Probate team and costs

The probate team

We are a well-established department across our three offices; Chester, Wrexham and Llanrwst. Our team has extensive experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to Wills and estate administration. We have a number of full members of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP), which is the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in family inheritance and succession planning www.step.org

Our team has expertise in all types of estates, ranging from relatively straight forward matters to complex high value and multi-jurisdictional ones. We are also able to advise you on inheritance tax matters and claims for business property and agricultural property relief.

We appreciate that dealing with someone’s affairs after they have passed away can be daunting and traumatic. We can help you through this difficult process by obtaining the grant of representation on your behalf. We can also undertake the collection and distribution of assets.

The team are listed at the bottom of the page.

Between them, Emma Jacobs and Steve Davies who are both directors at Allington Hughes supervise all probate matters.

How much does this service cost?

How much does this service cost?

There are two elements to our fee structure for estate administration,

1. Time-Costs element
2. Value element (often referred to as a ‘responsibility fee’)

Generally our charges are calculated by reference to the time spent on the file at an hourly charging rate (Time-Costs element), although we sometimes charge a Value element in addition to the Time-Costs element.

We set out here our Time-Costs pricing structure which shows a range of costs and scenarios. These prices cover estates that are uncontested and where all the assets are in the UK.

Whether we charge a Value element in addition to our Time-Costs element will be determined by a number of different factors, e.g. the value of the estate, complexity of the matter, if the estate qualifies for certain reliefs e.g. Agricultural Property Relief (APR) or Business Property Relief (BPR), whether any land involved is unregistered and also the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved.

In accordance with Law Society guidance, the Value element will be charged at up to 1.5% of the gross estate (excluding the value of the Deceased’s residence) in estates in which we, through one or more of our directors, are the executors (whether solely or jointly with anybody else) and up to 1% when we are not. In relation to the Deceased’s residence, the Value element will be ¾ % of its value when we are executors and ½ % when we are not.

Our costs do not include:

• Any inheritance tax payable.
• Any income tax payable during the lifetime of the deceased or for the administration period, and similarly any capital gains tax, or the calculation of either tax.  We do not routinely prepare tax returns; we normally instruct accountants to do that.
• An inquiry raised by The Department for Work and Pensions.
• The costs involved in relation to the sale or purchase of any property and/or shares in the estate.
• For examples of the likely disbursements in a probate matter, please click here.

Key stages

As part of our fees we will in all cases:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced team member to work on your matter.
• Take your initial instructions, renew the papers and advise you on the matter.
• Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries.
• Accurately identify the type of probate application you will require.
• Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application.
• Complete the probate application and the relevant HMRC forms.
• Prepare the Legal Statement for you to sign’.
• Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf.
• Obtain the probate and send a copy to the executor(s)/administrator(s).
• Collect and distribute all assets in the estate.

The stages set out above are an indication only and if some of the stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle part of the matter yourself and involve us in relation to only some of the stages. This can be arranged to suit your needs.

How long will my matter take?

Non-taxable Estate

It will take between four and six weeks from the date of our instructions to obtain full and proper valuations of the deceased’ assets; in the case of property however this may take longer. Once papers have been submitted to the Probate Court it can take up to 16 weeks for the grant to be issued. Once the grant has been received it usually takes about three to six months to finalise matters.  Sometimes however when property and/or shares are involved this may be longer.

Although we will explain this to you, if relevant, if there is a requirement for the submission of a full inheritance tax account to the Revenue, even though there is no tax to pay, then once the account has been submitted it usually takes three to four weeks for the Revenue to issue a unique code to us in order to create a legal statement for production to the Probate Court at which time we can submit the papers.

Taxable Estate

It will take between four and six weeks from the date of our instructions to obtain full and proper valuations of the deceased’ assets; in the case of property however this may take longer. Once the inheritance tax account has been submitted to the Revenue it usually takes three to four weeks for the Revenue to issue a unique code to us in order to create a legal statement for production to the Probate Court. Once the papers have been submitted to the Probate Court it can take up to 16 weeks for the grant to be issued. Once the grant has been received it usually takes about three to six months to finalise matters. Sometimes however when property and/or shares are involved this may be longer.