Legal Services Fee Charging

Our charges are subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate, currently 20%.

Will preparation

Will single - £275

Wills for a couple - £390 

Codicil - £150

Joint Codicil - £250

The cost includes registering your Will with Certainty, The National Will Register. We can also retain your signed Will in our safe for no extra charge.

The above costs are for straightforward Wills. If your Will is going to be complex, we can advise of the additional cost at the outset.

Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

A LPA is a legal document where one person, the donor, gives power to another person or persons, known as the attorney or attorneys, to act on the donor’s behalf. The attorney(s) will act if the donor loses capacity or, in the event of financial affairs, if the donor chooses to delegate the power to the attorney(s).

Attorneys can be appointed to deal with financial decisions and/or with health and care decisions.

The costs, which are set out below, cover preparation of the required LPA, overseeing the signing of all relevant documents, filing of LPAs on your behalf with the Office of the Public Guardian, all correspondence, a meeting and advice in connection therewith.

Property & Financial LPA or Health & Welfare LPA £500

Property & Financial LPA and Health & Welfare LPA £625

When acting for a couple the fees are:

Property & Financial LPA or Health & Welfare LPA £675

Property & Financial LPA and Health & Welfare LPA £850

If you already have a LPA or Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) in place it will be necessary to revoke this when drawing up a new LPA. Our charges for revoking the existing LPA or EPA is £100.

The Office of the Public Guardian charges a fee for registering each LPA which is £82 (no VAT). This is in addition to the fees quoted above.

Administering Estates, including applying for the Grant of Probate

As we are authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) to deal with probate, we can assist executors in obtaining probate. We can also assist with the administration of the entire estate, if required. Our charges depend on the Inheritance Tax (IHT) form required by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is usually dependent on whether inheritance tax is payable.

Excepted Estate:

£1,000 - £2,500*

Complex Estate:

£2,500 - £3,500*

All the above fee estimates are to cover the preparation and submission of the relevant HMRC forms, the accompanying Legal Statement and submitting all documents, as required, to HMRC and the Probate Registry. 

* Note – this is on the basis that clients provide all the relevant information at the time of instruction to enable us to prepare the necessary probate application forms. If we are asked to obtain information for the executors then we will provide an indication of the additional cost at the initial meeting.

Extra costs and expenses

  1. Probate Application Fee - £273 to include one copy of the Grant of Probate
  2. Additional copies of  the Grant of Probate £1.50 per copy
  3. Estatesearch Standard (includes comprehensive asset and liability search) £155 plus VAT – Estatesearch Premium (as for Standard as well as personal search for LPA’s/EPAs, Companies House search, and Experian Unclaimed Assets Search) £185 plus VAT
  4. Bankruptcy searches - £5 per search plus VAT
  5. Land Registry Search - £3 per search (no VAT)
  6. Trustee Statutory Notices – these can vary from between £250 - £350 including VAT, dependent upon in which newspapers the Notices are placed. It is normal for the Notices to be placed in The London Gazette and a paper local to the deceased. Quotes can be obtained prior to insertion.

Assistance following receipt of the Grant of Probate

Any work to be undertaken post the issue of the Grant of Probate will be charged on an hourly basis. The extent of the work depends upon the complexity of the estate but it can include:-

  • Cashing in or transferring assets
  • Payment of liabilities
  • Payment of specific pecuniary legacies (if any)
  • Preparation of estate accounts
  • Calculating corrections to the inheritance tax liability, if any, and any work related thereto
  • Distribution of the residuary estate.

Hourly rates:-

  • Partner £262
  • Senior Manager £154

Tax Returns

This work will be dependent upon the sources of income and extent of capital disposals. We will be happy to provide a quote once further information is provided. The basis of our charges, for both pre-death tax returns and returns for the administration period, are based on the following hourly rates:

  • Partner £210
  • Senior Manager £103
  • Client Manager £95

Our charges are subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate, currently 20%.

Terms of Business