Probate & Estate Administration Services

When a loved one dies it can be a very distressing time, and dealing with the administration of their estate can seem overwhelming. Consequently, dealing with the paperwork and technicalities involved may be the last thing you want to do. We are here to help you, offering as much support and assistance as you need.

Our experienced lawyers will offer you the highest level of client care and value for money within our various estate administration services. We believe that you will find this invaluable and will give you peace of mind at an already difficult time. There are many ways in which we can help, such as:

assisting with the registration of the death or helping with funeral arrangements
sorting out the paperwork in the estate
advising on the meaning of the terms of the Will or the relevance of the intestacy rules if there is no Will
explaining the tax issues connected to the estate
helping with the sale of any property

What is Probate?

When a person dies with a Will, with (generally) more than £5,000.00 as any one asset, that asset is frozen and cannot be accessed without a court document called a “Grant of Probate”. The executors, appointed under the deceased’s Will apply for a Grant of Probate at court, after completing certain paperwork.

If a person dies without a Will this is called dying ‘intestate’. The nearest living next of kin are entitled to the estate and must usually also administer it. It is therefore the closest next of kin who are entitled to apply to court for the Grant necessary to collect in the assets. This Grant is called ‘Letters of Administration’.

Either type of Grant is merely a piece of paper but importantly it gives an executor or administrator the authority to deal with assets in the particular estate in question. For instance, if banks and building societies hold money in excess of £5,000.00 belonging to the deceased, generally the Grant must be produced to them in order for the funds to be released.

The job of executor or administrator can be fairly time consuming, depending on the size of the estate in question. A brief overview of the most common types of work that may have to be undertaken is given below. Sometimes matters are more complicated and the work required may be more extensive. Each case is unique so there is no single catch all rule for all.

Common Duties

Registration of the death and dealing/assisting with the funeral arrangements
Valuing the deceased’s assets and debts and thereafter completing the correct Inland Revenue inheritance tax return
Arranging for payment of any inheritance tax due
Making the application to the court for the correct Grant
Collecting in the assets and/or selling any property once the Grant has issued from the court
Paying debts and liabilities owed by the deceased prior to death and paying any debts incurred on the administration of the estate
Distributing the estate according to the terms of the Will, or the intestacy rules where there is no Will. This may involve a transfer of the estate assets to the beneficiaries.

Ridley & Hall can help you with all of the above duties.

Other helpful information in connection with estates:

Inheritance tax is payable on death at 40% of the balance above the nil rate band (NRB) threshold. The current NRB is £325,000.00 but note that the Government reviews this figure regularly. Please contact us if you are in any doubt.
It may be possible to change, after the death, to whom the assets pass in the estate in order to reduce the amount of inheritance tax payable. You should take professional advice regarding this issue. Ridley & Hall can assist you in this area.
Claiming the transferable nil rate band. In basic terms the procedure allows spouses and civil partners to transfer any part of their unused nil rate band (NRB) to the survivor of them. This applies to second deaths even if the first spouse died prior to 9th October 2007. Ridley & Hall will be able to tell you if this procedure is applicable to the estate you are dealing with and the type of information that you will need to provide to the Inland Revenue to claim under it.
If any beneficiaries of an estate cannot be found the surviving family or other beneficiaries do not automatically inherit the missing persons share of the estate. In such a scenario it is advisable to seek the advice of a genealogist. In most cases, the missing beneficiaries will be found.
If beneficiaries remain missing even after an extensive search, the executors/administrators have a range of options which they can take to protect themselves. Ridley & Hall can advise you of these options should it be necessary.

How Can Ridley & Hall Probate Solicitors Help?

Our Pricing Structure

Fixed Fees for Grant Only

To give you an idea as to how much it will cost for us to carry out this work for you, we have tried to outline this for you below.

GRANT ONLY – this involves us assisting you just in obtaining the grant of representation to allow you to deal with the deceased’s assets and distribute the estate

Our grant only service includes:

Meeting to take initial instructions
Contacting the financial institutions for information on the value of assets where appropriate
Preparing the short form inheritance tax return IHT 205
Drafting the application for a grant
Obtaining the Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration and sealed copies

Fees start from £950 plus VAT at 20% and disbursements HOWEVER where estates include any of the following:

A search is required to locate the Will
Tracing beneficiaries of the estate
Where the deceased was domiciled abroad or there are foreign assets
If IHT 205 is not appropriate and IHT 400 is necessary
Transfer of unused nil rate band for Inheritance Tax
Claiming residence nil rate band for Inheritance Tax

Fixed fees for Full Estate Administration

Some clients prefer to know exactly what they will be charged from outset and unlike many solicitors who still charge exclusively on a hourly basis for this service, we are pleased to offer the following fixed fee options for dealing with the administration of estates. If suitable for your case, these fee options offer you the certainty of knowing from the outset exactly what we will charge.

Option 1

For estates up to £500,000

£3,950 plus VAT at 20%

We will handle the full process for you. This quote is for estates where:

There is a valid will
No Inheritance tax due
There is no more than one property
There are no more 5 assets (including bank accounts/building society accounts and investments)
There are no foreign assets
There are no more than 5 beneficiaries
There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets.
There are no claims made against the estate

Option 2

For estates up to £1,000,000

£5,950 plus VAT at 20%

We will handle the full process for you. This quote is for estates where:

There is a valid will
No inheritance tax due
No other complicating factors, such as lifetime trusts and/or gifts which would necessitate a full IHT400 declaration to HMRC
There is no more than one property
There are no more 10 assets (including bank accounts/building society accounts and investments)
There are no foreign assets
There are no more than 10 beneficiaries
There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets.
There are no claims made against the estate

Services not included in these costs:

Intestacy
Insuring assets or dealing with obtaining insurance.
Transfer or dealing with sale of property
Dealing with personal possessions
Dealing with a tax return on behalf the estate
Deed of Variation
Dealing with a business interest
Placing S.27 notices
Bankruptcy
Tracing
Missing Wills

Please note that it is only after we have obtained your detailed instructions that will be able to decide if we are able to offer you either of the above services. We are happy to have a free initial chat with you on the telephone with you to discuss this in further detail.

If your estate does not fall into either of the above options, we may still be able to offer you a fixed fee in certain circumstances and we will be happy to discuss this with you. The more complicated the estate, the less likely it is that we will be able to offer you a fixed fee.

Full Estate Administration – Hourly Rate

If your matter does not fit into either of the above categories, our probate solicitors at Ridley & Hall are still able to assist you with the Estate Administration on an hourly rate basis.

FULL ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

Where you want us to assist you with more than just obtaining the grant of representation on your behalf, and you want help dealing with the other aspect of the estate like gathering in the assets, paying the debts of the estate and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries, we will undertake this work for you on a time spent basis – so you pay for the time we spend carrying out the work on your matter. The hourly charge out rates vary between our professionals who will be assisting with your file.

Solicitors, Legal Executives & Licensed Conveyancers	£200.00 to £360.00
Paralegals & Trainee Solicitors	£160.00 to £220.00

We like to be as open and honest about costs as we can, but it can often be difficult to tell exactly how long it will take to administer an estate at the very beginning, as unforeseen issues can present themselves during the administration period. We will however do our very best to give you an accurate costs estimate at the outset (although this will be reviewed on an ongoing basis throughout our time working with you and we do reserve the right to amend our estimate). If our fees are going to increase, we will discuss this with you before proceeding any further. No two estates are the same, so the estimated fees we provide will be specific to your circumstances for example the number of assets there are, the number of beneficiaries there are, whether or not there are any properties within the estate etc. All of these factors can affect how long it will take to administer the estate.

Example 1

Administration of a simple estate

Administration of a simple estate – this can take between 15 and 30 hours, depending on individual circumstances

Typically, this service will include:

Meeting with you to take instructions
Valuing all the assets in the estate
Arranging payment of the funeral costs
Liaising with utility companies
Preparing the short form inheritance tax return IHT 205
Drafting the application for the grant
Obtaining the Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration (depending on whether there is a valid Will or not) and sealed copies
Collecting in the assets
Paying any known debts and liabilities
Reclaiming income tax
Arranging payment of all the legacies
Preparing estate accounts
Distributing the estate between the beneficiaries

Fees start from £4500 plus VAT at 20% – but they are likely to be more than this.

If, for example, an estate has a small number of bank accounts, one beneficiary and no property, our fees will be towards the lower end of this scale, but if there are lots of beneficiaries, a house to sell and various assets to gather in and debts to settle, it will be towards the upper end.

Example 2

Administration of a larger / more complex estate

Administration of a larger / more complex estate – this is likely to take more than 30 hours of work to complete

Typically, these estates will include the same service as for a small estate and may also involve:

The deceased was domiciled abroad or the estate comprises foreign assets
Dealing with multiple properties within an estate
Business assets
Agricultural assets
Undertaking a will search
Identifying the beneficiaries in the estate
Preparation of IHT 400 (the more complicated Inheritance Tax form required by HMRC) and its accompanying schedules
Claiming the residence nil rate band
Application for the transfer of Inheritance Tax nil rate band
Completion of income tax returns
Capital gains tax advice and returns
Trusts

How Long Does Probate Take?

Below is guidance on how long a typical estate takes to complete. Please note however that timescales can vary, and much will depend on the complexity of each estate. We will therefore give you a more accurate indication, based upon the information you provide.
On average, estates where there is no inheritance tax to pay are dealt with within 18 months, and taxable estates typically take between 18 and 24 months to complete.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments made by us to third parties on your behalf, for example:

Court fees for probate applications – £300
Sealed copies of the grant – £1.50
Placing s27 notices in newspapers (this protects Executors from unknown creditors) – £200 to £350
Bankruptcy searches – £2.00 plus VAT at 20%

This list is indicative, and not exhaustive. We may also ask for payment of disbursements on account.

We must also advise you that where there is a property (or properties) to sell in the estate, that the conveyancing costs will be charged in addition to the estate administration fees. The sale fees are NOT included within our estimates. Quotes for the sale of the property can be given by our colleagues in the conveyancing department, and we can help you to obtain this.

Also, if the Directors of Ridley and Hall are appointed as the Executors of an estate there will be an additional charge applied to reflect the risks and responsibilities associated with our appointment. This charge would be 1% of the gross value of the estate, excluding the residence, plus 0.5% of the value of the residence if it is held in the sole name of the deceased and 0.25% of the value of the residence where it is held in joint names. This is based on usual probate practice and we can explain how it will apply in your case.

Our People

Thomas Grice

Head of Department,
Partner

Tom is a solicitor who joined Ridley & Hall in May 2021. Tom has joined Ridley & Hall from a multi discipline firm in Wakefield, having previously worked in Knaresborough and at a nationwide firm in Wakefield. Previous to this Tom undertook his Law Degree at the University of Bradford and the Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School, achieving a Distinction....

Hannah Pedley

Associate Solicitor

Hannah is an Affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and is undergoing further qualification in pursuit of attaining her full membership and becoming a recognised Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP). She has handled a variety of different matters and the feedback received from clients has always been extremely positive....

Chloe Aston

Solicitor

Chloe is a highly qualified lawyer with a passion for serving Wills & Probate clients. Building strong and lasting relationships with her clients is at the heart of her practice. She prioritises understanding their unique needs and providing tailored legal solutions with a friendly and professional manner....

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Deborah Kaye

Associate Solicitor

Deborah Kaye joined the firm’s Private Client Team in July 2019, to contribute to the growth of that department. She brings with her a wealth of experience, having worked in this area of the law for over 20 years. Deborah previously had strong connections in the Holme Valley where she practised for many years and has welcomed the opportunity to work again in Huddersfield, having spent a few years working for a large multi-discipline firm in Bradford most recently....

Andrew Gullett

Solicitor

Andrew qualified as a Solicitor in 2001 and has specialised in older client law since 2005. He is delighted to have joined our Private Client Team in Huddersfield in October 2021, having previously worked at a small firm in Wakefield...

Victoria Jones

Solicitor

Victoria achieved a First Class M Law (Exempting) degree at Northumbria University. Whilst at university, Victoria was a student adviser at Northumbria University’s Student Law Office, providing detailed legal advice to members of the public under solicitor supervision. Prior to commencing her final year at University, Victoria completed a short internship working with a law firm in Singapore....

Lucy Pickles

Solicitor

Lucy initially joined Ridley & Hall in August 2018 as a Paralegal. Lucy has since completed her training contract and was admitted to the roll of solicitors in October 2021....

Sophie Aldridge

Trainee Solicitor

Sophie achieved a First-Class degree in Law, Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2020, for which she also achieved the Criminology Award for the highest overall grade on the course. Following this, Sophie achieved a distinction on the Graduate Diploma in Law, was awarded the prize for the highest overall grade on the course, together with the prize for the highest grade in Property Law. Sophie is now studying the Legal Practice Course before training to become a solicitor....

Ann Silver

Personal Assistant

Ann Silver is Personal Assistant to the firm’s Private Client Team. She joined Ridley & Hall in 1999 and over the years she has helped many hundreds of clients through the Will making process and supported many more through the distress of the death of a loved one and the Probate process...

Holly Thurlbeck

Paralegal

Holly works in the private client team at Barnsley where she assists with Wills, Lasting powers of Attorneys and Estate administration....

Yasmin Walker

Solicitor

Yasmin qualified as a solicitor in July 2023 and is now based in our Barnsley Office in Wills & Probate team....

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info@ridleyandhall.co.uk