Our Administration Service

YOUR CHOICE – A FIXED FEE OR AN HOURLY RATE

We can offer a range of services, depending upon the level of support you need. We can handle everything for you, or give you help and advice on certain aspects you find difficult.

Hourly Rates

We usually charge an hourly rate for the time we spend on your matter. In our experience, this is generally the fairest way to calculate costs – less work and no complications mean a lower cost to you. Most of the work carried out in the administration of estates is carried out by a member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners with over fifteen year’s experience. The work is supervised by a senior solicitor at the firm. The current hourly rate is £130 per hour plus VAT (VAT charged at 20%) and disbursements. Disbursements are payments we make to third parties on your behalf and are listed below.

The likely cost depends upon the individual circumstances, such as whether or not there is a valid Will, the amount of assets we have to deal with, the number of beneficiaries and whether or not inheritance tax will be payable. We usually find that a typical estate with one property and two or three bank accounts, where no inheritance tax is payable and there are no disputes between beneficiaries, require would approximately six to eight hours work.

We offer a free thirty-minute interview to discuss the estate you are dealing with and, once we have full details of the circumstances, we will confirm the likely total cost.

 

Our Fixed Fees

Some people prefer to have peace of mind by instructing us to work on the basis of a fixed fee and we can offer the following services on a fixed fee basis:-

Obtaining a Grant of Probate

If you are happy to gather all the required information and distribute the estate yourself, you can ask us to prepare the probate application for you, based solely on the information you provide.   We will meet with you to explain the information you need to gather and, once you have it, we will prepare your application and meet you once more to go through it with you. We will then submit the application to the Court, check that the Grant is correct when it is issued and then hand the Grant to you so that you can do what is required to finish the administration.

The costs will be as follows:-

Our charges: £799.00

VAT @ 20%: £159.80

Court fee for application: £273.00

2 Additional sealed copies £1.50 each: £3.00

This is a limited service, offered in circumstances where there is a valid Will, no inheritance tax is payable and only the shorter inheritance tax form (IHT205) applies.

Where there is no valid Will we may still be able to offer this service, but it may require some additional work. We will be pleased to confirm a fixed fee with you once we have an understanding of the circumstances and the work involved.

 

Fixed fees for our full administration service

You may prefer to simply hand over all the relevant paperwork and let WMB Law handle the whole probate process for you.  If you prefer, we can also offer a fixed fee for this service:-

Estates with a gross value not exceeding £100,000: £1,500 plus VAT (VAT charged at 20%)

Estates with a gross value not exceeding £325,000: £2,750 plus VAT (VAT charged at 20%)

Estates with a gross value in excess of £325,000 where no inheritance tax is payable because spouse exemption or transferable allowances are available: £3,500 plus VAT (VAT charged at 20%)

Estates with gross value in excess of £325,000 where Inheritance tax is payable: £4,750 plus VAT (VAT charged at 20%)

 

What is included: –

Once we have all the appropriate papers and necessary information, we:

  • Notify the appropriate authorities of the death, e.g. bank, building societies, DWP, and verify the extent and value of the assets and liabilities, obtaining valuations where necessary.
  • Arrange payment of any inheritance tax due.
  • Prepare the paperwork for the executors to sign and, once signed, apply to the Court for the grant of probate (in the case of a will) or of letters of administration (if no will).
  • Once probate is granted, arrange payment of debts and legacies.
  • Finalise the Deceased’s tax affairs to the date of death.
  • Obtain final clearance from HM Revenue & Customs.
  • Distribute the residue in accordance with the Will.

 

What’s not included

  • Conveyancing fees for the sale of property
  • Any challenges to the Will
  • Dealing with claims against the estate
  • Any disbursements (fees or payments to third parties for or on behalf of the estate or required for the administration)

 

In addition to our fixed fees, we will need to make payments on your behalf to third parties.

Court application fee: £273.00 (plus £1.50 for each additional copy)

Bankruptcy searches: £2.00 (per beneficiary)

Notices in The London Gazette and a local paper (which protect against unexpected claims from unknown creditors and unexpected claims): £250 (approximately)