Case Study

Mr J Died and his house was jointly owned with his wife Mrs J. After his death, his children (the executors) took the Will and death certificate to the Bank and sorted the accounts. The Will contained a Property Protection Trust for Mr J’s 50% share of the property; nothing was done about the property! The Property Protection Trust was never set up!

10 years later

Mrs J is about to be discharged from hospital into a care home and she has to pay her own fees because she is a homeowner. The children are now distressed because they believed the Will protected their father’s half of the property but they never set up the trust resulting in Local Authority considering that Mrs J owns the whole property.

Is there a solution?

If the executors set up the trust now it would be deemed to be asset deprivation on timing and the value would still be used for care costs.

This is not an isolated incident. Many lay executors get it wrong or ignore the setting up of trusts.

This is especially important where Discretionary Trusts were written into Wills as a way of reducing the impact of Inheritance Tax.If your Will was written pre-2008 the chances are that you may well have a Discretionary Trust of the current Nil Rate band of £325,000 included in it. It may be called a Legacy Trust providing a gift in Trust to the trustees to hold for the benefit of the spouse and children.

Assured Probate Services 

Q: What’s most important to us at Assured Probate Services?

A: Family, your family. Delivering a professional and comprehensive service, providing support and guidance for when it’s needed the most.

Assured Probate Services is a trading style of APS Legal & Associates Limited.
Head Office:
The Worksop Turbine, Shireoaks Triangle Business Park, Coach Close, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S81 8AP.

With over 500 members of highly qualified staff and expert consultants, we are one of the most trusted and reliable probate and estate administration companies in the UK. We are NATIONAL BY STRUCTURE, but LOCAL BY NATURE, leading the way in caring and responsible probate and estate administration. We are committed to providing a professional and comprehensive estate administration service. Our incomparable business structure, enabling us to offer one of the most comprehensive yet cost effective executor and probate services within the industry.

On behalf of APS Legal & Associates Ltd, Head office: Worksop Turbine Innovation Centre, Shireoaks Triangle Business Park, Coach Close, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S81 8AP

APS Legal & Associates is a member of the Institute of Professional Will Writers

APS Legal & Associates complies with the Trading Standards Institute Approved IPW Code of Practice

*Is subject to all information being submitted to the company before a quote is made. Additional charges may apply where further work is required.

For further information, please contact us on 0800 849 3321.

Probate application fees set to explode from 6th April 2019!

As you have no doubt picked up from media articles over the last few months, the Government is implementing a change to the fees for obtaining the Grant of Probate. Historically, the cost has been fixed at £155, but from 6th April 2019 there will be a sliding scale of fees that relate to the value of the estate. It is expected that the fees will be calculated as follows:

For estates worth up to £50,000 – there will be no fee
For estates worth £50,000 to £300,000 – the fee will be £250
For estates worth £300,000 to £500,000 – the fee will be £750
For estates worth £500,000 to £1million – the fee will be £2,500
For estates worth £1million to £1.6million – the fee will be £4,000
For estates worth £1.6million to £2million – the fee will be £5,000
For estates worth more than £2million – the fee will be £6,000
With this knowledge, it is even more important to mention the typical costs of ‘Estate Administration’ of which ‘Probate’ is only a part.

How estates are charged varies so much, it is best to shop around. Sussex Will Writers work in conjunction with Assured Probate Services to offer what we believe to be a comprehensive and cost-effective solution with a fixed fee typically of just 1% of the estate value.

The new government fees are fixed and non-negotiable. They are in my view seriously expensive, with no relevance to estate complexity only the size. An estate with one house worth £1million, would have a probate application fee of £4,000.

An estate with two houses, investments, shares, ten bank accounts, IHT issues and possibly shares in the USA, would be extremely complicated and if only valued at £490,000 that’s just £750.00.

If you have any queries, please feel free to call.