We can provide assistance in the following areas of law:-
Wills and Probate
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Road Traffic Accidents
Slips and Trips
Accidents at Work
Criminal Injury Claims
Civil Disputes
Fees for our services
All work will be carried out or overseen by a solicitor with more than 20 years experience in dealing with the above services.
All fees are liable for VAT which is currently charged at 20%.
Wills
For a basic Will our charges are £150.00 plus VAT. This includes the initial consultation, the drafting of the Will and the provision of 2 witnesses. This also incorporates a free storage facility.
Probate
As with most other Firms, probate fees are calculated by a mixture of the amount of time spent working on an Estate, including letters sent and received and telephone calls made and received etc. There is also a calculation based upon the value of the Estate. It is almost impossible to give advice on the likely length of time that an Estate will take to be fully administered as this depends on the size and complexity of the Estate. It is likely to take between 6 months and 12 months for a Grant of Probate to be issued and it could take up to 12 / 24 months for a simple Estate to be finalised.
In relation to the work carried out on the file, our charging rate is £255.00 per hour.
This Firm also charges 1.5% of the gross value of the Estate less the value of the main residence of the deceased and 0.75% of the value of the residence.
There are various disbursements that may be incurred during the administration of an Estate. For example, if a Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration is required then the Probate Registry fee is payable at a cost of £273.00. Each copy Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration is an additional £1.50. There may also be disbursements related to recorded postage if we are sending original documents through the post and the cost of recorded postage varies depending on the size of the letter / parcel. There may also be costs to the Estate, for example, if house clearance is required. The cost of house clearance varies depending on how many items there are to clear from the property.
While each Estate is different, it is likely that the administration of the Estate will incur the following:
Estate administration
- identifying and corresponding with the personal representatives and beneficiaries of the estate throughout the estate administration process
- identifying and corresponding with all financial institutions and organisations relevant to the estate throughout the estate administration process
- identifying, verifying and valuing all assets held in England and Wales
- dealing with any shares owned by the estate, if relevant, including dealing with shares owned in the wrong name or where the share certificate is missing
- gathering all the assets of the estate
- transferring all jointly held assets into the sole name of the surviving owner, including property held as joint tenants and / or Bank accounts held in joint names.
- identifying all of the estate debts and liabilities, and settling these debts from the estate.
- preparing final estate accounts.
- distributing the estate to the beneficiaries and trustees of any trusts created by the will.
Personal Injury Claims
We operate a no win no fee policy for personal injury claims which means that if your claim is not successful we will not pursue you for this Firm’s charges. If your claim is successful then, in the vast majority of cases, the fees are fixed and there will usually be a 25% success fee which will only be applied to the personal injury element of the claim.
Complaints Procedure
If you are not satisfied with our services
If you are not satisfied with our services then you have the right at first instance to present a complaint to us which will be fully investigated and we will attempt to reach an agreement so that you are satisfied.
If you are dissatisfied with how we have handled your complaint then you are able to present a claim to the Legal Ombudsman who will ultimately listen to both sides before compiling a report and offering a proposed solution for agreement. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted via the website www.legalombudsman.org.uk Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving the final written response from us about your complaint.
It is also possible to make a complaint to our Regulatory Body, The Solicitors Regulation Authority, who can be contacted via the website www.sra.org.uk