Our Private Client team provides a wide range of services including the preparation of Wills and Powers of Attorney, the administration of executry estates, and applying for guardianship.
We charge on the basis of an hourly rate but, for some of the services we provide (for example, Wills and Powers of Attorney), we are usually able to offer a fixed fee. For applications for welfare guardianship, we are often able to carry out some or all of the work under Legal Aid (subject to eligibility).
Whatever the area of work, following a first consultation with you, we will issue a Letter of Engagement for your acceptance. That letter will confirm the scope of work that we are instructed to carry out and will explain in detail the basis on which you will be charged. If we are able to offer a fixed fee, this will be confirmed in the Letter of Engagement.
Our hourly rates are updated from time to time and will depend on the seniority and qualifications of the individuals carrying out the work for you. The hourly rates will be confirmed in the Letter of Engagement.
The following are examples of our approach to fees in particular services that we provide. As every case is different this guide is provided for illustrative purposes only. We would strongly encourage anyone who wishes to instruct us to discuss costs with us during our first consultation and/or on receipt of our Letter of Engagement. We wish to be as transparent as possible from the outset so that there are no surprises further down the line.
Wills and Powers of Attorney
The cost of your Will will depend on the complexity of the document required. We are, however, usually able to prepare Wills and Powers of Attorney on a fixed fee basis.
Our fee for one Will is usually in the range of £250 plus VAT to £370 plus VAT.
Our basic fee for one Continuing and Welfare Attorney is £250 plus VAT.
For a couple. we are usually able to offer a discount for the second Will or Power of Attorney, where the instructions are very similar and given at the same time.
Similarly, we are usually able to offer a discount if instructions are given for a Will and Power of Attorney at the same time. For example, our basic fee for one simple Will and a Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney is £400 plus VAT.
If additional advice is required (for example, on Inheritance Tax planning) then we would charge for that advice on the basis of our hourly rates. We would always make this clear to you in advance.
Administration of Executry Estates
The amount of work required to deal with the administration of an executry estate varies depending on the nature of the estate and on how the estate will be distributed.
In our experience, we have found that the following factors may have an impact on the amount of work required:
- The nature of the estate (whether there are lots of different assets that need to be investigated);
- The value of the estate (for example, this can impact how much tax compliance work is required);
- Whether there is a Will (additional steps are almost always required if there is no Will);
- Whether there any issues with the Will (homemade Wills can cause costly additional legal steps);
- The number of different beneficiaries;
- Whether there are any Inheritance Tax reporting required.
The more work that is required, the higher that our fee will be. Your case will be handled by members of our team with levels of seniority appropriate to the nature of the work. The hourly rates charged range from £160 plus VAT to £300 plus VAT.
It is very difficult to predict the fee for the administration of an estate at the outset because it is very hard to judge how much work will be required in order to bring matters to a conclusion. We do, though, encourage you to discuss the likely costs with us once we have information relating to the points above.