Potential costs involved in administering a non-contentious estate:

1. Where there is no Inheritance Tax payable on a UK based estate, our costs in connection with the administration will generally amount to around 1% of the value of the estate.
   Where Inheritance Tax is payable on a UK based estate, our costs will generally amount to around 1% of the estate.
2. Costs can be agreed on a fixed percentage or time-spent basis. Costs may be reduced where our involvement is purely limited to the preparation of the Inheritance Tax Accounts and the preparation of the Grant of Probate. The hourly rates of our practitioners are given in our terms of business.
3. The experience and qualifications of our Private Client practitioners are given in our terms of business.
4. Likely disbursements include Probate Registry Fees which will generally amount to around £500 although these can be reduced if we need only obtain a limited number of copy Grants. Land Registry fees of around £10 may be payable where the estate comprises property and copies of the Land Register are required.
5. These disbursements will not attract VAT.
6. Services will generally include:

• Meetings to discuss the Deceased’s estate and the processes involved in extracting probate;
• Assessing the Deceased’s assets, contacting banks and other organisations with whom they had dealings and compiling a Schedule of Assets and Liabilities;
• Preparing a Tax computation and determining if Inheritance Tax (IHT) will be payable;
• Preparing the relevant IHT Account for the Inland Revenue;
• Co-ordinating the payment of any Tax;
• Preparing and submitting the application for a Grant of Probate/ Administration;
• Closing accounts and surrendering holdings;
• Distributing the estate in accordance with the Will/ Intestacy Rules;
• Preparing Final Estate Accounts.

The process will generally tax around 3 months where there is no tax to pay.

If there is tax to pay, the process will tax around 3-6 months where the configuration of the assets is quite straightforward, and can tax 6-12 months, or even longer where the configuration of the assets is complicated in nature.