Solicitor cost for sorting out an estate if no will

Stubod

Hi,

A friend of mine who is not particularly money "savvy" has just lost his wife who did not make a will. I understand that the "default" position is that her estate will pass to him? (They have no children).

He is seeing a solicitor and they have advised a cost of circa £6500 for sorting out probate etc. This seems a bit on the high side to me given the fact that the surviving spouse should inherit?

Just wondering if anybody could provide an indication as to whether this seems reasonable?

System

Depends on value of estate.

Had one done with an estate value of about 120k and cost £2500.

Stubod

..thanks for the reply. I would have thought £2.5k seems reasonable.

Not sure why more money would require a higher fee as would assume the work would be the same?...but thats probably me being a bit dull.

When my parents passed away (they both had wills), we were charged about £700 for each by a local solicitor for sorting everything out.

Yorkshireman99

Stubod wrote: »

..thanks for the reply. I would have thought £2.5k seems reasonable.

Not sure why more money would require a higher fee as would assume the work would be the same?...but thats probably me being a bit dull.

When my parents passed away (they both had wills), we were charged about £700 for each by a local solicitor for sorting everything out.

A ludicrous amount! Your friend should be able to DIY it.

Keep_pedalling

Unless her estate is a complex one then I agree it is very high. It is not very difficult for anyone to apply for letters of administration for a simple estate, and it may not even be required if the home is owned as joint tenants, and the remainder of her estate is mainly made of of cash accounts.

Owain_Moneysaver

It sounds very high to me, I was given an estimate of £1k - £2k.

It's not the value of the estate, it's the complexity that matters. An estate with £1m invested with a fund manager needs one letter to the fund manager requesting value for probate and a second letter with the grant of probate requesting liquidation of funds. An estate with £100 invested in shares here there and anywhere still on paper certificates needs every company's share registrar to be identified and written to, which takes time especially if companies have been taken over.

Provided the deceased's paperwork is in reasonably good order it's quite a straightforward task in most cases.

Tom99

Its fairly easy to DIY and the spouse will probably end up doing a lot of the investigation anyway.

TonyMMM

Solicitors will normally charge their hourly rate for doing the work (which may be £150-200 per hour) and many then charge an additional amount based on the value of the estate.

1-2% of the estate isn't unusual, so could easily be a £6.5k total on a fairly modest estate.

Of course most are open to some negotiation on the charges if you ask (before actually giving them the work).

But it does sound like a simple application for letters of administration (if needed at all), so he should really think about doing it himself and only employ a solicitor for specific help if there are any legal issues that need it.

Owain_Moneysaver

TonyMMM wrote: »

Solicitors will normally charge their hourly rate for doing the work (which may be £150-200 per hour)

most of which will, of course, actually be done by the secretary on £15 an hour.

If the OP really needs help with paperwork, filing, writing letters etc then an employment agency can probably supply a temp legal secretary for about £30 an hour.

MEM62

You friend should DIY in this case. There is no need to incur solicitors costs in a case this simple.