Am I being offered a fair price for Probate service?

TBagpuss

Have they said a fixed fee of £7,000 or have they said they charge on an hourly rate and normally expect an estate of this size to be around that? If it is the later, then it may be that the actual costs will be lower but they are trying to give you a realistic range / upper limit .

It will depend a good deal on how many and what the 'things like that' in terms of the other investments are, it can be quite time consuming to deal with getting in lots of smallish investments as each company will have it's own requirements and forms . But it is definitely reasonable to ask for a bit more information about how the figure has been arrived at and if it's a set amount or an estimate, and what the hourly rate or other basis for the figure is.
 

handful

I'm an executor for a similar sized estate currently and started on the DIY route but it became all consuming and I wasn't comfortable dealing with some of the aspects of the process, particularly around how to pay the fairly substantial IHT that was due. This involved dealing with the deceased's FA who would have to sell some of the investments in order to pay HMRC directly. I don't believe they wouldn't have done this as just purely executors. There was also a slight chance that a DoV involving a trust could have affected the amount of transferrable NRB that was available. Due to these things I was happy to instruct a professional who has estimated a similar amount to the OP. Also, one of the beneficiaries is under-age so will need a trust account set up to hold his inheritence.  I have been much more relaxed since doing so and have just been informed IHT has been paid and probate been applied for. Well worth the payment for my situation and circumstances but every case is different so no right or wrong answer to the OPs question..

Pennylane

BooJewels said:

The current fee for the Probate application is now a flat fee of £273 @Pennylane.  I also paid about £250 for the last one I did when it was a sliding scale, relative to the estate value.

Mine wasn’t on a sliding scale …. So you are probably correct. Can’t get in loft to double check. 🤣

Bonniepurple

handful said:

I'm an executor for a similar sized estate currently and started on the DIY route but it became all consuming and I wasn't comfortable dealing with some of the aspects of the process, particularly around how to pay the fairly substantial IHT that was due. This involved dealing with the deceased's FA who would have to sell some of the investments in order to pay HMRC directly. I don't believe they wouldn't have done this as just purely executors. There was also a slight chance that a DoV involving a trust could have affected the amount of transferrable NRB that was available. Due to these things I was happy to instruct a professional who has estimated a similar amount to the OP. Also, one of the beneficiaries is under-age so will need a trust account set up to hold his inheritence.  I have been much more relaxed since doing so and have just been informed IHT has been paid and probate been applied for. Well worth the payment for my situation and circumstances but every case is different so no right or wrong answer to the OPs question..

My brother and I took one look at my Dad’s Estate and decided that we’d prefer to pay someone to sort it out.  It *could* be fairly simple, but there’s a lot that needs untangling- and we would rather that someone who does this on a regular basis- and more to the point has professional insurance- to sort it.  Better to pay £1900 than unexpectedly have to pay more inheritance tax and or a penalty for getting it wrong.

In comparison, when the time comes (hopefully not for a long, long time yet!) my MiL’s stuff should be very easy.  Bit of cash and the house.  It’s what works for you and your family at that point in time.