Legal Services Prices
Walsh West Estates & Probate Lawyers

The Work we do is undertaken in two parts: All Estate Administration, Taxation and information gathering is undertaken by Walsh West, Chartered Certified Accountants. The reserved legal activities of Probate are undertaken by Walsh West Estates & Probate Lawyers .  

We work on a fixed cost wherever possible for the Inheritance Tax Returns and the Application to the Probate Registry for the Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration. Where you wish for us to carry out the Estate Administration we provide you with an hourly rate and a guide number of hours for the total guide price of the estate administration. For a simple estate we may provide you a fixed fee for the administration.  Please see our pricing charts and examples for further information.

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 The Estate Administration service carried out by Walsh West, Chartered Certified Accountants  - typically involves work to:​

• Identify all the deceased’s assets (property, investments and possessions) and all their liabilities (debts, for example, loans and utility bills), to be able to work out the value of their estate.​​, corresponding with third parties to obtain the information.

• Reviewing the Will or Intestacy, verifying entitlement to the estate under the terms of the deceased’s Will, or in line with Intestacy laws if they died without a Will. Ascertaining who can make the application for probate​

• Obtaining the necessary identification documents for the beneficiaries.​

• Walsh West Chartered Certified Accountants will prepare the calculations and where a full return is required submit the Inheritance tax Return and schedules along with claims for reliefs to HM Revenue and Customs.

• Where a full return is not required the calculations and balances will be prepared in the same way to be submitted to HMCTS Probate Registry along with the application for the Grant (see below)

• Paying Inheritance Tax to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) where applicable, assisting with the raising of funds and submit the correct Inheritance Tax return (required whether or not tax has to be paid)

• Once the Inheritance tax stage is completed the service to the Probate is Registry can be completed :

  • ​​Applying to the Probate Registry for the Grant of Representation - a document confirming the legal authority to administer the Estate - this part of the service is undertaken by Walsh West Estates & Probate Lawyers

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• After the Grant of Representation is supplied by the Probate Registry: the estate administration second stage of the Estate Administration service can commence undertaken by Walsh West, Chartered Certified Accountants this involves;

• selling the deceased’s assets, settling the estate liabilities, paying the final Estate administration expenses and account to HMRC for any further Inheritance Tax,

• where applicable assessing and paying any Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax due to or from the Estate; &

• ​preparing Estate accounts, recording all payments into and out of the Estate, and showing the balance left for distribution to the beneficiaries.    

• providing there are no challenges to the Estate or other complicating factors preventing distribution at this stage, transfer any assets that the beneficiaries wish to retain, and distribute the balance of the Estate funds.

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  How long this type of service takes: On average, for simple cases we will try and conclude the estate administration within 6 - 12 months of being instructed:​

• We allow 4-6 months for the initial administration, obtaining HMRC approval and preparing for applying for the Grant of Representation from the point we are instructed. This can vary depending upon the size of the estate and the reporting.

• The Grant of probate takes approximately 4 months at the Probate Registry. Simple Estates may be quicker. Collecting the assets, paying liabilities then follows which can take a further 3–4 months.

• Once this has been done, distribution of the assets normally takes a further 2-3 months.

• The above time estimates are for guidance only and vary depending upon the work involved.

• Large and/or more complex estates will take longer to conclude as there will often be Inheritance tax issues which will require us to liaise with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

  HMRC can take up to 6 months to finalise their own position on an estate, and this increases the time it will take for us to conclude the estate administration. 

• Where there are one or more properties in an estate that need to be sold, there might be a delay if a buyer is not found quickly.