Cost of a solicitor doing probate?

[ToastyMcToastface]

MIL wants to appoint a solicitor to deal with probate for FILs will. He had very little in his own name other than some shares, everything else was jointly owned so has passed to MIL already.
When solicitors are calculating the value of the estate for the fees, would they take into account the value of half the house for example, even if they were joint owners? And funds in joint accounts? Or would it be literally the value of the shares held in his own name?
DH is tearing his hair out, he and his DM are joint executors and he'd be perfectly capable of doing it all himself but she's adamant she wants a solicitor to do it instead.

I’d suggest the happy compromise is to use a solicitor’s services to obtain the grant of probate, and then deal with the other bits themselves. Expect to pay £1,000-£2,000 plus VAT and court fees, depending on location.

Joint accounts pass by survivorship to the surviving owner, so probate isn’t needed for them. The executors can sort the solely held shares out by sending the grant, share certificate and stock transfer to the registrars.

Your DH is right! But if everything is going to her, then ultimately she’s paying for it. The cost comes out of his estate.

My DM’s will holder was also named as the executor. It was an incredibly simple will - no property, just money in a couple of accounts, and split equally between me and my DB. They wanted £3500. We laughed and had them relinquish to us. DM would have been scandalised by the cost.

Took us about 6 hours work between us, over the work that we would have had to do anyway to provide information to the executors.

The solicitor can’t actually fill out the forms anyway without getting all the info about the property and assets from the family. So your DH should explain that there’s no point paying a solicitor to chase you for information rather than just reading the form and working out what you need. It’s also a lot quicker if the initiative is led by the family because they just want to get it done. The longer solicitors spend on something, the more they can charge.

I did my father’s probate with my sister and then booked in a meeting with a solicitor to look it all over, agree with my supporting documentation and calculations, and submit. It meant we had peace of mind that the authorities wouldn’t come back with questions. We ended up paying about £1,000 for the review and submission. The sum wasn’t unreasonable because dad had a few different sorts of assets and there was IHT to pay.

Most solicitors firms will do a fixed fee probate application. Try googling ‘fixed fee probate’

Getting probate yourself is not difficult. I did it for my Dad's estate. The government probate department has a helpline and the forms were very straightforward. I think there was a fee payable to the probate office but it was in double figures in 2015. It took ten days to get the grant of probate. A solicitor's stamped it with a notary stamp for us and did that for free as it was a five minute on the spot job.

Well... if your MIL is the beneficiary and wants to use a solicitor, ultimately their fee is coming out of what she inherits. So as long as she's happy with that fee, it isn't really up to your DH is it? Get a fixed fee quote and let her crack on if she's comfortable.

Is probate definitely necessary ? I had to get it because DH's pension wouldn't pay out without it, but it's not always required.

I'm even more convinced I've been ripped off - I'm due to pay 15k + vat for the solicitor dealing with my relatives (very straightforward) will!

Her DH is one of the executors so it is very much his business.

We were quote £6000 in June for the solicitor to sort out probate. We decided to do it ourselves. Getting all the information together was time consuming (NEST pension and the post office were partially bad) but the actual forms, while long, were straightforward.

Are you paying? Normally the legal fees come from the deceased's estate.

@IrresponsiblyCertainAboutSexualDimorphism that doesn't mean he can overrule or bully her out of instructing the lawyer if she wants to.

Your DH is right. It's really not hard to get probate yourself in the situation you describe; I did it for my FIL some years ago with zero legal knowledge and the online forms etc gave me all the info and guidance necessary.

A solicitor at the time quoted £3000 for doing it, and when I looked at what was actually involved I thought - what a cheeky fucker, I can easily do it myself and it won't take long!

Do you know exactly why your MIL is so insistent on having it done by a solicitor? Does she think it will be extra super probatey or something?

If your dad is leaving everything to you mum is there any real need to do probate. My dad died a few years ago and because both of their wills left everything to each other there will be no need for probate until my mam dies when everything will go to me and my siblings. (I'm in Ireland btw - not sure if the UK is the same).

Also if you do go to have probate done by a solicitor, make sure to get a few quotes because the fees can be extortionate especially if there is a large amount of money / property involved.

A point to consider: if they have legal help covered on their house insurance, that should cover probate fees, we found this out when sorting out after mil and fil passed away.

Ah that's really interesting about the house insurance, I'll suggest they check that.

we don't really know why she wants to use a solicitor. She's finding the whole process extremely upsetting, understandably. FIL was very controlling and didn't allow her to do anything herself so she's totally at sea with finances, forms, anything really. She didn't even know how to turn the heating on or up in her house because she'd never been allowed to do it.

She doesn't really understand the role of an executor. She thinks she should be doing everything because she's the sole beneficiary. But at the same time, she has absolutely no idea what she's doing and has leant heavily on DH who's done everything so far. He's very capable of doing it himself but as they are joint executors, she needs to agree of course.

he's not trying to bully her into not using a solicitor 🤨 he's trying to save her potentially a couple of thousand pounds. If she wants to go that route, of course he will agree, but I don't think it's unreasonable to find out the cost implications of that first.

They do need probate, been confirmed by the share company.