Wills: most people now accept that making a Will is sensible not least because the value of most homes is now often close to or even exceeds the Inheritance Tax threshold and a Will can sometimes be used to lessen such tax liabilities upon death. If you do not leave a Will it is likely that your property will not pass to those persons whom you would like to have benefited, and administration of the estate will be more complex, costly and time consuming than would have been the case if a will had been left. We can prepare a Will for you and advise you appropriately on such matters.
Probate: upon the death of a partner or relative, we can deal with all issues relating to the winding up and administration of the deceased ’s estate whether a Will has been made or not. This would include ascertaining and getting in all assets, paying off the estate liabilities [including inheritance tax where relevant],obtaining a grant of Probate or administration where required, preparing estate accounts and distributing the remaining assets to the beneficiaries or Trustees where there are children beneficiaries.
Powers of Attorney: we can also draft and advise on Powers of Attorney to deal with situations where perhaps an elderly relative needs to give authority to another to deal with their day to day affairs because of infirmity or perhaps because it is believed that a relatives mental state may be about to deteriorate to such an extent that they could no longer deal with their affairs. We can also deal with any resulting involvement of the Court of protection in such cases. A Power of Attorney may also be appropriate where a property owner is to go abroad and wishes to leave authority with another to deal with the sale or purchase of property in their absence
Our fees: for Wills and Powers of Attorney we will generally provide you with a fixed fee quotation. For probate we will advise you and agree with you a charging basis and this maybe based on an hourly rate for time taken in dealing with the matter, or based on a fixed percentage fee based on the value of the estate in question or our fees may be based on a combination of these two methods.