Probate and Estate Administration Costs

Last updated on November 30th, 2023 at 11:57 am

Graysons has been carrying out probate and the administration of estates since 1925.

Laura Cowan heads the team and supervises all probate matters. Our private client advisors, Matthew Taylor, Jessica Fox and Rabiya Akhtar also carry out probate work.

Our fees are based on various factors, including the complexity of the matter, the level of assistance required to complete the work, the value of the estate and disbursements that have to be paid. Whilst it is difficult to give an accurate estimate of costs before we have detailed information about the estate to be administered, our experience shows that the following charts of costs will cover many situations.

Grants of Representation

Work type	Description	Cost
Grant of Representation – non-taxable estate	Take instructions from executor, extract grant and hand to executor to deal with administration. Executor to gather and provide all relevant information for application.	£750 Plus VAT and disbursements.
PI Grant of Representation – non-taxable estate	Take instructions from executor, extract grant and hand to executor to deal with administration. Executor to gather and provide all relevant information for application.	£750-£1000 Plus VAT and disbursements.
Grant, transfer of NRB and completion of IHT400	Non-taxable estate	From £1,500 Plus VAT and disbursements.
Grant, transfer of NRB and completion of IHT400	Taxable estate	From £2,500 Plus VAT and disbursements.
Additional Deeds	Deed of Variation	From £500 Plus VAT
	Deed of Appointment	From £250 Plus VAT

Estate Administration

Work type	Description	Cost
Estate Administration	Estates of up to £150,000	4% of the gross estate with a minimum charge of £3000 plus VAT and disbursements.
	Estates from £150,000 to £1,000,000	2.75% of the gross estate, plus VAT and disbursements.
	Estates over £1,000,000	2.75% of the gross estate up to £1,000,000 and 0.5% of the gross estate over £1,000,000 plus VAT and disbursements.
Contentious	In matters that have been contentious or where a claim is made against the estate then hourly rate will be charged for this element of the administration in addition to the costs above.

Trust Administration

Work type	Description	Cost
Trust registration with HMRC		£500 plus VAT
Additional deeds required		£250 plus VAT
Transfer of Property Title	Transfer title into names of Trustees	£406.67 plus VAT and disbursements
Grant of Representation for property transfer only		£400 plus VAT
Preparation of tax return		£500 plus VAT
Ongoing Management of the trust		Hourly rates apply

Who will deal with Probate and Estate Administration?

Probate and Estate Administration is dealt with by Solicitors, Legal Executives and Private Client advisors of appropriate and equivalent experience, assisted by graduates, trainee solicitors and trainee legal executives subject to appropriate supervision. For more information please refer to our Meet the team

Qualification	Hourly Rate
Partner or Head of Department	£300
Solicitor	£275
Senior Private Client Advisor or Trainee Solicitor	£230
Probate Paralegal or Private Client Advisor	£175
Private Client Advisor	£146
Admin Paralegal	£125

Hourly rates will be capped where a fixed fee has been offered

There is no inclusion within the costs above for any conveyancing related to, and required as a result of, the administration of the estate. These costs will be quoted for separately.

Where unforeseen circumstances, or matters that protract the completion of the matter, are encountered, we reserve the right to vary the above costs. We will advise you as quickly as possible when we become aware of any such events.