Probate Options

Probate Options – choosing the wrong one can be expensive.

Let me save you a small fortune, without cost or obligation.Just because a solicitor stores a Will, there is no need to use their Probate service – even if they have appointed themselves as executors. That is what they are hoping you will do, without bothering to check their fees first.  Then they can charge you at their highest rates. (Click for our general page on Contentious Probate.)That said, you shouldn’t dismiss taking at least some professional help. It can usually be paid for from the estate of the person who has died.  The professional takes the burden away from you, perhaps saving months of anxiety.If you have already had a quote, let us have the details and we’ll see how much we can save you.  Savings range from over 90% – when we showed a family the Assisted Probate Service – to a more typical 55% – more than half – to £55,000 on a very large estate. The beneficiaries would have been pleased you have made some savings for them! Email, call 03 300 102 300 or pop the details in the form below. If I can’t save you at least one-third, I will happily apologise.In most cases, the options for probate are to Do It Yourself, and take the risk, or appoint a solicitor who will double-check everything that you have already done (their reputation is on the line, so it is understandable).   But how to keep probate advice costs down, is a question we have tried to answer here (you can skip down to the answer if you like!) Solicitors’ hourly rates are rarely below £250 including VAT and mostly much more than that.  We have heard of £475 an hour PLUS VAT = £570 – and many City firms charge more. These days people tend to prefer a fixed fee probate quote, and they are often happy to do some of the simple work themselves to cut costs – but that doesn’t always work as solicitors need to cover themselves in case you have made a mistake.Not only that, but solicitors are permitted to charge an additional “responsibility allowance” sometimes called the “value element” which can be as much as 1.8% of the estate.  To take an extreme example, an estate with just one million pounds in the bank might take say 8 hours to deal with – maybe £2000 if you are lucky and find a cheap solicitor.  But the responsibility allowance could be £18,000 giving you a total bill of £20,000. Few offer fixed fee probate quotes, but if it is a solicitor you want, I have the contacts!Worse, I saw one the other up to 4% of the gross estate and up to £375 an hour plus VAT. Ouch. Some charge even more.Needless to say, when recommending solicitors, or other probate practitioners, we avoid the ones charging “responsibility allowances” wherever possible! They certainly have their place when executors want absolutely minimal involvement, but it does come with a big bill, generally speaking. And some great solicitors don’t charge a responsibility allowance, whom we know.But what you probably want to hear about is how to get low-cost probate help, so here goes our introduction:

Probate Quotes: How much can we save you? It costs nothing to find out.

These are the Probate Options facing you:

1)      Do it yourself Probate.

• For simple estates, if you are a competent administrator and there are no significant taxes or benefits to deal with, this can be the best option.
• As long as you have the time.
• It may be the only option if there is likely to be no money to pay anyone.
• Where Inheritance Tax or significant lifetime gifts, Trusts or disputes may be involved, be very, very careful as you could face a personal tax penalty of up to the full amount of tax payable, on top of the estate paying the tax.
• Further down the page are some resources which may help if you want to take that route.

2)      Assisted Do It Yourself Probate option.

• We felt that there should be a halfway house between doing everything yourself, or handing it all to a professional. It is only suitable for simple estates with no Inheritance Tax issues or Trusts or significant lifetime gifts (which might get caught by Inheritance Tax).
•  Do as much or as little of the work as you wish, we will do what you ask us to do and no more.  Clearly, we cannot be responsible for your errors or omissions!

Quite simply, it offers as much or as little help as the executors want, though these days most families go for one of the fixed fee probate options.

• Maybe you need the real meaning of the Will explained – many family executors have no experience in interpreting Wills. A spot of professional advice could save serious problems.
• If there is not a Will, who is entitled to what?
• Is it possible to change the Will to benefit someone who should have been included, to avoid any threat of very expensive Court action?
• Maybe the executors just want the probate forms checked?
• Which also reassures the beneficiaries that things are being checked. They are often suspicious of executors (and sometimes quite rightly!)
• Just a bit of handholding with low-cost probate advice as needed?
• Perhaps they want to do searches for potential missing assets or beneficiaries.
• Maybe the Executors are busy and want someone else to get the correct value to put in the forms.
• The Assisted Probate Service can point you in the right direction if you want to do s.27 adverts to protect you against claims from creditors being received after these have expired. But I would remind you that it is not suited to cases where there are arguments, and should that happen they may well suggest you talk to a Contentious Probate Solicitor.
• Maybe you just want to hand it all over to somebody else to prevent arguments in the family at what can be a very stressful time.
• The service can provide low-cost probate help or just low-cost probate advice.
• There is a range of fixed fee probate options available – pop your details in below, and I will ask them to let you have details of how much you can save.

So how much does the Assisted Probate Service cost?

The rate depends on whether the IHT400 is needed and is lower for straightforward (to them!) estates are involved, and rather than me trying to keep this page up to date, just pop your details in the enquiry form below and they will update you on current costs.  On normal estates, the rates are typically half those of solicitors, and usually on a fixed fee basis.  The time you need, so the number of hours is typically way lower, resulting in a very sensible fixed fee for probate and savings should be way more than 75%, or perhaps 50% (compared to an inexpensive solicitor) if you hand the whole thing over.All fees can be recovered from the estate (as long as it has enough assets of course!)  Options range from checking the forms against the information to doing the whole estate administration and typically there are substantial savings.   Most work is on a fixed fee basis depending on your requirements. The service is however totally flexible, and will do its best to fit in with your requirements – just ask.

3) Probate Help: Full Estate Administration Service.

If you just want everything done for you (the cost comes out of the deceased assets in the end), or at least, most of it, then you need a flexible full estate administration service, not the (probably) lower-cost options.  You can also use a bespoke service if your needs don’t fit into one of the standard packages.   Our function is to match your requirements and the complexity of the estate with a suitable adviser charging sensible fees. Our function is to look at the service levels and fees charged by probate solicitors and other professionals and to recommend a suitable service to you. (Click for our general page on Contentious Probate.)Many people fail to understand and compare probate quotes, and they are shocked when the final bill is (maybe) 3 times higher than they had expected.  Here are some of the tricks of the trade, starting with the most expensive:

1. The Responsibility Allowance – solicitors are allowed to charge as much as 1.8% of the value of the estate as a “responsibility allowance.” This is on top of any other charges they might make, so on a £500,000 estate that would be £9.000 for absolutely nothing. Double that on a million-pound estate and for a more normal £250,000 estate an extra £4,500.
2. Fees are charged on the Gross estate – so one with nothing but a property worth £500,000 and a mortgage of £250,000, the percentage fee would be based on £750,000.
3. Many firms charge for both the time and the action – so someone producing 1o automated letters in half an hour might charge £125 for the time and ten times £45 for the letters – a total of £575 Plus VAT for 30 minutes of work and 10 first-class stamps.

How much can we save you? It costs nothing to find out.

Just avoiding those three issues can save a fortune in comparing probate quotes. Not only that, we don’t send work to firms who do not provide a very high level of service. To be fair, the hold-ups in the probate process are not always due to the probate professionals involved, but careful monitoring of client feedback is a vital part of what we do.To find out more about the estate administration service, please use the contact form to the right or give us a ring. Full estate administration includes confirming the value of assets and liabilities, organising the grant of probate or letters of administration, identifying the beneficiaries, collecting the assets, and then paying the bills and any tax due.  Finally (sorry!) the beneficiaries are paid.If arguments start, the case then becomes “contentious probate” and we will have to advise you to get specialist solicitors involved – but we know ones who charge sensible fees.  Probate arguments are becoming more common, but it is comforting to work with professionals who will do everything they can to avoid resorting to incredibly expensive Court work.  If necessary, it is very much a question of finding serious expertise at sensible costs: we can still help.Our lowest-cost associates’ full estate administration service will normally offer a saving of £100 an hour or perhaps much more.  And no sneaky extras, just fair and reasonable expenses they have to pay out on your behalf.If you would prefer a flat fee for the estate administration, subject to no unpleasant surprises, we can arrange that too via associates at a rate of 1.25% of the gross value of the estate plus VAT and third-party costs. When you compare probate quotes, remember to ask very carefully about the extras above.

4) The COMPREHENSIVE Service for busy, poorly or far away executors

Not everyone has the time to carry out the full range of duties including sorting, drain, downs, lock changing, insurance, grass cutting, minor repairs, dealing with estate agents and much more. So we have developed another unique service to take care of all that for you.  The Probate Fee itself will be highly competitive, and the extras charged at non-professional rates, so you needn’t fear that the solicitors will be charging for cutting the grass themselves.The service can be carried out on a come-to-you basis as long as you are in the UK.

5)      Use a Bank to carry out Probate

Expensive!

6)      The Usual Probate Option – pick a random High Street Solicitor.

• Some solicitors will offer you a very good deal on probate fees,
• Solicitors will expect you to take time off and travel to see them.
• The Law Society also authorises solicitors to charge anything up to 1.8% of the value of the estate as a bonus on top of their normal hourly rate. We have chosen not to do this.
• Many firms charge in 6-minute units, so a 1-minute call costs 6 minutes and a 7-minute one 12 minutes.  We don’t do this either.
• Some firms charge a fee per letter they send out, and the time too.  We just charge for the time taken,
• All fee agreements need to be reviewed very carefully so you can be sure how what you are paying will be calculated.
• On top of the hourly rate (which would be all that we would charge), you may be charged for letters and for what is called a responsibility allowance:“Solicitor not acting as an executor
  • Value of gross estate less residence 1%
  • Value of residence 0.5%

  Solicitor acting as sole executor or joint executor with another person

  • Value of gross estate less residence 1.5%
  • Value of residence 0.75%”

  Not all solicitors will charge it. The extra percentages are often called a “responsibility allowance,”   You can see the Guidance notes here if you want to confirm it!  If the house is worth £300,000 and the rest of the estate £100,000, the extra cost could be £1,750 where the solicitor is not the executor and a whopping  £3,750 where they are.  Plus 20% VAT, of course.

You can contact us on 03 300 102 300 click here: Probate Quotes: How much can we save you? It costs nothing to find out.

7) ENQUIRY for Probate Quotes: how much can I save you? It costs NOTHING to find out!

There are two parts of the Probate process – obtaining the Grant and then Estate Administration – gathering the assets in, setting up any Trusts, paying the bills and finally paying the beneficiaries.  The Full Service Option covers both parts. The Comprehensive option does too, but provides for people who wish to meet up with the service provider in their (UK) home or hotel etc.

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