Solicitors fees for administration of estate

[Maggiethecat]

Sadly lost a close family member suddenly last week.
I’m one of her executors and have had solicitor’s letter with fee quote for administration of her estate.
My relative simplified her will and has gifted her house to her kids and there will be monies held in bank accounts gifted in equal shares to them. That’s it, no complexities.
Estimated gross value of estate is about £1.5 million.
The quote is for 1.5% of gross value plus VAT, which based on the estimate would total about £27k.
Never had to deal with this before and have had a quick look online but just wanted to get a sense check here of what kind of fees people have paid.

there’s an enormous amount of information online to take you through the process:
https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

Gifted in her will; there will be IHT to be paid on the value beyond her threshold.

My Dad’s estate was around a million and the probate cost £10k. Your quote seems excessive

Another lawyer and one who has administered a relative’s quite complicated estate. We did quite a bit of the leg work getting info on bank accounts etc but the solicitor oversaw things and dealt with both the IHT stuff and some tricky friends and relatives! The estate value was higher than the OP’s relative sounds but we paid far less than £27k.

OP - definitely shop around for a firm which will charge hourly rates as the percentage model only really comes into its own for a lower value but complicated estate.

Solicitors quite often charge a percentage of the estates. We used Co-op Legal Services for a recent bereavement. They offer a fixed price quote, which will depend on the value and complexities of the estate. It's worth "shopping around" as you'll definitely find somewhere that will do it for less. Of course, if you're feeling brave, you could do it yourself. I did probate for my dad's simple estate several years ago, and it wasn't difficult at all.

I was ripped off by solicitors who moved goalposts and increased fees without informing me for 2 months. Family trust involved. I did the IHT forms with a colleague. Saved a lot. Fees are extortionate. Online forms are not the best so did the old paper way.Will take another 12 weeks to get the Grant. Good luck!

£500k estate with house held in trust. Sole beneficiary. Interim bill from solicitor is £7k.
I've had a handful of emails from her over the last 12m and she's secured probate for us.

Not sure if I'm paying hourly for tasks done or if it's based on a percentage of the estate value.

It needed doing and I didn't have the mental capacity plus at this stage, it's my dad's money not mine.

What a rip off. £27k seems extortionate. Sadly most don't realise this and just agree to pay.

Sometimes, the beneficiaries have no choice if the deceased appointed their solicitors in the will to act as executors.

Sometimes, family/friends as executors don't get on and can't work together so have to appoint a solicitor to act as executor.

Solicitors just leech when they can and take advantage of such scenarios as they know the beneficiaries have no choice.

When my mother died we used a solicitor for the difficult bits and my brothers and I did a lot of the grunt work. Similarly when my mothers best friend died I did quite a bit of chasing around.

Some organisations charge a fixed fee for administering an estate others for work done.

I would ask around

It might be worth calling around, it sounds a simple estate so can be done for a paralegal, there are firms that offer a fixed fee. We have paid less than half that for a complex situation

Do it yourself OP. Its not hard and at least you will know what is going on.

When my Mum died DH bought some software and we followed that. It contained letter templates we just had to put her name and date of birth into. It was very straightforward and I had to go to court but even that only took about 5 minutes. It saved a lot of money which I know Mum would have been pleased about.

We have been quoted £4k plus VAT (london, straightforward will similar to your situation).

Maybe try a probate practitioner? They tend to be cheaper but just as good where probate is what they are doing every day.

I’ve contacted one today and they are charging time spent plus c.1-1.5% of the estate value 😳

We have a probate specialist. Estate worth a bit under £700k and we have been quoted 12k. There is no Will and the estate will be split 50/50 between siblings. It still seems a lot but I find it reassuring - I am not in the UK and other sibling couldn't deal with it. It's a deductible expense (so the fee is taken off before IHT is calculated).

They advised us to get a surveyor's valuation rather than quotes from estate agents for a more accurate house price. This was definitely the right choice in our particular situation as there are no similar properties nearby for comparison.

ETA, I think it's a fixed fee so would be happy to share the company name.

I mean honestly I think you could combat this by buying insurance. It's what we've just done. It wasn't cheap but it was entirely manageable and a lot less than solicitors fees. And administering the estate (including intestacy) has actually been totally fine to be honest. Certainly made me think I wouldn't pay someone to deal with it professionally unless there was complicated stuff going on.

Editing: just reread the op and I see what you mean. If she gave away her house before death that would definitely complicate things!

Im using our accountant who does probate too, thousand and thousands cheaper.