Probate and Administration

Put simply, probate is obtaining the authority from the court to deal with a deceased person’s financial affairs in accordance with their will. When there’s no will, a grant of letters of administration may be required.

It’s obtaining the authority from the court to deal with a deceased person’s financial affairs when they have died without a valid will. In these instances the “Rules of Intestacy” apply.

The “Rules of Intestacy” is a strict order of who’s entitled to a share in an estate that doesn’t involve a valid will and is based on the bloodline of the person who has passed away.

Every situation is different and often depends on the size and complexity of the estate. We offer a free, initial consultation where we can get a better idea of your circumstances so we can advise on how long we expect your case will take to complete.

If you would prefer for Russell & Russell deal with things on your behalf, we can do this. Our pricing structure is based on the complexity of the estate to be administered.

Full information about our fees can be found here.

If the estate is valued under £325,000 and there’s no inheritance tax to pay, our fee is from £995 + vat for dealing with up to four accounts (for example, bank, savings, ISA or NSI accounts). For estates involving four to 10 accounts, the fee is from £1,995 + vat.

If the estate is valued over £325,000 and inheritance tax may be payable, we’ll provide a fixed fee quote for you once we’ve gathered all the relevant information about the estate and we understand its complexity.

Please be aware that should something come to light that wasn’t accounted for in the original cost we provided, our fixed fee could be subject to change. Also, if there are over 10 assets that need to be dealt with, we’ll provide a cost for this at our hourly rate.

The prices above are our standard costs, but they may be subject to alteration if administration of the estate falls outside what has been agreed with you or if your instructions to us change. In any case, the amendment in price will be discussed with you first.

Key stages and what is included in our prices:

1. Valuing the estate assets
2. Obtaining details of outstanding debts
3. Arranging payment of the funeral from estate funds (if required)
4. Placing statutory advertisements (if required)
5. Carrying out a Certainty Search if required
6. Preparing the relevant HMRC forms and Statement of Truth
7. Arranging payment of Inheritance Tax where necessary
8. Helping you to ensure that the relevant HMRC forms and Statement of Truth are correct and suitable to be signed
9. Lodging your application for the Grant of Representation at the Probate Registry
10. Collecting in the assets
11. Paying the debts from estate funds
12. Liaising with HMRC in respect of income tax for the current tax year up to date of death
13. Instructive an accountant to complete the additional tax returns (if required)
14. Preparing estate and distribution accounts
15. Distributing the estate to the beneficiaries

Not included in the price are the sales fees on properties, estate agency, taxes and HMLR fees.

If you want to sell a property you inherit, we can do this for you. Our conveyancing department provides competitive rates and these can be provided should you choose to do this.

If Russell & Russell has been appointed executors or co-executors of the will, we’re responsible for marketing and selling the property. The sale price will also come under our jurisdiction. If this is the case, our fees may be subject to amendment.

If you’re a beneficiary and you don’t want to sell a property you’ve inherited, but rather transfer it into your own name (or someone else’s), we can help. This type of transaction does incur additional fees which we can provide if you choose to do that.

Full information about our fees can be found here