Wills, Estate Planning, & Probate/Administration
At Andrew Kingston & Co., we regard our Wills and Probate Department as a vital part of our service to our clients throughout Hull and East Yorkshire, and indeed across the country. It was once said that the only certain things in life are death and taxes – tax we will happily leave to be dealt with by our friends in the Accountancy profession!
Wills
Everyone should make a Will. Without one, the Law decides who should inherit your property, and the results can come as an unpleasant shock to your family at a time when they need comfort, not more to worry about. We will give you straightforward advice and a prompt and efficient service at a competitive price. Beware the home-made Will, on a form bought from the stationery shop. Get one thing wrong, and your Will may turn out to be invalid, or not to mean what you intended. Worse, it may well land your family with a Court case to sort matters out! You may already have a Will, but there are many instances when you will need to review it. Once you have signed your Will, you will often put it to the back of your mind and forget about it, so you may not realise that your Will needs updating. Some of the circumstances when you should consider updating your Will are:
- You are cohabiting with a new partner and wish to make provision for them.
- You jointly own a property and wish to choose who should have your share of the property after your death (please see further information below on “Severance of Joint Tenancy”).
- You have a partner but are not married and wish to make provision for them.
- You have married since your Will was drafted. Unless you referred to your marriage plans in your current Will, your subsequent marriage will invalidate the Will.
- You have divorced since your Will was drafted. Unlike marriage, divorce does not invalidate your Will, but it cancels any mention in it of your former wife, husband or civil partner. Therefore any provision you have made for them will lapse.
- You have new children or grandchildren who are not included in your Will.
- Your estate has changed in value since your Will was drafted.
- You have fallen out with your beneficiaries or executors or they have died.
- You are now a single parent and wish to appoint a guardian for your children.
We are Members of the National Free Wills Network. This means that if you support a particular charity who are part of the Network and they have issued you with a yellow confirmation form, we will be able to prepare your Will or pair of Wills for you and the National Free Wills Network will pay our charges for doing so, provided that the Will or Wills are straightforward.
Similarly, we are Members of the Cancer Research UK Free Will scheme. You do not need to be referred to us by them, as we are able to provide anyone aged 18 or over with an application form, which enables us to prepare your Will or pair of Wills for you and Cancer Research UK will pay our charges for doing so. Again they only pay the fees for straightforward Wills.
Under each scheme, the charity obviously hope that you will leave them a legacy in your Will, even if it is only enough to cover the fees they will pay us on your behalf. However, you are under no obligation to do so.
Most Wills are straightforward, but if there might be any additional charge we will, of course, discuss that with you before proceeding further. For example, where a couple jointly own a property, Wills often include a simple form of property trust so as to minimise exposure to care home fees for the survivor following the first death. We charge an additional £50.00 plus V.A.T. (total £60.00) for that.
If you are not using either of the schemes mentioned above, our fee to prepare a straightforward Will is £200.00 plus V.A.T. (a total of £240.00). If a couple make similar Wills at the same time, we charge £250.00 plus V.A.T. (a total of £300.00) for the two Wills. If you already have a Will and you wish to make a simple change by way of a Codicil, our fee is £100.00 plus V.A.T. (a total of £120.00). If a couple make similar Codicils at the same time, we charge £125.00 plus V.A.T. (a total of £150.00) for the two Codicils. A home or hospital visit is charged at £75.00, plus travelling expenses, plus V.A.T.
Estate Planning
It’s not pleasant to think about a time when you can no longer live independently or live in your own home. However, as more of us are living longer, it’s important to plan for your future and protect your assets.
Many people worry about care fees eating into their savings, and being forced to sell their home. If you have capital over £23,250.00 (figure correct as at August 2019) you will have to pay for all of your own care home fees. The money you have worked hard to save or to invest into your home can be used up quickly, leaving little or nothing for your loved ones on your death.
We can advise about the options for structuring your assets, to protect your family wealth from the costs of long term care.
Severance of Joint Tenancy
When you own a property jointly with another person, it is possible to own the property in one of two ways, either as:
- “Joint Tenants”, or
- “Tenants in Common”.
These are legal terms and cause a lot of confusion, as they have nothing to do with being tenants in the ordinary sense of renting a property. If you own the property as Joint Tenants, you each own the whole of it. If one of the Joint Tenants should die, their share of the property automatically passes to the other Joint Tenant. A Joint Tenant cannot leave their share of the property to anyone else, through their Will. If you own the property as Tenants in Common, you each own a separate share, and the shares do not have to be equal. This can be useful, for instance, when one party is contributing more to the purchase price than the other. The main benefit of owning a property as Tenants in Common is that you can leave your share of the property through your Will. This enables you to leave your share to someone other than the joint owner. It is possible to sever a Joint Tenancy so as to enable you to leave your share of the property through your Will. Our fees for severing a Joint Tenancy are £75.00 plus V.A.T. (a total of £90.00) and a £3.00 Land Registry fee.
Probate and Estate Administration
Here at Andrew Kingston & Co. we know that the death of a loved one can be an extremely upsetting time. Often the last thing that you want to have to do is deal with the estate. This is when we can help. We will deal with your case sensitively and efficiently and will guide you through this difficult task. Whether you want us to deal with the administration of the whole estate or just certain aspects of it, we are here to help in any way that we can. Our charges are calculated at the rate of £150.00 per hour plus V.A.T. We do not add an extra charge according to the value of the Estate. The exact cost will depend on what you wish us to do, and how complicated the Estate is. If you wish us to deal not only with obtaining the Grant but also the whole administration of the Estate (meaning collecting in the assets and distributing them to the beneficiaries) then we expect that our charges would normally be between £1,500.00 and £9,000.00, plus V.A.T. If, for example, there is only one beneficiary and no property, our charges will be at the lower end of the range but if there are a number of beneficiaries, or multiple Bank accounts, and perhaps a property to be dealt with, then our charges are likely to be at the higher end of the range. If there is a property to be sold or transferred, that will be charged for separately at the prices shown on the Conveyancing page of this website. Our fees might be more than the range of figures stated above if, for example, there are disputes between beneficiaries, or claims are made against the Estate, or there are assets abroad. If no complications of that kind arise, then obtaining the Grant of Probate or Administration typically takes up to fifteen weeks from when we are instructed, but could take up to twenty six weeks if Inheritance Tax is payable. Collecting in the assets will then typically take six to twelve weeks, unless of course a property is involved as it may take much longer to find a buyer and then complete the Conveyancing process. Once all the assets have been collected in, distribution of them typically takes between three and six weeks. In addition to our fees and V.A.T., disbursements (meaning payments to third parties such as the Court) will be incurred. We handle these for you. They typically include:-
- The Probate fee payable to H M Courts and Tribunals Service. This is currently £273.00 plus £1.50 for each additional copy of the Grant that is needed.
- The fee for advertising in the London Gazette and a local newspaper, for possible claims against the Estate. This varies according to the local newspaper that has to be used but an exact quotation can be obtained in advance through The Legal and Public Notices Advertising Agency, whom we use for this purpose. A typical fee is about £200.00 including V.A.T.
- Land Charges Department Bankruptcy searches of £2.00 per beneficiary.
- An Anti-Money Laundering search costing £6.00 including V.A.T. for each Executor or Administrator.
Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration
You don’t have to use a Solicitor to take out a Grant of Probate, or Letters of Administration if there is no Will. However, most people choose to do so, to get everything resolved with the least amount of upset and disruption. This can be the most difficult aspect of administering an estate, hence why many people will use a professional. If you wish us simply to obtain the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, and then you will deal with collecting in the assets and distributing the Estate yourself, we offer a fixed fee of £500.00 plus V.A.T. (total £600.00). This fee assumes that you will obtain details of all the assets in the Estate and provide them to us, and that the value of the Estate is such that no Inheritance Tax will be payable. It also assumes that there are no disputes between beneficiaries or claims against the Estate, which might obstruct the taking out of the Grant. For this fixed fee, our experienced Probate Solicitor will explain to you what information we need from you and how to obtain it, prepare the Probate Application for your signature and submit it to the Court on your behalf, deal with any queries they might raise, obtain the Grant of Probate or Administration and any necessary copies, and provide it to you. In addition to our fees, disbursements will be incurred consisting of:-
- The Probate fee payable to H M Courts and Tribunals Service. This is currently £273.00 plus £1.50 for each additional copy of the Grant that is needed.
- An Anti-Money Laundering search costing £6.00 including V.A.T. for each Executor or Administrator.
This work is carried out by Rachael Kitchman – please see the “Meet the Team” page for details of her qualifications and experience.