Bridger's Law

Our Services

Uncontested Probate

Your probate matter will be handled by Steven Hayre, who is a solicitor regulated by the SRA. He qualified in 2018 and has more than 8 years’ experience in dealing with Probate, Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. Steven is also the supervisor.

Steven is assisted and supervised by Alanna Forwood who is a trainee solicitor,  expecting to qualify in 2024.

Timescales

As a rough estimate of what you might experience when dealing with probate (but your individual case may take more or less time) including applying for the Grant, collecting and distributing the assets.

• Our application for the grant to the Probate Registry will take approximately 8-12 weeks from receipt of full instructions on assets/liabilities, depending on whether we need to investigate the value of the Estate or prepare a tax return.
• The grant from the Probate Registry will take around 16 weeks from receipt of the application. This can increase in the event of questions being asked by the registry.
• Upon receipt of the Grant of Probate we would estimate collecting in estate assets (except for any residential or commercial property), settling liabilities and producing draft estate accounts within a 8-10 weeks. Once the executor has approved estate accounts the distributions can be made to beneficiaries.

Overall we would therefore anticipate an uncontested estate with no tax return to file to take around 38 weeks to finalise from your instructions. This is a very rough estimate just so you are aware of the main stages of Probate. Depending on the complexity of the assets or Probate in general this could take longer.

Every Probate estate will be different depending on the following factors:

• The number of assets and liabilities of the estate, and most especially property, overseas assets/liabilities and any shares;
• The time taken by the asset holders to respond to our enquiries and provide account closure forms.
• Co-operation and return of paperwork by executors and beneficiaries.
• The time taken by those to whom the estate owes a liability in dealing with requests for information on the liability and providing discharge information.
• The time taken by the Probate registry in dealing with the application for Grant of Probate and any enquiries raised by the Probate Registry.
• The time taken by HMRC in dealing with any application/calculation of Inheritance and any questions raised by the Probate Registry
• If there is a property to be sold (the Conveyancing Costs are not included in these fees and will be dealt with by a member of the Conveyancing team).

Fees

We offer a fixed fee structure when dealing with a Probate, however, the fee we offer will depend on the complexity of your case.

Fixed Fee – If we consider the Estate is relatively straightforward to deal with, for example you have provided us with the evidence of the value of the Estate, and you need us to apply for probate and no tax is applicable. Our fee would be £2,500 plus VAT.

If the Estate requires us to investigate the value in addition to the above, but no tax is payable, then our fee would be £4,000 plus VAT to apply for probate.

Where the Estate seems complicated with a variety of assets that we need to investigate and there is tax payable, then our fees would be in the region of £6,000 plus VAT to £10,000 plus VAT depending on the likely number of hours we are likely to spend working on the matter. We would still be delighted to work with you in more complicated matters but would need to give you a quotation for the work tailored to your individual circumstances. Please contact us to learn more.

In relation to administering the Estate, depending on the number of assets and whether these are stocks and shares, and preparing the Estate accounts and distributing the inheritance then our fees could vary between £2,500 to £6,000 plus VAT. This will depend on the number and nature of the assets, as well as the number of beneficiaries we are distributing to.

Where VAT is referred to please note that this will be charged at the applicable rate, which is currently 20%.

Other costs to consider

Please note that the costs estimates above do not include any additional costs incurred in disposing of estate assets such as the sale or any property or business. Further, if there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) there are 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 fee estimate once we have more information.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments that we make to third parties on your behalf. These are separate payments for which the estate is liable in addition to our costs as described above.

Typical disbursements in Probate matters are:

• Probate application fee, which is currently: £300 plus £1.50 for every extra office copy of the Grant of Probate which you require;
• Bankruptcy searches (£12 inc VAT per beneficiary)
• Land registry title deeds fees:  £3 per register
• Legal notice which requires posting in The London Gazette (This is the UK’s Official Public Record and has been around for almost 400 years (this can help protect against unexpected claims from unknown creditors): £92 plus VAT;
• Post in a local newspaper – this varies according to post code. Typically it’s between £150+VAT and £300+VAT

The fees include:

• Meeting with the executor(s)
• Checking the type of Probate application you will require
• Writing to the companies, banks, pensions and anyone else that holds the deceased assets.
• Completing the Probate application
• Statutory notices if required.
• Contacting the beneficiaries
• Obtaining the Identification requirements from the beneficiaries.
• The preparation of Tax Forms and submitting them to HMRC
• Drafting a legal oath for swearing
• Payment of Inheritance Tax if liable
• Drafting of the Legal Statements
• Drafting the account closure forms
• Discussing the Legal Statements and Closure Forms with the executors.
• Obtaining the Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration in the absence of a will).
• Sending the Grant of Probate to the asset holders in order to collect the assets.
• Finalise the Estate Account
• Once the Executor has approved the Estate Accounts then the assets are distributed in accordance with the will.

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

The above fees are not applicable where the probate is contentious.