WILLS
A Will is an important document to have in place so you can decide how your possessions should be divided after you die. We can advise you on certain provisions being in place to avoid additional stress and strain for your loved ones and that your arrangements are inheritance tax efficient.
To obtain an understanding of your assets and how you wish for these to be divided, we ask for our Will Questionnaire to be completed in as much detail as possible. Once this has been completed and returned to us, we will proceed with drafting an initial version of your Will which will be finalised during your appointment.
Our Will writing service offers the following:
- Telephone consultation – after receiving your Questionnaire, we offer a 15- minute free consultation to discuss your instructions and go through any questions you may have
- Home Consultations – we can visit you in the comfort of your own home (fees are subject to your location)
- Single or Mirror Wills
- Updating a Will – if your circumstances have changed, have your will professionally updated
Who Should I Name as Executor in my Will?
We can advise you about who you should appoint to be your Executor(s), however ultimately it should be individual(s) that are unbiased, trustworthy, conscientious, and meticulous. If you are unable to choose a person, we will be pleased to act for you. You will need specific wording for your Will, and we will be happy to provide this within our fixed fee.
How much does this service costs?
TOTAL: We offer a fixed fee of £300.00 plus vat (£360.00) for your Will, this fee is not applicable if we have to do a home visit. For more complex inheritance tax advice we charge our hourly fees as follows:
| Attendance/Preparation | Pounds Per Hour |
|---|---|
| The Senior Partner | 320.00 |
| Assistant Solicitor/or equivalent | 280.00 |
| Trainee Solicitor/ Legal Executive/ Legal Clerk | 200.00 |
| Other | Each |
| Letter In/Out | 28.00 |
| Telephone Call In/Out | 28.00 |
| Fax/E Mails In/Out | 28.00 |
The fixed fee includes: obtaining your instructions, a 15-minute telephone conversation after you have completed and returned our Will questionnaire, a face-to-face meeting with you to discuss your drafted Will and to finalise the same and executing and witnessing your Will.
Our secure Will storage facilities:
Your Will is an important and confidential document, and if you have any concerns about storing the document at your home, we offer a service to store your original Will at our secure storage facilities for a one off cost of £25.00 plus vat (£30.00). If you wish for us to store your original Will, we will send you a reminder letter every January to confirm we are still holding your Will.
FIXED FEE PROBATE
We can help you through this difficult process by obtaining the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration on your behalf. We will also undertake the collecting and distributing of assets. To ascertain the value of the Estate and the relevant organisations that need to be contacted, we will require our Probate questionnaire to be completed. We appreciate this is somewhat a lengthy document and we will assist you in ensuring it is completed correctly. Once we have obtained all details of the assets and any debts of the Estate, we will complete the required Probate and where necessary, the Inheritance Tax Form and lodge the same with the Probate Registry and the Inheritance Tax Department at HMRC. Once the Grant of Probate has been obtained, you can then use the Grant of Probate to sell property, collect monies etc and pay the beneficiaries in accordance with the Will.
How much does this service costs?
TOTAL: We offer a fixed fee of £2500.00 plus vat (£3000.00) for most Estates. This fee does not include any conveyancing fees. We do not undertake conveyancing matters; however, we can complete transfers of property in certain cases for which there will be additional fees.
The fixed fee includes: obtaining your instructions, completing the IHT forms, obtaining the Grant, collecting assets and distributing to the beneficiaries.
These fees do not include any additional costs where there are assets abroad that need to be handled within the Probate matter. There will also be disbursement payments to be made to the Probate Registry for the sum of £155.00 plus the cost for extra copies of the Grant of Probate document, the cost of which is £1.50 for each additional copy.
Breakdown of costs:
Legal fees – £2500 (Subject to the size of the Estate and the work that will need to be completed)
VAT on legal fees – £500
Disbursements are costs related to our matter that are payable to third parties, such as Probate Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
As part of our fixed fee, we will:
- Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate practitioner to work on your matter
- Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries
- Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require
- Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application
- Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms
- Draft a legal oath for you to swear
- Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf
- Obtain the Probate and securely send copies to you
- Collect and distribute all assets in the estate
Once we have all of the information required, we will prepare the application documents for your signature within 14 days. Once they have been signed and returned, we will make the application to the Probate Registry and usually a Grant is received within 6 to 8 weeks.
The entire process depends on the scope of the Estate and how quickly the assets and liabilities can be ascertained. For straightforward Estates, we would expect around 6-8 weeks from instruction to Grant.
For more complex Estates it is more likely to be from 2-6 months.
If we are administering the Estate as part of the instructions we have received, the timeframe depends on how long it takes to collect in the assets and usually depends on whether a property needs to be sold or what other assets there are. This process can take anywhere between two weeks and around 6 months.
We will ensure that this difficult time is handled with empathy and care. We will handle the application, so you don’t have to – saving you time and effort, whilst providing you with a peace of mind that comes from knowing that it’s all been done correctly.
