Probate solicitors traditionally refuse to give an estimate for the cost of probate fees before they start work. They will tell you that they cannot possibly know how much work will be involved until they have more details about what assets and liabilities are included within the estate. By this time of course you will be committed to using them. In most cases this is complete nonsense. By spending 10 minutes or so asking some carefully chosen questions it perfectly possible for an experienced probate practitioner to gather enough information to give an estimate that is accurate in 99% of all cases. So what questions should you be asked and what impact will your answers have on the final bill for administering the estate?
The first prerequisite is to find out whether the deceased left a valid will. If they did not then the estate will be divided according to the laws of intestacy which is often simpler than the administration of a complex will. The second thing to establish is the number of beneficiaries. Every beneficiary has the right to be copied in on all the solicitors’ correspondence and this will have an impact on the price quoted.
The third thing to establish is how many assets there are in the estate. Every bank account, shareholding, property, life insurance policy, pension and other asset will need to be valued at the date of death and sold. The more assets there are the higher the bill will be. The fourth thing to establish is the number of liabilities. Obviously an estate with lots of debts to settle will take longer to administer than an estate with none.
The above details are enough to give an actual quotation in the great majority of cases. More complex estates might include business assets, farmland or trusts but even in these cases an extra few minutes questioning should be sufficient to give an accurate quotations.
You wouldn’t order a meal at a restaurant without knowing how much the food was going to cost and exactly the same rule should apply when you are employing a probate lawyer. It is high time that the ridiculous practice of refusing to give a quote was ended forever.