Paul Berg & Taylor

Probate costs

If you are an executor appointed in a will to deal with the affairs of the deceased or a beneficiary or relative if no will was written, you may need legal advice or assistance to know what to do next in connection with the deceased’s estate (the assets and liabilities, whether owned or owed with or without any other persons) and how they should be dealt with when either a “Grant of Representation” or “Letters of Administration” have been issued by a Probate Registry.

We are happy to discuss the issues you face in an initial interview on a free of charge basis. It is important to note that every estate is different and that is one of the reasons why we are happy to meet you and discuss your needs. For instance, there may be a need to protect your own assets and address personal liabilities that could otherwise arise, or there may be a need to consider complex or unexpected tax liabilities and whether they could be mitigated.

The discussion we will have is on an entirely no obligation basis leaving you free to consider your position but with the benefit of more knowledge or we can arrange a Zoom meeting or similar with you.

If you wish to instruct us we will ask each executor to send two forms of identification in the form of a passport or photo style driving licence and a recent utility invoice showing your name and address to us, with a copy of the deceased’s death certificate and the deceased’s will if there is one.

Please contact David Taylor or Harpreet Telwar by email or telephone us on 01582 760161.

Contact us to arrange a meeting

Address
Paul Berg & Taylor
5 Kinsbourne Court
96-100 Luton Road
Harpenden AL5 3BL

Tel: 01582 760161
E-mail: harpenden@pbtlaw.com

For work we undertake other than in an initial interview, it is on a chargeable basis and below are general indications of cost based on our experience. Our fees are intended to reflect the time and work involved in dealing with an estate. As we do not always know from the outset the full extent of the assets and size of an estate we will charge for dealing with probate related work based upon the time required to deal with it.

The costs information given above will include the work required to deal with HMRC and to apply to the Probate Registry for the required Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration appointing the executors or administrators to deal with the deceased’s assets and liabilities. If you would then like us to deal with the administration of the estate, settlement of liabilities and distribution of assets, the work is charged on a time spent basis, the fee earner’s hourly rate which can be located in our Terms of Business. Depending on the number of assets and liabilities to deal with, the firm’s legal fees may be between £1,500 plus VAT to £5,000 plus VAT. At your initial appointment the Solicitor will review the work involved and provide a costs estimate.

If we think that our estimate for costs is going to be exceeded, we will advise and discuss the position with you so that you are always aware of the costs liability and can agree these with us. This could arise from and for example:

  1. tax issues that arise from the wording or interpretation of a will, from gifts made during the lifetime of the deceased or that relate to the tax affairs of the deceased during his or her lifetime.
  2. missing or incorrect paperwork or information relating to assets or liabilities or difficulties in communicating with 3rd parties such as asset holders, creditors, debtors.
  3. dealing with unusual or complex assets or liabilities, such as fine art, antiques, timeshares or private company shareholdings.

We will also confirm if a probate has to be charged in accordance with a time-spent basis. Details of our hourly rates are contained in our Terms and Conditions of Business which will be made available to you on request, via our documents download page on this site, or when you formally instruct us to act.

Please note that we generally charge on a time-spent basis if we are appointed as the executors in the will and our costs in these circumstances will be subject to a 25% uplift to cover the additional work required.

Please note that these costs do not include the costs for any work undertaken by our property or conveyancing fee earners. Work that you may ask them to undertake is chargeable separately and can be confirmed to you upon request.

We also have standard charges for undertaking client (or sometimes beneficiary) identity checks of £20 plus vat per name and of £40 plus vat for making an electronic payment through the bank’s Clearing House Automated Payments scheme (known as a CHAPS or TT payment).

During the course of a transaction, we will make certain payments on your behalf to enable the matter to be progressed. These are known as “3rd party disbursements” and will commonly include what are known as a Probate Fee (to the Probate Registry) of £155, an executor’s oath fee of £5 and statutory advertising charges to protect the executor’s or administrator’s personal liabilities, usually between £175 and £275.

Please feel free to call us and arrange the initial interview referred to. This is a chance to discuss your concerns about a will, your entitlements or obligations or just to tell us about your concerns and ask how they should be best dealt with.

If you would like to consider our services, you will also be able to give us more information about the estate so that we can give you further and individual costs information specific to the estate in question and a general indication of the time we expect before everything will be finalised for you.

Initially, we expect a probate matter to take between 3 and 12 months to be concluded depending upon its value, the assets and whether a claim is possible against the executors.

You will deal with Harpreet Talwar who is a highly experienced and competent probate lawyer or the partner in charge of the private client and probate department, David Taylor. Both are highly committed to client satisfaction and providing the service and expertise you should expect from the lawyers entrusted to deal with the estate.

Paul Berg & Taylor 08/23