Guidance and Support for Wills and Probate in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex

A Range of Services

Our wills and probate department is fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. As well as a wide range of advice on wills and probate matters, we assist elderly and vulnerable clients in Court of Protection and Lasting Powers of Attorney.

Probate

We can offer our services to deal with the Administration of the Estate on your behalf whether a taxable or non-taxable estate. We can take the stress and pressure away from you by dealing with the Estate from start to finish.

This service includes writing to all necessary institutions where the deceased held assets and requesting date of death balances, ascertaining a value of the deceased's property together with making enquiries of any debts in the estate. The information is required in order to complete the Probate papers and calculate IHT payable (if any).

Once we have gathered all the information required we will prepare the Oath for Executors and the IHT forms whether IHT205 or IHT400. We will arrange to pay from the deceased's assets any IHT liability to HMRC.

Once the tax has been paid and the grant obtained we will send a court sealed copy to any institutions  that require it in order to release the funds from the deceased's accounts. The proceeds will be paid into the Estate Account and distributed in accordance with the terms of the Will or Intestacy.

We will prepare Estate Accounts to send to the Executor and Residuary Beneficiaries for their approval before distributing the Estate funds.

Disbursements

Probate Court Fee £155 + 50p per office copy

• Land Registry Office Copies £6
• Bankruptcy searches £2 per beneficiary
• Advertisements in London Gazette and Local Paper to alert any potential debtors or creditors £250 approx
• Solicitors fee for Swearing Oath for Executor £7 per Executor

• Non-IHT Estate £1500-£5000 plus VAT and Disbursements
• IHT Estate £5000-£8000 plus VAT and Disbursements

Our charges are calculated on the basis of time spent in the matter together with how much work is involved. We can provide you with an estimate at the outset once the assets and value of the Estate are known.

We would expect an Estate without IHT payable to be complete within 6-12 months. An estate where IHT is payable can sometimes take longer than 12 months to complete.

Please bear in mind that where there is a property to sell this can also effect the above timescales.

Probate (Grant only Inheritance Tax

We provide a fixed fee service to obtain the Grant of Probate on behalf of the Executor named in the Will. This service includes completion of the Inheritance Tax Forms IHT400 and supporting schedules together with the preparation of the Oath for Executor(s). The IHT400 forms are
sent to HMRC together with any tax due. Once HMRC have confirmed the correct tax has been paid we then send the application to the Probate Court. Once the grant is obtained we hand it over to the Executor for them to deal with the assets in the Estate.

We require the Executor to provide us with the Estate valuations as at the date of death. This is to include all sole and joint assets together with a property valuation (if there is one) and statements for all bank accounts in the name of the deceased as at the date of death.

 Once we have this information we can prepare the IHT400 and schedules and the Oath for signing by the Executor(s). the application is then
sent to HMRC and then the Probate Court.

Disbursements

• Probate Court fee £155.00 (+ 50p per office copy)
• Swearing of the Oath £7.00 per Executor 
• Land Registry Office Copy Entries £6.00

Our fixed fee for the above service is £1250.00 plus Vat and Disbursements. 
We expect the application for Probate to be complete within six months where Inheritance Tax is payable.
If your matter develops any unexpected complication we will discuss this with you together with any additional charges you may incur.

Probate (Grant only no Inheritance Tax)

We provide a fixed fee service to obtain the Grant of Probate on behalf of the Executor named in the Will. This service includes completion of the Inheritance Tax Form IHT205 and preparation of the Oath for the Executor(s). the application for Probate is sent by us to the Probate Court
and once the grant is obtained we hand it over to the Executor for them to deal with the assets in the Estate.

We require the Executor to provide us with the Estate valuations as at the date of death. This is to include all sole and joint assets together with a property valuation (if there is one owned by the deceased) and statements for all bank accounts in the name of the deceased as at the date of death.

Once we have this information we can prepare the IHT205 form and Oath for signing by the Executor(s).

Disbursements

• Probate Court fee £155.00 (+50p per office copy)
• Swearing of the Oath £7.00 per executor
• Land Registry Office Copy Entries £6.00

Our fixed fee for the above service is £850.00 plus Vat and Disbursements in a standard estate that requires an IHT205.
We expect the application for Probate to be complete within three months where there is no Inheritance Tax payable.
If your matter develops any unexpected complication we will discuss this with you together with any additional charges you may incur.