Fees: Private Client

• Standard new single Will £300 plus vat of £60 (totalling £360)
• Standard new mirror Wills (i.e. a pair of similar Wills for a couple) £500 plus vat of £100 (totalling £600)
• Single Life Interest Will £450 plus vat of £90 (totalling £540)
• Pair of Life interest Wills (i.e. for a couple) £650 plus vat of £130 (totalling £780)
• Discretionary Trust Will single from £600 plus vat of £120 (totalling £720)
• Pair of Discretionary Trust Wills from £900 plus vat of £180 (totalling £1,080)
• Severance of tenancy, to include registration at the Land Registry, £150 plus vat of £30 (totalling £180)
• Obtaining copy of your legal title from the Land Registry, (if necessary), £3 plus vat of £0.60 (totalling £3.60)
• Registering your Will with Certainty £15 plus vat of £3 (totalling £18)

• Finding out about you and your circumstances and completing identification procedures,
• Taking your instructions and discussing various options
• Drafting your Will and sending it to you for your consideration and approval, usually within 5 working days of instruction
• Meeting with you to discuss any queries you may have and obtaining your signature to the approved will and providing two witnesses
• Arranging for your Will to be registered on the national will register Certainty, if required
• Providing you with copies of your executed Will
• Arranging for the storage of your Will at no charge to you
• If appropriate, obtaining copies of any previous will from your former solicitor and arranging for the destruction of your previous Will.

Stage 1 (drafting and completion of documentation)

• £200 plus vat of £40 (totalling £240), for a single LPA
• £350 plus vat of £70 (totalling £420) for a pair of LPAs, (e.g. financial LPA for husband and wife, or both health & welfare and property and financial LPAs for an individual)

LPAs cannot be used by your Attorneys until they are first registered with the Office of Public Guardian, (OPG).  We will explain to you the advantages and disadvantages of registering your LPAs immediately, or not.  The LPAs can be registered at any time in the future, by either you, or your Attorneys.

Stage 2 (registration)

• £150 plus vat of £30 (totalling £180) for registration of your LPAs, (regardless of whether you have 1, or 2 LPAs)
• Office of Public Guardian fees of £82 (no vat) for each LPA to be registered, (unless a discount or waiver applies)

Stage 1 + Stage 2 (combined)

• £350 plus vat of £70 (totalling £420), for a single registered LPA + OPG fees (if applicable)
• £500 plus vat of £100 (totalling £600) for a pair of registered LPAs + OPG fees (if applicable)

Additional certified copies of your LPAs (in addition to the 2 certified copies included within the price)

• £5 plus vat of £1 (totalling £6)

Cancellation of your LPAs

Occasionally, it may become necessary to cancel your LPA, if for example your relationship with your Attorney should change.

Our fees are £100 plus vat of £20 (totalling £120) for drafting a deed of revocation to cancel your LPA, making application to the OPG for the cancellation and serving notice on your appointed Attorney.

• Finding out about you and your circumstances and completing identification procedures
• Explaining the differences between the two types of LPAs and the options available
• Taking your instructions, drafting your LPAs and sending them to you for your consideration and approval (usually within 5 working days of instruction)
• Meeting with you to discuss any queries you may have and obtaining your signature to the approved documents
• Acting as your Certificate Provider and witness, if required
• Arranging for your Attorneys to sign the documentation and answering any queries they may have about their role as Attorney and the process involved
• Providing you with copies of the completed LPAs and arranging for their storage, at no charge to you.

• Taking your instructions to register your LPAs, (or your Attorney's instructions if they are registered on your behalf)
• Drafting the registration paperwork and obtaining your approval and signature, (or your Attorney's signature)
• Ascertaining your income details and advising you if you qualify for a discount, or complete waiver of the OPG registration fees
• Drafting the application for OPG discount, if appropriate
• Making application to the OPG for registration of your LPAs
• Advising on the likely timescales for registration, (a minimum of 6 weeks and often up to 10-12 weeks depending on the workload of the OPG)
• Providing you with copies of your registered LPAs (and up to 2 additional certified copies at no extra charge)
• Arranging for the storage of your registered LPAs, at no charge to you.

Louise’s hourly rate is £240 plus vat and our fees are calculated based upon the time taken to carry out your instructions.  We do not charge any additional percentage of the estate. The following information is therefore based upon a few typical scenarios:-

• Where you provide details of assets and liabilities and there is no IHT payable, our fees for obtaining the Grant only will be approximately £1,000 - £1,500 plus vat and disbursements (see below) – i.e. approximately 4-6 hours work
• Where we have to contact all assets holders and ascertain the extent of the assets and liabilities of the estate, but still no IHT payable, our fees are likely to be £1,500- £2,500 plus vat and disbursements (see below) – i.e. 6- 10 hours work
• Where we obtain the Grant and there is tax payable our fees are likely to be £2,000 - £4,000 plus vat and disbursements (see below) – i.e. 8-16 hours work
• For a typical estate where there is no tax payable, but where we obtain the Grant and administer and also distribute the estate, our fees would be in the region of £2,500 - £5,000 plus vat and disbursements (see below) i.e. 10-20 hours work
• Where there is tax payable and we obtain the Grant and administer and distribute the estate, our fees would be in the region of £4,000-£8,000 plus vat and disbursements (see below) i.e. 16-33 hours work

There are some factors, which may mean we have to spend longer dealing with your matter, which will therefore increase costs such as:-

• If there is a problem with the Will
• There are numerous bank accounts, or shareholdings
• There is more than one property 
• There are many beneficiaries 
• There are disputes between beneficiaries, or difficult beneficiaries
• There are claims made against the estate
• Where we have to clear a property of its contents
• Where there are foreign assets
• If the estate is insolvent.

As mentioned, there are many variables, so please contact us so we can discuss your circumstances and provide you with a more detailed fee estimate.

Disbursements in addition to the above-mentioned fees

Disbursements are additional costs payable to third parties. These may include:-

• Probate application fees of £155 plus £1.50 for every additional copy of the Grant (no vat)
• Bankruptcy search fees of £2 per name (no vat)
• Trustee Act Notice fees for the local paper and London Gazette – approximately £180 - £200 (no vat)
• Land Registry fees for obtaining and advising upon the legal title to property £3-£6 plus vat
• Will search fees with a Will search agency, approximately £40 - £240 plus vat

• Meeting with you and obtaining full details of the estate and completing identification procedures
• Advising on the contents and validity of the Will, or investigating the family tree where there is no Will
• Investigating the assets and liabilities of the estate and their ascertaining values
• Considering gifts made in the 7 years prior to death
• Preparing the Inheritance Tax (IHT) Account for HMRC (and calculation and payment of tax, where applicable)
• Preparing the application for the Grant (of Probate where there's a Will, or Letters of Administration, where there's no Will)
• Communicating with beneficiaries
• Advising on potential claims upon the estate
• Placing Trustee Act Notices in the local paper and the London Gazette
• Carrying out bankruptcy searches
• Considering income and capital gains tax
• Collecting in, selling, or transferring assets
• Settling liabilities
• Preparing estate accounts
• Distributing the estate.

How long will it take?

This will depend upon the complexity of the estate and how quickly third parties respond to us.  Typically, if there is no tax payable, we will be able to apply for the Grant within 4-6 weeks from instruction.  The Probate Court can take anything between 2-10 weeks to issue the Grant, depending upon how busy they are.

If there is tax paybale on the estate, the process is longer. The first instalment of tax has to be paid within 6 months from the date of death.

Generally any claims being brought against an estate must be made within 6 months from the date of the Grant.  Often it is not necessary to wait for the expiration of this 6 month period before distributing the estate, but we will advise if you should consider waiting for this period to elapse, before distribution takes place.

There are some factors which may cause additional delays, such as:-

• Foreign assets
• Property taking time to sell
• Claims on the estate from the Department for Work and Pension
• Other claims on the estate
• Missing beneficiaries

A typical estate can take 6-12 months to administer in its entirety.  Some estates can take less time and occasionally, an estate will take considerably longer to complete. We will at all times be realistic and advise you as to the likely timescales involved and keep you updated as to progress.

• £125 plus vat of £25 (totalling £150)

• Finding out about you and your circumstances and completing identification procedures
• Taking your instructions and discussing various options
• Drafting your Living Will and sending it to you for your consideration and approval, (usually within 5 working days of instruction)
• Meeting with you to discuss any queries you may have and obtaining your signature to the approved Living Will and providing a witness
• Arranging for a copy of your Living Will to be lodged with your GP
• Providing you with copies of your executed Living Will
• Arranging for the storage of your Living Will, at no charge to you.