• Notifying all financial institutions where the deceased held assets. 
• Handling all necessary legal documentation. 
• Valuing all assets within the estate, including money, property, and personal possessions. 
• Preparing estate accounts and calculating any taxes due. 
• Calculating inheritance tax, applying relevant reliefs, and submitting the appropriate IHT returns. 
• Applying for the Grant of Probate to enable administration of the estate. 
• Acting as executor of the will, if required. 
• Distributing the estate to beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the will.

Roger Lugg & Co can take on some or all of this process depending on whether executors named in the will wish to deal with some aspects themselves.

The cost of administering an estate depends on the type and value of assets, who inherits and if there is inheritance tax to pay. It will also fluctuate based on the amount of work you want us to do on your behalf, and the work you may be prepared to do yourself.  We can offer fixed fee packages, typically ranging from £2,500 to £10,000 + VAT, or a fee based on the hourly rates of;

Partner – £320 + VAT per hour

Manager – £280 + VAT per hour

Assistant – £125 + VAT per hour

Example probate costs for an estate of £1m with fairly simple arrangements

• Probate application and inheritance tax £3,500 +VAT
  Preparing and submitting the IHT return and probate application on your behalf.
• Estate valuation £2,500 +VAT
  Contacting financial institutions on your behalf and obtaining valuations of property, shares and possessions.
• Estate administration £4,000 +VAT 
  Collect and realise assets, prepare estate accounts and tax returns, settle creditors and pay beneficiaries from a designated client account.

Any probate office fees incurred by us will be recoverable from the estate. For more information on probate office fees visit the government’s probate office page https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees

Estates Under £5,000

If an estate is less than typically £5,000 then there is no legal requirement to apply for probate and there will be no fees involved. All you will need are copies of the death certificate and to arrange an appointment with the deceased person’s bank.

Roger Lugg & Co are licensed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to carry out the reserved legal service of non-contentious probate in England and Wales.

Preparing the Inheritance Tax (IHT) returns and submitting the probate application typically takes around 4 to 5 weeks. However, it can then take a further 3 to 4 months for HM Courts, and where applicable HMRC, to process these.

Contacting financial institutions and obtaining valuations can also be time-consuming, potentially adding a further 3 to 4 months to the overall timeline.

The final stage—collecting, realising (or selling) assets, and distributing them to beneficiaries—is less predictable. This is particularly the case where a property sale is involved, which can take several months. As a general guide, this stage is likely to take between 6 and 8 months.

If a person dies without leaving a will or the will that is left is invalid, they are said to have died “intestate”.

For deaths on or after 1 October 2014, if an individual is survived by a spouse or civil partner but no children or remoter issue, the entire estate will go to the surviving spouse or civil partner. What happens to the deceased person’s estate depends on who that individual is survived by.

If the deceased individual is survived by spouse/civil partner and children or remoter issue, the surviving spouse or civil partner will receive the first £250,000 and half of the excess over £250,000. The children will receive the other half of the excess equally between them.

Other rules determine who will inherit if there is no surviving spouse or children, it is therefore important to take professional advice.

Who Inherits If There Is No Will

Use this tool provided by the Government to discover who inherits a deceased person’s estate if there has been no will left.

If you believe you should be a beneficiary there is also guidance provided by the Government on making a claim on the estate.

While it used to be the case that probate was handled by a solicitor, since 2014 accountants have been able to legally assist with uncontested probate (the vast majority of cases). While you can still use a solicitor for probate, it makes more sense to turn to your accountant for probate, as the solicitor involved would usually have to consult an accountant in the process anyway.

Solicitors and accountants often operate on a time-spent business model, so if all of the information is at the fingertips of the deceased person’s accountant then time is used more efficiently, fewer enquires need to be made, and the whole process becomes more simple and cost-effective. Some solicitors actually charge on % of the estate, so in those cases their services may be very costly.

Finally, hiring a probate solicitor will often mean you’ll need to engage both a solicitor and an accountancy firm to help you deal with probate, as a solicitor can only deal with part of an uncontested probate, whereas an accountant can deal with all tasks for you.

Why You Should Hire A Probate Accountant

Hiring a probate accountant is the most often recommended solution:

• Licensed probate accountants can deal with all aspects of probate
• Accountants have good working relationships with HMRC and are in a better position to negotiate for you
• The deceased person’s accountant will already have most of the figures they require and will need to find out about beneficiaries’ financial situations only
• Your accountant will already have most of your information as a beneficiary and may only need details of the deceased person’s assets
• Probate accountants are more cost-competitive

The only time we would recommend engaging a solicitor in addition to our services would be in a contested probate situation.

Complaints Procedure

We are committed to providing a high standard of service and value your feedback. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the service you have received, please let us know so we can address your concerns promptly and fairly. 

How to raise a complaint
If you would like to talk to us about how we could improve our service to you or raise a concern about the service you are receiving, please contact:

Bruce Chapman, Head of Legal Practice, Roger Lugg & Co, 12-14 High Street, Caterham, Surrey CR3 5UA

If you would prefer to submit your complaint to another person in the firm or in an alternative format, please let us know.

What you can expect
We will consider any complaint carefully and fairly according to our complaint procedure. 

• We will acknowledge your complaint within five business days of receiving it.
• We aim to provide a full response as soon as possible and within eight weeks.

We will aim to resolve your concerns as quickly as possible and we will keep you updated throughout the process. If we believe we cannot respond fully within the eight-week timeframe, we will explain why and let you know when you can expect a final reply. Please rest assured that there is no charge for making a complaint or for our handling of a complaint.

If you remain dissatisfied

If you are not satisfied with our final response, or we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, you can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman. This is an independent and free service for resolving complaints about legal services. Making a complaint or referral to the Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your matter.

To make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must;

1. refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than:

1. one year from the act/omission that forms the basis of your complaint; or
2. one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint; and

2. make the referral to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of our final written response to you.

Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman

T: 0300 555 0333

E: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH.

If your complaint relates to professional misconduct, rather than our service and you are not satisfied with our response, you should contact our regulator ICAEW. Further information about how to make a complaint is available on their website: How to make a complaint | ICAEW.