are set out below so that you can see exactly what each involves and what the cost of each is.

All services provided by Napthens LLP are subject to VAT at the current rate of 20%

Grant Only – all costs exclusive of VAT and disbursements

Packages	Description	Fees
Package 1	Estate Less than £325,000	£1,200
Package 2	Estate more than £325,000 – no claim for IHT relief	£2,000
Package 3	Estate more than £325,000 and claiming any type of IHT or residential relief. Responding to queries from HMRC or negotiations with HMRC are not included this package, nor does this include an application for Agricultural or Business Property Relief.	£4,000

Estate Administration– all costs exclusive of VAT and disbursements

Packages	Description	Fees
Package 5	Estate Less than £325,000	£4,000
Package 6	Estate more than £325,000 – no claim for IHT relief	£7,000
Package 7	Estate more than £325,000 and claim for IHT reliefs e.g. Agricultural Property Relief or Business Property Relief, gross value of estate less than £1.5 million	£10,000
Package 8	Gross value of estate over £1.5million	£15,000
	Estate with gross value over £2 million	Fee to be agreed

Napthens Executor’s Service– all costs exclusive of VAT and disbursements

Clients frequently request that a solicitor is the Executor. A senior partner of Napthens LLP shall be the proving executor or administrator. This is an estate administration service with additional work to ensure full compliance and wider checks to ensure no assets, debts or beneficiaries are missed.

Packages	Description	Fees
Package 9	Estate less than £325,000	£6,000 minimum fee
Package 10	Estate more than £325,000 no IHT reliefs to claim	£10,000 minimum fee
Package 11	Estate over £325,000 IHT payable and reliefs to be claimed	£12,000 minimum fee
Package 12	Estate over £1.5 million	£18,000 minimum fee

Hourly rates

Our hourly rates vary according to the seniority of the person working for you, for example:

Legal Director: £250 per hour + VAT
Senior Associate: £195 per hour + VAT

Disbursements

These are costs that will be incurred by the estate that have to be paid to a third party, such as the Land Registry or court fees.

We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

You will be provided with a full list of disbursements in our formal quotation.

If you need to incur any further disbursements during your case, you will be notified in advance of the reason and the amount.

The likely disbursements in an estate administration matter are:

Probate application £300.00 plus £1.50 per copy Grant required
UK Bankruptcy- only Land Charges Department searches £2.00 per beneficiary
Post in The London Gazette and a local newspaper £175- £350 plus vat protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors
Land Registry search fee of £3.00 per title copy and £3.00 for each plan.
Financial Asset Search £180.00 plus vat (£216.00)
Certainty Will search £105 plus vat
Thirdfort Identification Verification which is £20 plus vat per person
Overseas Bankruptcy search – quote to be obtained if required.

The electronic same day transfer fee is £40 plus vat

Timescales

The timescales for finalising an estate are difficult to predict accurately, particularly if there is a property that needs to be sold, but as a guide a simple case can sometimes be finalised within 6-12 months, most more complex estate between 12 months to 24 months, and many of the most complicated estates will take longer than that.

Stages of the Process

The precise stages involved in an uncontested probate vary according to the circumstances. We have set out the key stages of a standard transaction: –

Providing you with a dedicated and experienced probate solicitor to work on your matter.
Undertaking regulatory checks.
Identifying the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries.
Accurately identifying the type of Probate application, you will require.
Obtaining the relevant documents required to make the application.
Completing the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms.
Drafting a legal statement for you to sign.
Making the application to HMCTS / The Probate Registry on your behalf.
Obtaining the Grant of Probate and securely sending copies to you.
Collecting and distributing all assets in the estate.
Settling any income tax liability due during the administration period.

Potential additional costs

Further potential costs may arise where: –

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 any additional copies of the grant are required, they will cost £1.50 + VAT (£1.80 inc. VAT) (1 per asset usually).

Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.

Fee Earners

Our private client team has many years of experience in dealing with all aspects of probate and estate administration.

We have a range of experienced team members who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Helen Lucking, solicitor and Head of Wills and Estate Planning – for more information on our probate team, please click here.

Probate (uncontested) Pricing