Wills and probate solicitors in Wadebridge

a) What it involves:

Very simply when somebody dies the tasks are firstly to establish the nature and extent of the deceased’s estate – and in a typical case this will involve writing to the various financial institutions, insurance companies and the like, perhaps having a property valued and so on; we then prepare the rather complicated forms necessary to enable the appropriate grant of representation to be taken out from the Probate Court – which also involves completing one or more Inheritance Tax accounts to work out what, if any, Inheritance Tax is payable. The workload therefore various from – in the simplest of cases, where the deceased left only a modest estate in a couple of institutions, perhaps not even having to take out a Grant of Probate at all, to hours of work filling in many scores of pages of Inheritance Tax Returns.

Then once we have the appropriate grant of representation (where necessary) we will usually be asked to collect in the assets and distribute them according to the terms of the Will or the Law of Intestacy, as well as dealing with bills and other liabilities that arise along the way.

It also includes consideration of, and advice about the risks and responsibilities involved in being a personal representative. There is the risk of disputes about the Will or the Intestacy, and these require sensitive handling and a knowledge of this complex part of the Law.

b) The costs:

Because of the wide variety of this topic, it is practically impossible to give any sort of reliable estimate without knowing the details of the particular case. We try to operate what we think is the fairest means of charging for Probate – charging by reference to the amount of time engaged on a matter, and by reference to the value of the estate passing through our hands which obviously impacts on the responsibility. Some people opt to instruct us simply to organise the grant of representation and will then deal with the further administration themselves: all well and good – but if they run into difficulties we are here to help. The charging rate is £175 for Charles Rushforth and £155 for our assistant solicitor Clare Hall, £82.50 for Clerks and £41.25 for Support Staff undertaking timed administration work and the rate for routine letters written and telephone calls is £16.50 and for routine letters received £8.25 - all subject to VAT at the standard rate (currently 20%) And when we carry out the administration as well these charges include an element based on the value of the estate which reflects the importance of the matter and responsibility on the firm – usually 1% of the cash assets (or 1.5% if we carry the extra responsibility of having been appointed Executors as well). Note this does not apply to the value attributable to houses or other properties where we are tasked with selling them or dealing with them, in which case we charge fees as per our usual conveyancing charges – or if there is property like that to be kept within the family or transferred by what is called an Assent, according to the terms of the Will/Intestacy, then we charge a modest fee for dealing with that which is obviously considerately less than the sale fee would be.

You might find therefore that our charges for assisting you to simply take out a grant of representation (where one is required at all) amount to no more than £400-600 plus VAT at the standard rate (currently 20%) whereas the costs for handling the entire administration of an estate will amount to some few thousands.

c) Disbursements:

On top of our own fees we have to pay out some costs, out of the estate, and these include:

The Probate Court fee - £158

and a few modest matters such as Land Charges searches, Land Registry copy charges etc. of no more than £10 or so (No VAT).

Some people also opt to have us undertake a search in the Unclaimed Assets Register which costs about £25. These are all matters we will discuss so that you are aware of what is happening and can take decisions.

We recommend that the personal representatives advertise for potential creditors that might otherwise be missed, in the official Gazette and a local paper, and this cost around £150-£200, probably with VAT at the current standard rate of 20%, depending on the particular publication, and £120 (no VAT) in the Gazette.

d) Timetable:

This varies as much as the costs. Again, we go at your pace as we realise it is a sensitive time. 

But a rough guide is:

Obtaining a grant of representation can take from just a week or two in the simplest of cases to months if we have to write off to many financial institutions and have shares etc. valued, properties valued and perhaps make enquiries to track down a possible missing Will etc. 

Collecting in the estate then is usually relatively simple then apart from complicating factors like – foreign shareholdings, having unusual chattels sold at auction, selling the house and so on. It can indeed sometimes take many months.

A further important factor is the question of the potential for claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 from disgruntled other relations. This is a complex area of the Law and we advise clients about it in every case: what happens in practice in those cases varies according to circumstances and this is something we will consider with you from the very outset. Quite often it means that there will be a six month waiting period from obtaining the grant of representation whilst the time for such claims passes, and during this time it may be appropriate to refrain from distributing all of the estate. But given what else we have to deal with, there might not be any actual delay.

If any such claims do emerge then as you will expect, these are hugely complicating factors leading to significant increases in the costs and possibly even a Court case: and that is a whole different topic.

At Chisholms, we also provide legal services to help you give power to someone you trust, in the form of Lasting Powers of Attorney for your property and finances, and/or health and care decisions. In the event of your health failing, you can always be sure that your wealth and belongings, and/or health and care decisions, will be in the hands of someone you love and trust.

These LPAs cost about £300 each plus VAT at the current standard rate of 20% and - usually (some people qualify for a reduction or exemption on this) £82 to register at the OPG (No VAT). 

Work in this department is generally undertaken by our assistant solicitor Clare Hall who qualified in November 2019 and has been engaged in this sort of work ever since

Just give us a call and we will guide you through the proceedings by explaining them to you in detail, so that you can make a well-informed decision.