BG Solicitors - Wills, Trusts, Probates & POA's

We act for a broad range of clients from across the region and the UK. We are able to assist clients with complex affairs, including advising on business and agricultural assets, foreign assets, and charitable trusts. Members of our team regularly act as trustees, attorneys and executors.

Trusts

We advise on the creation, administration and winding up of a wide variety of private trusts.

We work closely with trustees, beneficiaries, investment managers and other advisers to ensure that trusts are managed in the most appropriate and tax-efficient manner. Members of our team act as trustees for a number of large family trusts.

Wills

We advise on, and prepare, Wills for a range of different clients, and can advise on the Will best suited to your own unique financial and family circumstances. Our Wills range from ‘straightforward’ documents to more complex Wills with inheritance tax-planning elements for clients with business, agricultural and international assets. We are experienced in providing advice on potentially sensitive family situations, including on the best way to structure a Will following divorce and remarriage.

Powers of Attorney and Mental Capacity

A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to appoint Attorney(s) to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself.

We can advise on and prepare Lasting Powers of Attorneys for:

Property and finance matters
Health and personal welfare matters

We advise on the use of Lasting Powers of Attorneys, what an Attorney can and cannot do and we can help Attorneys manage financial affairs.

We can advise on and prepare applications for registration of Lasting Powers of Attorneys and also their predecessor Enduring Powers of Attorney.

Lasting Powers of Attorney should be part of your financial and personal planning but are particularly relevant for those in advancing years, for business owners or those with property and/or financial interests.

We are also able to advise on, and make, applications to the Court of Protection for the appointment of a Deputy where a loved one becomes unable to manage their own finances without having put an Lasting Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney in place. We also regularly assist Court-appointed Deputies in carrying out their role.

Estate Planning

No one likes to think about Inheritance Tax or care home fees but with a bit of thinking ahead, our Solicitors can help you plan your affairs so that you can minimise the impact of both tax and care home fees on your carefully saved funds and home. Beware of companies promising to set up a trust that will avoid taxes and care fees – these do not exist and can even cost you thousands in extra inheritance tax if you’re not careful. Our team of Solicitors can tell you what you can and can’t do, cut through the rumours and myths and create a Will or Trust for you, to support the very best outcome for you and your family.

Estate Administration

We offer a comprehensive range of services for families following the death of a loved one, including preparing the application for the grant of probate, calculating and paying inheritance tax and dealing with the assets or trusts within an estate. We also offer inheritance tax planning advice for estates and/or their related trusts, including post-death variations. We are able to advise on estates with cross-border elements and foreign assets as well as UK estates.

Our Probate Team is supervised by Miriam Barber who has 13 years experience in this area and qualified as a Solicitor in 2007. The team has Solicitors with between 13 and 26 years experience and Paralegals with between 2 and 4 years experience.

Coronavirus and You

The global COVID-19 outbreak has everyone thinking about what could happen if the disease spreads more fully across the general population. Despite best efforts to contain the outbreak, people in dozens of countries around the world have contracted the virus. That points to the need for people to plan for whatever could possibly happen.

Nobody likes to think about this stuff at the best of times, of course, and a scary an event like the coronavirus can make us want to bury our heads in the sand but it’s important not to. To protect yourself and your loved ones, now’s a good time to make sure that you have the following four documents prepared and updated.

A will

Making sure that your assets will pass to the loved ones you want to receive them after your death is critical during crisis times. You don’t want to make things any more difficult than they need to be, and avoiding costly and time-consuming processes like intestacy or unnecessary trusts from out-of-date Wills takes on heightened importance when your family might end up confined to their homes in a quarantine situation.

Lasting Power of Attorney (Property and Finance)

What many people don’t realise is that no one would be able to operate their bank account or deal with other financial responsibilities on their behalf if they were unable to do so (eg if incapacitated or convalescing) – not even their spouse or child. A Lasting Power of Attorney means that you can choose who would help out if you were unable to handle your own finances, even temporarily. This is even more important if you run a business of any kind.

Lasting Power of Attorney (Health and Welfare)

Much more pressing during an outbreak is ensuring that you’ll be able to get the sort of treatment you would want and need if you’re stricken with an illness. A Lasting Power of Attorney for health and welfare is a legal document effectively naming a next of kin, and will give the person you choose as your attorney the ability to make whatever medical decisions you specify on your behalf – if you’re unable to communicate your wishes yourself.

Be ready for anything

Doing estate planning is never fun, but the coronavirus outbreak has many people thinking about what they would otherwise have put off until much later. By giving a bit of thought to these things now, you not only ensure peace of mind during this time of crisis but you will have protected yourself and your loved ones long into the future as well.

We offer two main options, these are:

Fixed Fee Probate

We can help you through this difficult process by obtaining the Grant of Probate on your behalf. Executors to deal with collecting and distributing of assets.

How much does this service cost?

Total Fees: Fixed Fee of £1350 (incl. VAT and application fees)*

This includes: obtaining the grant and sending to the Executors.

VAT is currently charged at 20%

Disbursements included in this fee (£303 in total):

Probate court fee of £300 and two copies at £1.50 each.

Disbursements NOT INCLUDED in this quoted fee:

Anti Money Laundering Checks from £6 to £10 *

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

As part of our fixed fee we will:

Identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries
Accurately identify the type of Probate application you will require
Obtain the relevant documents required to make the application
Complete the Probate Application and the relevant HMRC forms
Draft a legal oath for you to swear
Make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf
Obtain the Probate and send two copies to you

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 4-6 weeks.

Applying for the Grant, collecting and distributing the assets

We anticipate this will take between 5 and 15 hours work at a maximum rate £275 per hour (dependent on fee earner level). Total costs for an estate are estimated at £1,000 to £3,500 (not including VAT).

The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

We will handle the full process for you. This estimate is for estates where:

There is a valid will
There is no more than one property
There are no more than 5 different bank or building society accounts
There are no other intangible assets
There are 1-10 beneficiaries
There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets (if disputes arise this is likely to lead to an increase in costs)
There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors/administrators do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
There are no claims made against the estate

Disbursements NOT INCLUDED in this quoted fee:

Probate application fee of £300 (plus £1.50 for each sealed copy)
Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£3.60 per beneficiary inclusive of VAT)
£200 (approx) for Statutory Notices in the local and national press – these are optional in most cases but protect against unexpected claims from unknown creditors
Anti Money Laundering Checks*

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Potential additional costs

If there is no Will or the estate consists of any shareholdings (stocks and bonds) there are likely to be additional costs that could vary significantly depending on the nature of the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.

If any additional court-sealed copies of the grant are required, they will cost £1.50 per copy (it is usually advisable to obtain at least 4).

Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included in the quote above.

How long will this take?

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 6 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration takes 10 weeks. Collecting of the assets then follows, which can take a further 10 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes around 6 weeks to finalise.

*Anti-money laundering electronic verification checks maybe undertaken at a cost to you of between £6 – £20 (inclusive of VAT) dependent on the level of checks required, per name of each client.