At Bradley Haynes Law, we understand the importance of ensuring your personal affairs are kept up to date and reviewed regularly. We can help to ensure this is the case by drafting documents that are bespoke to your individual requirements.
We work closely with colleagues across the firm to provide specific advice to make sure your needs are met at a price you can afford. The majority of our work for private clients is charged on a fixed fee basis. We offer a free initial 30-minute consultation to discuss your requirements either in person at our office, or by telephone consultation. We are also able to provide home visits to take instruction (within the Worcestershire area) for an additional fee. Alternatively, we can offer appointments via the video conferencing platform, Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Below, we have listed the main matters we can assist with and the likely costs and timescales for each.
Third Party costs: For some matters, there may be additional costs payable to a third party (expenses). We have set out some potential costs below next to the relevant matter, however, these costs are subject to change by the third party. We do not charge VAT on expenses, unless required by the third party, which will be indicated below.
Wills and Codicils
| Work required: | Our fees: |
| Wills | Single document – (£400 plus VAT)
Mirror documents – (£500 plus VAT) |
| Mirror Will with Trust element | £700 plus VAT |
| Codicils | Dependant on amendments required (Range between £200-350 plus VAT) |
| Will review | £230 plus VAT |
| Will Storage by us (payable as a one off fee) | £150 plus VAT |
Usual timescales for Wills/codicils:
- Will instruction form sent to you for review – same day as initial call/email received;
- Appointment made to take instructions on your Will in person or via video conference platform;
- Initial draft of documents provided – within one week of receiving your detailed instructions;
- Finalising documents for signature – within one week of receiving any amendments/confirmation that documents agreed by you.
Lasting Power of Attorney Documents
| Type of document required: | Our fees and third party expenses: |
| Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) –
Property & Financial document(s) and/or Health & Welfare document(s) for individuals (fees do not include registration costs – see below)
|
One document – (£400 plus VAT)
Two documents – (£700 plus VAT) Three documents – (£950 plus VAT) Four documents – (£1,200 plus VAT) |
| Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) –
Property & Financial document(s) for Corporate use (Company Shareholder) (fees do not include registration costs – see below) |
One document – (£400 plus VAT)
Two documents – (£700 plus VAT) Three documents – (£950 plus VAT) Four documents – (£1,200 plus VAT)
Additional Shareholders – Fees TBC |
| LPA Registration costs (for all LPAs: individual and corporate use) – these are the costs charged by the Office of the Public Guardian. | £82.00 per document |
| Letter to obtain medical evidence for capacity | £250+VAT plus fees required by medical professional |
| Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) document checking service
(Includes a review of either type of LPA that has been created by a third party but not yet registered, to ensure that it is capable of being registered at the Office of the Public Guardian) |
One document – (£150 plus VAT) Two documents – (£200 plus VAT) Three documents – (£250 plus VAT) Four documents – (£400 plus VAT) |
| Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA)– registration work (fees do not include registration costs – see below) Please note that you cannot create new EPAs, only register ones previously created.
|
£350+VAT |
| EPA Registration costs – these are the costs charged by the Office of the Public Guardian. | £82.00 per document |
Usual timescales for Lasting Powers of Attorney:
- LPA instruction form sent to you for review – same day as initial call/email received;
- Appointment made to take instructions;
- Draft documents sent to you – within one week of receiving your detailed instructions;
- Finalising documents for signature – within one week of receiving any amendments/confirmation that documents agreed by you;
- Registration of documents with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) – this is currently taking up to 20 weeks from the date the document is received by the OPG, but this timescale does depend on their workload.
Probate and Estate Administration
Usual steps and timescales for probate/estate administration work:
The timescales and steps taken for probate matters differ from matter to matter. As a general indication, simple estates can take between 6 to 18 months to finalise but are wholly dependent on the individual matter and the assets in the Estate. You may want us to help with the full grant of probate and estate administration, or just assist with certain parts. Once we have further information on the Estate’s assets and your requirements, we will be able to provide a better indication of likely timescales and steps to be taken, but these do depend on third party responses.
We can assist you in the following ways (offering as much or as little help as you want):
- You (as Executor) complete the Estate Administration and application process yourself with the Probate Registry (including inheritance tax forms);
- You complete the Estate Administration and application process yourself, with ad-hoc advice from us as required;
- We complete the application process on your behalf, then once Grant of Probate is received, we hand matters back to you and assist you with Estate Administration where needed;
- We complete the full application process and the Estate Administration on your behalf, keeping you updated regularly.
Timescales for the dealing with the above depend on the option selected by you and the assets in the Estate. We can give you a better indication of this once we have received your completed Probate Questionnaire. Generally, the steps taken are as follows:
- Initially we will send out our Probate Questionnaire for you to complete – same day as initial call/appointment taken;
- We will contact you with an indication of steps to be taken by the Executors, within one week of receiving your completed Probate Questionnaire (such as if a Grant of Probate is likely to be needed and some practical information for Executors to take in relation to the Estate);
- Once all information is received by us (including from third parties such as pension companies or banks), we can draft the Inheritance Tax IHT Forms and submit the forms online within 2 weeks;
- IHT applications currently take around 15-20 weeks to be reviewed;
- Payments to beneficiaries of the Estate can usually be made around 10 months following the Grant of Probate to protect Executors but depends on our level of involvement on your matter.
Our usual costs for probate/estate administration are:
| Executor fee – applicable only if BHL are appointed as named Executors of an Estate | 1.25% of total estate value plus Hourly rates* (see rates below) |
Probate Assistance
Grant of Probate
Where there is a Will and a Grant of Probate is required, we can offer different levels of service, depending on the amount of involvement required by us.
If we are making the Grant of Probate application only, we will require full information about the Estate, its assets and liabilities, to prepare the Grant application forms and submit to the Probate Office. Following issue of the Grant of Probate, the matter will be returned to the Executors to complete the Estate Administration.
| Grant of Probate Application only: | £950+VAT (unless complex estate and/or other estate issues – fixed fee to be agree with prices based on Hourly Rates* |
If we are instructed to complete Full Estate Administration, we will compile the Estate information regarding all assets held and liabilities of the estate, complete the Grant of Probate application, and then manage the Estate assets for distribution to beneficiaries of the Estate.
| Full Estate Administration (including Grant Application) | Charged at our Hourly rates* (see rates below) -typically fees in region of £2,500 to £7,000+VAT depending on circumstances |
Letters of Administration
Where there is no Will and Letters of Administration are needed (Probate where there is no Will), we can offer different levels of service, depending on the amount of involvement required by us.
If we are making the Letters of Administration application only, we will require full information about the Estate, its assets and liabilities, to prepare the application forms and submit to the Probate Office. Following issue of the Letters of Administration, the matter will be returned to the Personal Representatives to complete the Estate Administration.
We may have to contact third parties to assist with tracing potential beneficiaries under the Rules of Intestacy.
| Letters of Administration Application only: | £1,250+VAT (unless complex estate and/or other estate issues – fixed fee to be agreed with prices based on Hourly Rates* |
If we are instructed to complete Full Administration, we will compile the Estate information regarding all assets held and liabilities of the estate, complete the Letters of Administration application, and then manage the Estate assets for distribution to beneficiaries of the Estate as per the Rules of Intestacy.
We may have to contact third parties to assist with tracing potential beneficiaries under the Rules of Intestacy.
| Full Administration of Intestate Estates | Charged at our Hourly rates* (see rates below) -typically fees in region of £2,500 to £7,000+VAT, depending on circumstances |
Where a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration are not required, but assistance is needed to complete Estate Administration, we can help as necessary.
| Estate Administration only (no Grant/Letters needed)
|
Charged at our Hourly rate* (see rates below) – typically fees in region of £1,150 to £5,000 +VAT depending on circumstances
|
|
Deed of Variation of an Estate |
£500 plus VAT |
| Deed of Renunciation of Executor | £350 plus VAT |
| Deed of Appointment and Retirement of Trustees | £750 plus VAT |
| Assent of Property (following issue of Grant of Probate)
|
£750 plus VAT and disbursements – dependant on property circumstances (eg unregistered or complex ownership status) |
| Contentious Probate issues | Charged at our Hourly rates (see rates below) but subject to minimum fee of £250+VAT to assess and provide initial advice. |
Our current Hourly Rates are:
Director: £250 plus VAT per hour;
Senior Associate Solicitor: £240 plus VAT per hour;
Associate Solicitor or equivalent: £230 plus VAT per hour;
Solicitor/Senior Paralegals or equivalent/Chartered Legal Executives: £220 plus VAT per hour;
Trainee solicitor/Legal Executive/Paralegal: £180 plus VAT per hour;
Legal Assistant/Support staff: £90 plus VAT per hour.
| Third party costs (disbursements) which may be payable on probate matters: | |
| Unclaimed Asset Register search | £25.00 per search (optional expense) |
| Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration application | £273.00 |
| Court sealed grants (additional copies – usually recommend getting 6) | £1.50 each |
| Trustee Act Notice (via London Gazette) | £109.20 plus VAT (London Gazette notice) and £220.00 plus VAT (Local newspaper)
**Fee may vary
(optional expense – unless we are named Executor of estate, when we will place this notice) |
| Certainty Will search (Combined search) | From £33+VAT (optional expense) |
| Estate Research – Genealogy and Private Client services | Fees dependent on service required (optional expense) |
| Official Title Copy Search on Property – Land Registry | £3.00 per property title |
| Registration of a restriction on property title – Land Registry | £dependent on property value |
Deputyship and Court of Protection Applications
| Deputyship and Court of Protection applications | Our fees |
| Deputyship application to the Court of Protection (not including Court of Protection fees) | £1,750 to £2,300 plus VAT – dependant on assistance required and circumstances (plus Court of Protection fees) |
| Statutory Will application to the Court of Protection (not including Court of Protection fees) | £2,000 plus VAT (plus Court of Protection fees) |
| Other Private Client Services: | Our fees: |
| Discretionary Trust
Any duplicate trust deeds on identical terms (provided completed at the same time) |
£950 plus VAT
£200+VAT each |
| Change of Name by Deed poll | £150 plus VAT |
| Statutory Declaration: | |
| Please note that we cannot assist with a swearing of a Statutory Declaration where we have prepared it. | |
| Preparation of Statutory Declaration | £250 plus VAT |
| Swearing/Affirming of Statutory Declaration (cash payment only) | £5.00 for the Declaration plus £2 per supporting document |
| Home appointment (additional fee to above listed fees) | £dependent on mileage rates and distance (time spent) |
| CERTIFYING DOCUMENTS: | |
| Certifying Documents –
Checking up to three original documents against photocopies and certifying |
£25+VAT
(if specific wording required, we reserve the right to make further charges) |
| Certifying LPA documents –
1-4 documents:
5-10 documents:
Further copies: |
£100+VAT
£200+VAT
£TBC depending on number required |
For further information on these services, please contact Kate Collins via katec@bradleyhayneslaw.co.uk or by calling 01905 900 919.