How To Cut Probate Costs: Watch Out For…

How To Cut Probate Fees (Contact us!)

Three cunning practices which can dramatically increase your probate costs (and they are really common.) So avoid them and reduce probate costs dramatically.  Maybe even by enough to buy a new car! (Not that the executors can do so at the expense of the estate – only from their inheritance if any!)1) Responsibility Allowances.   Some firms will add as much as 1.8% of the total value of the gross estate ON TOP of their normal hourly rate. Take a couple of examples to show the effect. Just to be clear, you pay the full rate for the work, then a large – sometimes very large – bonus for nothing at all.a) A straightforward estate of £1m – average fees might be (say) £5000 to cover all the work done.  The responsibility allowance could be as much as £18,000 – bunce, pure profit.  We fully accept that more senior staff may be needed for larger estates, but £18,000 for nothing is just plain wrong.b) A straightforward estate with just one asset and a few bills to pay, gross value £100,000. Average fees might be between £600 and £1,200.  Responsibility allowance could add £1,800 for no good reason, more than doubling the bill.   Grrr.2) The second sneaky practice – charging on a “time unit” basis.  It is standard practice.  A 30 second call counts as a unit, which is 6 minutes.  So if the hourly rate is £240, you pay £24 for £2 worth of work.  Not just once, every time the staff does anything, it will be rounded up to the next 6 minutes.  So 9 minutes costs £48 not £36 as you would expect, and the same thing happens on every single piece of worth which doesn’t exactly fall into a multiple of 6 minutes.  Lots of extra costs.3) Sneaky practice three is not quite so widespread, but it can be expensive. With some firms, the receptionist (so friendly and chatty) and all other staff are charged out at the same hourly rate as the professional in charge of your case.

Probate Quotes: How much can we save you? It costs nothing to find out.

We find that working with professionals who mirror our friendly and cooperative approach to dealing with an estate after death often results in reduced probate costs / probate fees of around 75% less though it may be more or occasionally less – as well as being a great relief to family executors who don’t really have the experience of a probate lawyer. In the end, both executors and beneficiaries can lose out – which may result in probate claims rather than low probate administration fees. Rushing off to the nearest high street solicitor may result in excessive bills and non-expert staff.We have seen cases where folk have tried to avoid probate lawyers costs and accidentally triggered needless 6 figure tax charges in Last Wills designed to save tax!If you do feel that you need some help, our job is to keep the cost of probate fees as low as possible. Contact us to find out how to reduce probate costs.Using The Probate Department to reduce probate costs after a death will probably save thousands of pounds will be available for the benefit of your chosen beneficiaries if we help you to cut probate costs.

Check out the Assisted Probate Service.

This is pretty much the best way to reduce probate costs, but still have access to professional assistance – as much or as little as you wish. Just pay for the time needed – their is a £250 deposit, but if that isn’t used up, the balance will be returned. We invented the concept and persuaded one of our contacts to implement it, which some success, I am pleased to sayAssisted Probate Service page.

Let us help you to Cut Probate Costs.

Our contacts fees are based on a simple hourly rate in most cases.  They will quote a flat fee based on full disclosure of the case, if that is your preference. They will deal with as much or as little of the probate work needed to wind up the estate as you wish.  The more work the family does, the lower the probate costs!In terms of additional hidden charges, they only charge for significant things which they have to pay out.  They don’t charge for letters or phone calls (though they might if they are overseas!) or or stamps, or £35 per letter or email.  They will charge for Court Fees, Registrars fees, and specialist work like conveyancing and mileage. More on “disbursements.”In the vast majority of cases, discussions can take place on the phone, email reduces costs if appropriate and the post is very useful.If you haven’t had a quote for probate from the executors appointed in your Will and they are professionals – you should obtain one immediately before it is too late, you are dead and they are in sole charge – and it is too late to renegotiate the fees!  All you can do is ask them to resign, but they won’t resign if they have started work. Some charge a “responsibility allowance” of as much as 1.5% plus VAT of the entire value of your estate. Plus their hourly rate which could be twice that of the firms we recommend.If you have appointed ludicrously expensive professionals (they aren’t all!) or (worse) banks, why not contact us immediately and we can assist you to set up a Codicil to put your family back in charge, and able to negotiate cut probate costs (preferably through us!)  You can still use the same bank or solicitors, but the family will appoint them after death and the family will then be in charge, not the professionals.For friendly professional probate help contact us here and reduce probate costs.

Cut Probate Costs and save thousands.