Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Legal eagle<br />
this value, the current fees will increase by £85<br />
to £300 or more.<br />
Astronomical fees will apply for estates valued at<br />
£500,000 and above. These fees will be as follows:<br />
• £4,000 for estates valued between £500,000<br />
and £1m<br />
• £8,000 for estates valued between £1m<br />
and £1.6m<br />
• £12,000 for estates valued between<br />
1.6m to £2m<br />
• £20,000 for estates valued at £2m and above.<br />
Advertorial<br />
The cost of death is<br />
likely to increase, says<br />
Sangeeta Moore<br />
The death of a member of the family or a close<br />
friend is painful and highly emotional. While dealing<br />
with these feelings and emotions, some of you also<br />
have the responsibility of arranging the funeral<br />
and sorting out the deceased’s possessions and<br />
finances. A member of the family or close friend<br />
usually would arrange the funeral as soon as<br />
possible. However, to deal with the deceased’s<br />
possession, such as their money, home and other<br />
assets, you need to have authority from the court.<br />
This authority is known as a Grant of Probate<br />
(where the deceased left a will) or Grant of Letters<br />
of Administration ( where there is no will).<br />
You only need to apply for probate where the<br />
deceased’s estate is more that £5,000 in value.<br />
When you submit the application to the Probate<br />
Registry, you need to pay an application fee. If you<br />
are engaging lawyers for the probate process, the<br />
application fee is £155. However, if you make the<br />
application by yourself, this fee goes up to £215.<br />
The Government is proposing to increase the<br />
probate application fees. The increase will be<br />
tiered according to the value of the estate.<br />
Estates worth £50,000 or less will be exempt<br />
of the application fee. However, for estates above<br />
With the sharp rise in the value of property over<br />
the years, many people in London own homes<br />
that are worth well in excess of £1m. Often<br />
most of the value of the estate is locked in their<br />
property. This means that the executors will<br />
need to find at least £8,000 just to be able to<br />
obtain permission from the court to administer<br />
the estate. The problem is raising the money to<br />
pay for the application fee. It could well be that<br />
the bank might be prepared to lend the money<br />
to cover the fees, but this would not be without<br />
interest being charged on the loan.<br />
Another difficulty will be where someone died<br />
leaving a wife or husband or civil partner who<br />
continues to live in the family home. Especially<br />
where there is not much in terms of liquid cash,<br />
will the widow or widower or civil partner need<br />
to get into debt in order to continue living in their<br />
own home?<br />
A decision about the fee increase is yet to be<br />
reached. The Government is still consulting on<br />
these proposals.<br />
If you are dealing with the death of a family<br />
member or close friend and want to talk in detail<br />
about probate and administration of their estate,<br />
please do get in touch.<br />
Contact Sangeeta on 020 3440 8161, or by<br />
email at sangeeta.moore@tvedwards.com<br />
tvedwards.com, 35-37 Mile End Road<br />
London, E1 4TP<br />
36 LOVEEAST
Change language