Full Administration of Estate
Every estate is different and the exact cost will be dependent on the individual circumstances. We will have a discussion with you at the outset to establish the extent of the estate and will then be able to provide you with our estimate based on the information provided.
In addition, the Probate Registry fee on submitting the application is £300. Further copies of the Grant can be requested at a cost of £1.50 each.
If it becomes apparent that there is additional work required in excess of our initial estimate we will always discuss this with you before proceeding further.
Simple estate administration:
If the estate is simple our fees are usually between £2,500 and £4,000 plus VAT at 20% (between £3,000 and £4,800 including VAT).
An example of a straightforward estate would be:
In addition to the work that we would carry out to obtain a grant we will also:
More complex estate administration:
If the estate is more complex, our fee to administer will usually be in the region of £5,000 to £15,000 plus VAT at 20% (£6,000 to £18,000 including VAT).
An example of the a more complex estate would be:
In addition to the work set out above for a simple estate administration we will:
Again, if the estate administration is found to be more complex than initially envisaged we will talk to you about our fees before proceeding any further.
Additional fees that may arise on more complex matters can include:
- Property valuations
- Accountant’s fees
- Missing beneficiary fees
- Statutory Notice fees
- Registrar’s fees for selling/transferring shares
- Land Registry fees for copies of title documents for properties
What's not included
- Advice about any claims made against the estate
- The administration of any Trusts created under the Will
- Deeds of Variation
- Business or farming advice if applicable
Please be aware that the fees shown above may be higher if the matter is more complex than expected, or if you require additional advice about other issues relating to the administration.
In these cases we will charge you at the hourly rate of the person dealing with the matter (between £290 and £365 plus VAT at 20%, or between £348 and £438 including VAT), but this will always be discussed with you before any charge is made, and you will be given an estimate of the costs involved.
How long will it take?
The more complex the estate, the longer the administration is likely to take.
On average it takes between 16 to 20 weeks for the Grant of Probate to be issued by the Probate Registry.
The next step is to collect the assets on an estate, this can take approximately 4-8 weeks. It can take longer if a property is being sold as part of the administration process.
It can then take a further 12-16 weeks to finalise the income tax and capital gains tax position of the estate at HM Revenue & Customs, subject to their current workloads.
