PROBATE

Our service includes obtaining the Grant of Probate and handling Legal, Tax (excluding 20% VAT), Property, and Estate Administration affairs. We can also conduct a free face-to-face visit, either in the comfort of your own home or via an online video call, to discuss your details in full and then provide a fixed-fee cost.

Once we have provided you with a written quote for the agreed-upon work, the price will not change unless the original information we are given is shown to be incorrect or circumstances change.

Probate Team

Position	Hourly rate From	To
Partners: Mrs Akil Gurusamy Deiva Mr Rajasekar Rajamohan	£275.00	£450.00
Legal Assistant: Mrs Rachel Fernandes	£150.00	£195.00

What’s the Probate Process?

If you choose our Full Probate service, we’ll handle all of the steps below except Step 1, which you’ll do yourself.

If you choose our Grant of Probate Application only service, we'll only complete Step 4 of the process for you.

Step 1 – Register the Death

To get a death certificate, you must register the death in England or Wales. You’ll need multiple copies, so get these now to save time later.

As soon as you register a death, you can use the service to inform all UK government departments.

Step 2 – Value the Estate

We’ll need to determine the Estate’s worth to determine whether inheritance Tax is payable. This includes valuing any property, money, investments, or belongings.

Step 3 – Pay any debts and collect any money owed to the Estate

Once we’ve valued the Estate, we’ll pay any final bills and get any refunds due to the Estate.

Step 4 – Apply for the Grant of Probate

We’ll prepare the relevant paperwork and apply to the Probate Registry for the Grant of Probate We’ll need the original Will – not a photocopy.

Step 5 – Pay Inheritance Tax if there’s any due

A Tax specialist will complete the correct Inheritance Tax form, confirm the tax position and calculate the tax due. We’ll then make sure this is paid before distributing anything in the Estate.

Step 6 – Distribute the Estate

This is the final part of the process. The beneficiaries will receive what’s been left to them in the Will.

Legal

• Preparing the necessary documentation for the Grant of Probate application.
• Carrying out all necessary checks to ensure the validity of any Will in existence.
• When there is no valid Will, applying the Rules of Intestacy to the Estate of the deceased to identify the Personal Representatives and Beneficiaries and to establish the entitlement of the Beneficiaries.
• Applying to the Probate Registry and obtaining the Grant of Probate.
• Ensuring the accurate distribution of the Estate.
• Placing all statutory adverts to establish whether there are any claims against the Estate or arranging Early Distribution of Insurance.
• Assessing variations to the distribution of the Estate (drafting the Deed of Variation is at an additional cost).

Tax (Done by a Tax specialist for an agreed fee starting from £500 plus 20% VAT )

• Completing the following tax forms for HMRC:
• The Income Tax return from 6th April to the date of death.
• The appropriate Inheritance Tax form
• The Capital Gains Tax return, if required.
• Conducting all correspondence with HMRC relevant to completing the above tax forms.
• Taking any corrective action required by HMRC during the Estate administration process.
• Claiming any relevant tax reliefs or exemptions applicable to the Estate.
• Calculating any Inheritance Tax, Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax that is owed.
• Ensuring payment of any outstanding tax from the Estate.
• Calculating and arranging for the transfer of any Nil Rate Band or Residence Nil Rate Band allowance, if available, in order to reduce Inheritance Tax.

Estate administration

• Identifying and corresponding with the Personal Representatives and beneficiaries of the Estate throughout the Estate administration process.
• Identifying and corresponding with all financial institutions and organisations relevant to the Estate throughout the Estate administration process.
• Identifying, verifying and valuing all assets based in England and Wales.
• Gathering all the assets of the Estate.
• Transferring all jointly held assets into the sole name, including property held as joint tenants.
• Paying any debts and liabilities from the Estate.
• Preparing the Estate Accounts.
• Distributing the Estate to the Beneficiaries and Trustees of any Trusts created by the Will or Rules of Intestacy.

Property

If there is a property in the Estate, our Fixed Fee Probate Service includes, where necessary:

• Ensuring that any existing buildings and contents insurer is fully aware of the change in circumstances and making sure that appropriate insurance is in place (where insurance is not in place, we can arrange cover at an additional cost)
• Setting up a Royal Mail redirect to ourselves during the administration so we can manage all the affairs of the Estate.

For an additional fee, we can also deal with the following:

• Transferring ownership of registered property from the deceased to the beneficiaries.
• Appointing a specialist conveyancer to register any unregistered land at HM Land Registry, if required.

If there is a property to be sold, then, for an additional fee, we can deal with the following:

• Appointing an Estate Agent for the marketing and sale of the property.
• Appointing and managing a specialist Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) provider to obtain an EPC for the property where appropriate. An EPC is a legal requirement for the marketing and sale of a property.
• Appointing and managing a specialist Conveyancer for the transfer of ownership of the property.
• We will notify you in writing of any additional fees relating to our property services before we start work on them.

Complete probate and estate administration service

We often have to appoint third-party organisations to provide specialist services to carry out our probate and estate management services. The costs of these services are disbursements of the Estate and will be charged in addition to the fixed fee. All fees and disbursement costs that can be identified will be detailed on the written Probate Quote that we provide before any work starts.

Please refer to the Probate fee section