A Will provides security and certainty about the distribution of your money and estate upon death. It also minimises family anxiety and stress that can arise where wishes haven't been formerly expressed. All of this can be done at a comparably low cost.
We have experience and expertise. We also hold professional indemnity insurance and are regulated by the SRA. Off the shelf wills and non-regulated will providers may not provide you with the same re-assurance. The cost of a will is not as much as you may think and given the importance such a document has in conveying your finances to loved ones, it’s important to get it right.
Making a lasting power of attorney can be as important as making a will and should be considered at the same time.
Trusts are a way of holding money or property for the benefit of another party. This is usually as part of tax and estate planning on death and or to find ways of providing for vulnerable persons or placing restrictions on a child's inheritance. A parent may want their children to receive their inheritance in stages, for their own protection.
We can assist with administering an estate, either in accordance with a person's will or otherwise under the intestacy rules. We can do so efficiently and with experience of the relevant forms and applicable law to provide peace of mind to the family involved.
Our costs at England & Co take into account both the time spent on each matter and the value of the Estate. You work will be undertaken by either a Solicitor, Trainee Solicitor or assistant.
Our hourly rate is usually £165+VAT per hour and each letter is charged at £16.50+VAT.
Our basic starting point is that we will charge a standard 1.5%+VAT of the Estate Value and no hourly rate costs are taken into account in most circumstances. This will however depend upon the circumstances of each case. We are happy to discuss any Estate with you and then be able to confirm if your matter can be fixed at this.
This fee will include:
• Meeting with you
• Obtaining the values of all the assets on your behalf
• Preparation of the relevant Inheritance Tax forms
• Preparation of the Oath for Executors
• Depending on your circumstances, attending on you to discuss the paperwork once it is prepared
• Submission of the account closure forms or relevant sales forms once the Grant has been issued
• Collecting together the assets and distributing them according the Will
• Preparing Estate Accounts
• Submission of the relevant notices (if requested)
The fee does not include:
• Dealing with any claims or disputes within the family
• Conveyancing costs in connection with any properties in the Estate
• Services surrounding investment of funds or transfers of properties if a Trust arises under the terms of the Will.
Typical timescales for this type of work will vary depending upon how long the sale of any property in the Estate will take or if there is Inheritance Tax payable. On average most Estates take between 6-12 months to deal with. The collecting together of the asset values takes 10-12 weeks and the obtaining of the Grant then takes typically a further 3-6 weeks.
We also offer a fixed fee ‘Extract Only’ option where we prepare the forms for submission to the Probate Registry for you.
This fee will include:
• An appointment to identify any Executor / Administrator & to confirm the details you need to obtain.
• A further meeting to confirm the details required for us to prepare the probate documents.
• Completion of the Probate Application and relevant Inheritance Tax forms
• If relevant, attending upon you to discuss the paperwork once it is prepared
• Submission of the application to the Probate Registry
• Obtain the Grant of Probate and forward this onto you
This fee does not include:
• Discussing the matter with beneficiaries
• Dealing with any type of dispute or claim
• Our Getting involved with writing to any of the banks or obtaining valuations for you
• Our closing any accounts or calling in any assets on your behalf • Dealing with additional documents such as power of attorney for Executors or preparing affidavits required by the court if the Will has any issues.
Typical time scales for this type of work is 3-6 weeks from when we obtain the details of the asset values.
Our fees for non-taxable Estates are £450+VAT and for Estates where an IHT400 is required to be prepared and submitted (whether or not there is tax payable) then we charge £950+VAT.
The exact costs are based upon the individual circumstances of each case.
Disbursements that are usually expected to be paid in addition to any of the above services are:
• Court fee of £155 (plus 50p per additional copy of the Grant)
• Swearing the Oath £7 per Executor (assuming no codicils or additional documents are required to be sworn alongside the Oath)
• We always recommend that Bankruptcy searches are undertaken at £2 per name and in addition London Gazette and local paper notices to protect Executors against unexpected claims from unknown creditors. These fees vary depending upon the publication but is generally around £150.00 including VAT.
• There are also complicating factors to the above such as if there is no Will or there are many share holdings to deal with or if there is a claim made against the Estate. In these circumstances the costs can be much higher. We will advise you if this is relevant to your case.
• There may also be additional Estate planning that could be utilised such as Deeds of Variation, which will also incur additional costs.
Would you like to have a chat about our Wills, Trusts and Probate services?
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