Probate Pricing
Pricing
Fixed Fee Cost Calculator
Estate estimated value (£)
Number of copies of Probate required
Do you wish for property deeds to be transferred?
Do you believe Inheritance Tax will be payable?
Probate Cost Calculator
Estate estimated value (£)
Is there a Will?
Number of beneficiaries
How many properties are within the estate?
Number of bank / building society accounts
Number of investment policies or products
Number of pensions (excluding state pension)
Number of loans or credit agreements
Did the person who had passed away complete a Self Assessment Return?
Do you believe Inheritance Tax will be payable?
Would you wish to place Statutory Notices, to protect the executors
from any unknown debts?
Please read our Probate Cost Estimate Information for more info about the results you may receive.
Meet our Team
Sarah Thiede – Director and Solicitor
Sarah is the head of our team and has over 15 years' experience in private client work, specialising in wills and probate. Sarah has been working in this area since she qualified and has helped hundreds of families and individuals.
Sarah qualified as a solicitor in 2009. She completed her training contract at Malcolm C Foy & Co and has been here ever since. Sarah has also completed several professional development courses in probate and estate administration and is a full member of Lifetime Lawyers, a national association of independent lawyers who specialise in legal services for older and vulnerable people.
Nicki Dalton - Paralegal
Nicki has been working at Malcolm C Foy and Co for many years across various departments, and has been part of the Wills and Probate team for over 6 years.
Our Pricing
We offer two kinds of estate service, one limited to applying for probate only and one which involves the entire estate administration.
When dealing with someone's estate, there are ultimately three stages:
- Collecting all relevant information from banks/investment companies to find out the extent of the deceased person's estate.
- Using that information to fill in the probate application documents for submission to the Probate Registry, so that they can grant probate to enable the estate to be wound up, i.e. the bank accounts closed, any property sold, etc.
- Sending the Grant of Probate to the banks, etc., to request that all accounts be closed, before distributing the funds in accordance with the Will / the rules of Intestacy (where there is no Will).
What’s Included in Our Fixed Fee
As part of this fixed fee service, we will:
- Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate lawyer (supervised by Sarah Thiede)
- Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries
- Accurately identify the type of Probate application required
- Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms
- Draft a legal oath for you to swear
- Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf
- Obtain the probate and securely send any paid-for copies to you
How long will this take?
Preparing the paperwork to apply for probate generally takes 1-2 weeks, and it usually takes the Probate Registry around 8-16 weeks to process the application and issue the grant to us.
Any additional optional costs?
If there is a property within the estate which needs to be transferred to a beneficiary (rather than sold), we can provide this as an additional service if required. The added costs of doing this are:
- £200 plus VAT (£240) Legal fees
- £20-£50 HM Land Registry fees, depending on the value of the property
- £7 Official copy entries
Full estate administration
Collecting the relevant information, applying for the grant, collecting and distributing the assets
If you instruct us to deal with the whole estate administration, we anticipate this will take between 7 and 15 hours work at £272+ 20% VAT per hour. The total estimated cost would be between £2,000 and £4,000 + 20% VAT.
While we generally work on an hourly rate basis, we are always happy to provide a fixed fee service if preferred, again likely to be in the cost range quoted above, so that you know exactly what you will need to pay before instructing us.
The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, shareholdings, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.
We will handle the full process for you
What This Quote Covers
This quote is based on estates where the following apply:
- There is a valid Will
- There is no more than one property
- There are no more than 8 bank or building society accounts
- There are no other intangible assets (e.g. shares or stocks)
- There are between 1 and 10 beneficiaries
- There are no disputes among the beneficiaries (disputes are likely to increase costs)
- No Inheritance Tax is payable and no full account needs to be submitted to HMRC
- There are no claims made against the estate
Essential Disbursments
The following costs are payable to third parties in addition to our legal fees:
- £526 - Probate application fee
- £2 - per copy of the grant required
- £6 per beneficiary – Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches
- Inheritance Tax (if applicable) – This cannot be estimated in advance as it depends on the estate value. You may find the HMRC Inheritance Tax calculator helpful.
Optional Disbursements
These are recommended to protect against unexpected claims:
- £104 + VAT – Notice in The London Gazette
- £290 + VAT (average) – Notice in a Local Newspaper (cost varies depending on locality)
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of all disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
Potential additional costs
If there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds), there is likely to be additional costs that could range significantly depending on the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.
If any additional copies of the grant are required, they will cost £1.50 each (usually 1 per asset).
Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.
Length of this process
On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 3-6 months from start to finish. Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes 8-12 weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 2 and 4 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 2-4 weeks.
As part of our fee, we will:
- Provide you with a dedicated and experienced probate lawyer to work on your matter.
- Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries.
- Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require.
- Obtain the required documents to submit the application.
- Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms.
- Draft a legal oath for you to swear.
- Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf.
- Obtain the probate and securely send two copies to you.
- Collect and distribute all assets in the estate after obtaining suitable identification and payment authorities from the beneficiaries of the estate.
Exclusions
The fees are fixed in relation to Grant of Probate only applications, and estimated in relation to Full Administration services. The estimates include detailed items, but please be aware that there may be factors which would increase the costs and expenses.
If we believe that there is likely to be any additional costs or expenses, we will inform you of this either at the outset of the matter if additional costs are foreseen, or if that is not possible, at the earliest possible opportunity. We will give you a clear estimate of those extra costs, if applicable.
Our services do not include the following:
- Submitting any tax returns in relation to a person who has passed away
- Valuations of any property
- Transferring property to beneficiaries
- Conveyancing costs
- Tracing unknown or missing beneficiaries
- Preparing Deeds of Variation
- Tax advice for beneficiaries
- Litigation or disputes between beneficiaries / potential beneficiaries
- Any overseas assets
Although we may be able to provide some of these services at an additional cost, for which we will give you a clear estimate.
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Nicola Dalton
Wills Executive - Private Client Department
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Sarah Thiede
Director - Head of Private Client Department
