Wills, Trusts and Probate

There could be children Inheritance tax, financial planning, and retirement issues to think about. At Hindle Campbell Law we bring together all the services you require to plan for your future with an easy mind and secure the future for your family and those closest to you.

If you are the owner of a business to ensure your years of hard work are not lost it is essential that you leave a valid Will to direct what happens to your business in the future. By a Will you can also ensure that you maximise all tax relief available. We give specific advice to business owners in relation to the options available in drafting a Will to safeguard their inheritance.

After the death of a relative or friend you will want their legal affairs to be settled quickly and efficiently in a sympathetic but thorough manner. We have a long established reputation for providing a comprehensive and professional service to ensure that your wishes are fully provided for.

We structure our costs for acting in a probate to meet the client’s needs. We give an option to either charge on an hourly rate or we can agree a fixed fee. This will generally depend on the complexity of the Estate.

If you just want us to obtain the Grant of Probate for you and then to administer the Estate yourself then we charge a fixed fee of £500 plus VAT plus disbursements to prepare your inheritance tax return and your ‘oath’, provided the simple inheritance tax return is appropriate (IHT205). If this is a more complex matter i.e. if the IHT400 inheritance tax return is required then we will have to assess the matter with you before we can agree what our ‘Grant only’ fixed fee would then be. The disbursements will be the Court application fee paid to the Probate registry of £155 plus an additional £0.50 per sealed copy of your Grant. Also you will have to swear an oath for executors (if there is a Will) at a cost of £7 per person or, if there is no will, then an Oath for administrators at a cost of £5 per person. We would expect to receive your Grant within 2-3 weeks of submitting your application.

Most people instruct us as solicitors to administer the Estate and distribute the assets in accordance with the terms of the Will or as directed by the rules of intestacy if there is no Will.

We will :-

Collate and investigate all information regarding the deceased’s assets and liabilities to enable us to value the Estate.

Assess the inheritance tax position and advise you accordingly.

Prepare your inheritance tax return and your Oath. We will review these documents with you and then subsequently submit your probate application.

Once your Grant of Probate is issued then will gather the assets and pay the liabilities of the estate.

We will advise you as to when the estate can be safely distributed.

We will then distribute the net estate to the beneficiaries.

It is very difficult to say how long this process takes but usually we can complete the administration of the estate between 6–12 months.

We base our charge upon our basic hourly rates as set out here. We will provide you with a quotation at, or near, the outset of the matter based upon the information held at that time. We reserve the right to charge additional fees should we find additional information during the administration and in certain circumstances. Throughout the course of our administration of an Estate the Executors will be regularly kept updated on the expected time scales to complete and the costs being incurred.