Pricing – Wills & Probate - Hethertons Solicitors

Service	Total cost	Basis for charges — hourly rate or fixed fees or combination of both	Experience and qualifications of those carrying out the service	Experience and qualifications of the Supervisors	Description of and cost of likely disbursements or average cost or range of costs	Which of these disbursements attract VAT and at what VAT rate	Key stages of the matter and likely timescales for each stage
Standard Will (Single)	From £400 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
Standard Will (Couple)	From £600 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
Will incorporating right to reside/life interest trust (single)	From £600 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
Will incorporating right to reside/life interest trust (couple)	From £750 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
Will incorporating discretionary trust (single)	From £600 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
Will incorporating discretionary trust (couple)	From £795 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	N/A	N/A	2 - 6 weeks
1 person - Single LPA (including registration)	£500 plus VAT & disbursements (£82 registration fee)	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	Find out more	No VAT	12 - 16 weeks (including registration)
1 person - Two LPAs (including registration)	£750 plus VAT & disbursements (£164 registration fees)	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	Find out more	No VAT	12 - 16 weeks (including registration)
Couple One LPA each (including registration)	£750 plus VAT & disbursements (£164 registration fees)	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	Find out more	No VAT	12 - 16 weeks (including registration)
Couple - Two LPAs each (including registration)	£1200 plus VAT & disbursements (£328 registration fees)	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	Find out more	No VAT	12 - 16 weeks (including registration)
Deputyship application	£850 plus VAT	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	Find out more	No VAT	5 - 6 months
Grant of probate/letter of administration - application only	£795 - £1,000 plus VAT depending on what is involved	Fixed fee	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	£155 court fee plus E1.50 per sealed office copy of the grant	No VAT	2 -4 months including registry's processing of application
Estate Administration	Hourly rate. For smaller estates, approx. between £2,000 - £4,500 plus VAT; for larger estates, between £4,000 - £9000 plus VAT Together with a value element charge of between 1-2% of the gross value of the estate (excluding the value of the deceased's residence) plus VAT Between 0.75-1% of the value of the deceased's residence plus VAT	Hourly rate £195 per hour - £275 per hour	Barbara Stephens – Consultant, 20+ years PQE Victoria Trelease - Associate Solicitor, 15+ years PQE	Jonathan Baum – Solicitor, Director, Head of the Private Client Department, 27+ years PQE	£273 court fee plus £1.50 per sealed office copy of the grant	No VAT	On average, 6 - 18 months, depending on the complexity of the estate. For more complex estates or where a claim is made, or for intestate estates with many beneficiaries, it will take longer.

Descriptive Example

The probate of an estate valued at £250,000, being a mixture of property and bank accounts and is not contested would cost approximately £3,795 plus VAT and would be provided on an hourly rate basis. [Carried out by Barbara Stephens whose qualifications are Solicitor, member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a member of Solicitors for the Elderly and member of the Law Society Private Client Section with no supervision required.] Disbursements would include the Probate Court Fee of £155 plus £1.50 per copy which does not attract VAT, statutory notices (approximately £300 plus VAT), stockbrokers or estate agents’ valuations fees (variable).From instruction the key stages of the process are as follows, taking client instruction, assessing estate value at time of death, preparing the probate papers, discharging IHT liability if relevant, securing grant of probate, registering the grant with the account holders, closing the accounts and transferring the estate assets, discharging estate liabilities and administration expenses, settling any other tax liability, distributing the balance in accordance with will or intestacy provisions. This is likely to take on average about 6-12 months for the matter to complete for smaller estates, but may take longer for larger estates.

Pricing – Wills & Probate

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