Wills, Estates & Probate
Wills:
Making a Will is the only way to ensure your property and other possessions will go where you wish after your death.
Other considerations a Will can deal with are:
- Appointing executors to administer your estate
- Appointing guardians to look after your children
- Deciding who shall inherit
If you do not have a Will, the laws which decide where your assets go can be very unfair, not providing for an unmarried partner or step/foster children. Not making a Will can also cause a great deal of stress and expense for those that you leave behind.
By making a Will with Bendles, you can be confident that your family and assets are protected in the best possible way. To ensure your family’s future is protected get in contact with us and we will take care of the rest.
A basic Will costs £230+VAT for a single person or £400+VAT for mirror Wills for a couple.
A home visit will be £75.00 + VAT per visit.
Probate:
If you have been given the role of executor, you are legally responsible for ensuring the estate is dealt with correctly and in accordance with the Will. You may need to apply for Probate which is an order granted by the Court to give you authority to deal with the deceased’s estate.
We are here to help, be it with the estate administration, one-off advice or assistance with the application for Probate
If there is no valid Will or no executors and you are dealing with the estate, get in touch and we will help.
Probate Fees
We like to offer a straightforward and clear pricing structure for our probate fees. At the outset of the administration, we will agree with you the basis of our charges for the administration. Our charges are:
Application for Grant of Probate | Administration of the Estate Minimum | Administration of the Estate (average) |
| | 1%-2% of the Gross Estate |
Our costs exclude VAT.
Disbursements
These are expenses related to the estate that are payable to third parties, such as the probate office fees. Typical disbursements in probate matters are:
| Additional Grant of Probate Copies | Bankruptcy and Insolvency Checks | | |
| | | | |
Further disbursements maybe required based on the assets to be administered.
Timescales
Completing a Probate can be a time-consuming matter.
The timescale for obtaining the Grant of Probate is normally around 8-12 weeks. This is dependent on the probate registry and their workload and all the information required from you being available.
For the administration of smaller straightforward Estates, the timescale is usually somewhere between three to six months but for larger Estates (which are often taxable) the time it takes to administer the Estate can take anything from six months to eighteen months and very occasionally for very large/complex Estates with a number of assets, beyond that. This includes protection for the executors against any claims made against the estate.
We will advise at an early stage the estimated time that we think the administration of the Estate would take.
Our charges would not include work such as:
- Trusts to be setup with the Estate assets;
- Beneficiaries searches;
- Property sales;
- Business advice in relation to the Estate Assets.
In relation to these matters we can provide you with a quote for our fees.
