When a person dies, someone needs to take care of the things they’ve left behind. It’s a legal process called probate, and it involves distributing assets and settling debts. This can be a lengthy and involved process and sympathetic and professional assistance is essential.

Obtaining a grant of representation and dealing with the administration of an estate can be complicated; it can take several months to make sure everything is done properly. At Cader Solicitors we offer a complete estate administration service to deal with everything for you. Our Probate Team is made up of qualified solicitors with over eight years’ experience. 

Every estate is different, which is why we encourage you to contact us so we can provide you with an estimate outlining a range of potential fees to make sure that you get the right amount of support to meet your individual circumstances. We will update you regularly on your costs throughout the matter so you can stay in control throughout.

What we can do

If instructed, we will do the following: 

- Advise you in connection with obtaining the appropriate grant of representation to the estate; 
- Advise you in connection with the administration of the estate; including the legal, taxation and administrative matters. 
 

What we cannot do: 

- Provide any advice in relation to foreign assets, however we are able to co-ordinate advice with professional advisers in other jurisdictions in relation to assets held abroad but only to the extent specifically agreed in writing between us (which may incur an additional cost);

- Provide advice in relation to dealing with actual claims made against the estate, or contentious matters in dealing with the administration of the estate – these would be a separate matter, however we are able to co-ordinate with other professional advisers on how this impacts the administration of the estate but only to the extent specifically agreed in writing between us (which may incur an additional cost).

Our fees for Grant of Probate

The below price information is a general indication of costs based on our experience.

 

We estimate a fixed fee from £1,250 and disbursements* for a straightforward grant of probate and administration of an estate, for estates in England and Wales, where:

- there is no more than one property in the sole name of the deceased 
- there are no more than three bank accounts
- there are no debts (other than utility bills)
- there is a valid will appointing executors
- there is a single beneficiary 
- there are no complications
 

*Disbursements (costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties), which are payable by you such as 
 

- Probate application fee of £150.00
- £5 Swearing of the oath (per executor)
- Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£1 per beneficiary)
- £185.00 post in The London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors.
- £80 + vat Post in the Local Newspaper 

 

The following factors are likely to increase the cost of your matter:

- Not having all of the paperwork available, or having missing or incorrect information that needs investigation and correction
- Third parties not responding to our communications promptly
- Dealing with unusual or complex assets or items (for example: fine art; timeshares; shares in private companies etc)
 

As soon as any complications arise we will discuss these with you and agree the fee for the additional work being carried out in advance of any additional work being undertaken and our standard charges would not apply and we would need to deal with this on a case by case basis.