Probate works are conducted and supervised by Mr Terence Walsh who is Managing Director of the firm with over 10 years PQE and the Managing Director since 2015. In that time he has managed and assisted staff in various areas including wills and probate matters. He has helped to raise thousands of pounds via Will Aid Charities in the last few years. Mr Walsh attended the University of Sheffield.  He also assisted in this area by Carolyn Walsh who is a solicitor who qualified in 2023 and is also a Director of the firm. She has completed professional development courses in estates and has dealt with wills and estates prior to qualification.

We would intend to obtain a Grant of Probate within 3-12 months of receiving instructions for a full estate administration. This is only a guideline and can vary pending on the complexity of the matters.  Once the Grant has been received the remainder of the administration of the estate can usually be dealt with over the course of a further 12 months depending on whether there is property or shares to sell and complexity. Legal fees in these cases will be taken from the Estate when it is in funds (see below for costings).

Time frames vary as stated above pending on complexity and cooperation of parties.

Please note all fees attract VAT. Vat is in addition. Vat is currently 20%. So an example is if the fees are £500 the Vat amount will be an additional £100 to a total of £600,

Apply for a Grant of Probate

Meeting you and obtaining information from you to complete the grant. We will supply you with the grant once we receive it.

£900 plus VAT and Probate Registry fees of £273 plus £1.50 per additional copy of Grant.

Administering the estate

We would usually meet you and discuss what is required within the administration. Administering the estate will involve us providing initial advice regarding the Will or the intestacy position. We will gather in the assets and liabilities and the information to complete a grant. This includes preparing full estate accounts. We will deal with HMRC and DWP if necessary.

As a guide, the fees for full administration will typically start from £2,500 to £10,000 plus VAT and disbursements plus 1.5% of net residuary estate plus vat. The residual estate is the value of the estate after all bills and taxes are paid.

We charge an hourly rate will be £200 per hour (plus vat).

Example:

If an estate is valued at £200,000 with a house, two bank accounts and three beneficiaries. The likely fee would be £5,500 plus vat plus any other disbursements that may be required.

Your costs may be higher if one of the below applies. It is not possible to give an exact costing should one of the below applies as this will be a unique situation and we will discuss this at the initial meeting. However, we anticipate the cost to be still within the range stated above.

• The original Will cannot be found
•  There is property/ assets outside of England & Wales
• Assets held in a trust
•  There are no executors/the executors have passed away/refusing to act
•  An affidavit is required in respect of the Will
• A power reserved notice, renunciation or power of attorney document is required
• The deceased died domiciled outside of England & Wales
• If HMRC raise enquiries about the values submitted
• There is no Will and the beneficiaries are minors
• If there is no Will and detailed work needs to be carried out to trace the next of kin.
• If it is a complicated intestacy matter
• If there are issues with the Will (defaced/altered)
• Family not cooperating

These factors can result in the process taking longer.

Likely Disbursements

• Court fee of £273
• TT fee £35 plus VAT
• £1.50 for each office copy of the grant required
• £3 plus VAT HM Land Registry official copy entry
• £2 bankruptcy search per beneficiary
• HM Land Registry registration fees are based on scales and the value and status of the property
• Other external costs will be advised as required, e.g. accountant’s fee for potential income tax return, statutory advertisement fee to advertise for unknown creditors, asset tracing fee. Some of these will have VAT added whereas others won’t.
• There may be additional third-party costs for lost share certificates and share registrar and/or sale agent fees on transfer or sale of the shares. These vary and usually have vat added.
• S27 Advertisements in the London Gazette and a local newspaper in from £150 – £300 depending on the local newspaper advertising costs.
• Stockbroker fees – £25 – £150 depending on the number of shareholdings to be dealt with.
• Conveyancing fees in selling a property