Wills
There are strict rules on who can inherit your assets if you have not left a Will.
It is important to have a Will to ensure that your family and friends or your chosen charities inherit your assets in the way that you intend. Leaving it to one family member to informally pass on the assets or wrongly assuming someone is the correct next of kin often leaves a messy situation for the family.
We can talk through your intentions and expectations and provide a Will which reflects your wishes accurately.
Our fees for a standard Will is £185 plus vat at 20% for a single Will and £250 plus vat for couple making mirror or similar Wills.
If we believe that the work is more complicated then we will inform you at the first meeting and give you a quote for the same. We can provide advice on Inheritance tax planning.
Our hourly rate is £200 plus vat for a solicitor or £210 plus vat for a partner.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney can give someone the power to look after your affairs on your behalf either immediately or in the future when you no longer have capacity to manage your own affairs. A LPA can be prepared for your financial and legal matters or for your health and welfare and we can give you guidance on which might be relevant in your situation.
Our fees for preparing a Lasting Power of Attorney are £350 plus vat for one LPA or £500 plus vat for 2 (either 2 LPAs for 1 person or 1 LPA for 2 people)
There is also an Office of the Public Guardian registration fee of £82 per document.
We charge a discounted rate for a combination of the above as follows
- 1 Will and 1 LPA £450 plus vat
- 2 Wills and 2 LPAs £695 plus vat
- 4 LPAs £850 plus vat
- 2 Wills and 4 LPAs (2 each) £995 plus vat
Probate and Administration
Dealing with the affairs of a loved one after their death is always a very difficult time. We can help you with all stages of the administration of the estate including obtaining valuation for all of the assets, obtaining the Grant, closing the accounts and distributing funds to the beneficiaries. We can also deal with any tax forms which are required for the administration.
As the work involved in administration can vary so widely depending on the assets and the beneficiaries we cannot give a definite quote at the beginning of the matter.
Our hourly rate is £230 (or £235.75 for a partner) plus vat if we are instructed by the Executor or £250.00 (or £256.25 for a partner) plus vat if we act as Executor. We will give you a quote in our first letter letting you know how many hours we anticipate the work will take and will give you regular updates if we feel the work will exceed this estimate.
An average Probate may take 10-20 hours to complete and therefore cost between £2,000 and £5,000 plus vat. However some are very simple and only require the grant to be obtained at a cost of closer to £500 plus vat and some are significantly higher. The type of estate which may incur higher costs would for example be ones with the following;
- Shares in companies
- Assets overseas
- More than one property to sell
- Several beneficiaries who may not give joint instructions
- Multiple bank accounts to be closed.
- Children under the age of 18
Paperwork which has not been sorted by the executors and which we need to sift through and deal with ourselves.
Disbursements in Probate and Administration may include the following
- Grant of Probate £300.00 plus any disbursments incurred in respect of Office Copy Probates, at £1.50 per document.
- Swear fee £7
- Trustee Act Notice £200 approximately
- Valuations £100
There may be other disbursements depending on the assets involved.
