Whether you are faced with immediate and distressing challenges, such as the onset of incapacity or illness, or simply want to plan ahead for the future, we can give you peace of mind with clear and practical guidance every step of the way.
It is never too early to make sure your affairs are all in order for you and your family. Our highly experienced Estates team are here to guide families towards putting together sensible plans to help reduce any issues when it comes to will and estate planning.
Our lawyers have a wealth of experience in dealing with even the most complex of Wills and are here to guide you carefully and simply through every step of the process.
We deal with all aspects of Wills and estate planning, including:
We understand the Will writing process requires careful and detailed attention to achieve exactly what you want. We aim to provide you and your loved ones with peace of mind for the future when the time comes to ensure your wealth is protected properly and managed in the way you would like.
We are a retained adviser on the National Lottery winner’s advisory panel. Many of our lawyers are full members of The Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP) which is recognised in the industry as the ‘gold standard’ qualification so you can be confident that we can advise you in line with the latest legal, technical and regulatory developments in this area.
Following the death of a close family member, you will usually have to apply for a ‘Grant of Representation’, also known as a ‘Grant of Probate’ in order to gain the legal right to deal with their estate.
This can often be a confusing and long-winded process which includes the completion of an Inheritance Tax return, even if no inheritance tax is payable. We can provide as much support in this as you need, from providing legal advice, to preparing the paperwork and making the application and liaising with H M Revenue & Customs on your behalf.
No matter how much or how little support you need throughout the estate administration process, we are on hand to help you make all the necessary arrangements as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.
In the case of any disagreements over inheritance, our experienced Contentious Trusts & Probate team is here to provide their full support and legal expertise.
We understand that dealing with the estate of someone who has died can be a difficult and upsetting time for those who are required to manage it.
We can help you through that process by obtaining a grant of probate and dealing with collecting and distributing the assets to the beneficiaries.
We specialise in acting in high value, complex estates with business and property interests.
We recognise that no two Estates will be exactly the same and so the time that will be taken to complete the administration process will depend on the level of work that needs to be carried out. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, the costs should be lower compared with an Estate where there are a number of beneficiaries, a property to be disposed of/transferred and multiple bank accounts, where it should be expected the costs would be higher.
If you would like us to manage the full administration of an estate for you, we would anticipate this should take between 30 and 35 hours to complete based on the list of assumptions outlined below.
The hourly rates of the lawyers within our Private Client Team range from £135 plus VAT for a paralegal to £385 plus VAT for our most senior partner. When applying an average hourly rate of £255 plus VAT (being the average rate for our existing fee earners), our total professional costs are estimated to be in the region of £7,650 to £8,925 plus VAT (currently at 20%).
Assumptions in our pricing
The estimate of our costs set out above would be for an estate where:
Potential additional costs
If any of the assumptions above do not apply our costs will increase, for example if there is no Will or the estate consists of any shareholdings/other investments. In those circumstances, we can provide you with a more accurate fee estimate once we have more information from you.
There will be additional costs incurred if the type of work to be carried out is particularly complex or urgent for any reason, or the nature of your instructions to us require work to be completed outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will notify you in advance and agree an appropriate rate for the time spent and the work carried out. Again, we can provide you with a more accurate fee estimate once we have more information from you.
Disbursements
Our pricing set out above does not include the disbursement costs which we would expect to incur in managing an Estate. Disbursements are costs related to the matter which are payable to third parties, such as court fees. The most frequent disbursement costs are set out below:
Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes between 12 to 16 weeks from when you ask us to act for you. Collecting in the assets and obtaining all the relevant information will then follow, which can take between 6 to 8 weeks to complete. Once this has been done, Estate Accounts can be prepared for your approval before asking the beneficiaries to agree to the final figures so the assets can be distributed and this normally takes between 6-8 weeks to arrange.
On average, estates of the type set out above should take in the region of 6 months to be complete but this can vary in each case as there will be factors in the administration process which are outside of our direct control, such as when dealing with the banks and waiting to receive the grant of probate.
Our team has many years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to Wills and Estate Administration. We offer a Partner led service and the team has particular expertise in high value estates, particularly with business and property assets and Inheritance Tax matters. Regardless of who works on your matter, it will be supervised by a Partner.
If you have any questions or would like any assistance please contact us.
For more information regarding Probate, Estates and Inheritance Tax, please click on the independent links below:
Probate: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance
Inheritance Tax: https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax
Probate, Estates and Executors: https://www.legalchoices.org.uk/
Bereavement tax guide: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tools/bereavement/index.htm
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