Since the start of the lockdown, tens of thousands of bereaved families have been putting off applying for probate. This means there’s likely to be a huge rush once everything’s back to normal, which is expected to cause long delays at the probate registry.
At Farewill, we specialise in helping people apply for probate over the phone all year round. Simply give us a call today and we’ll take care of the rest. And if you have any questions about applying for probate during the lockdown, take a look at our guide here.
Our experts take care of the paperwork so you don’t have to worry about making mistakes.
7 day promise
After collecting details, your application will be prepared within just 7 days for simpler cases.
No registry visits
We handle everything over the phone, with probate sent to your door as soon as it’s ready.
The UK’s #1 wills and probate experts
Probate is an important legal document often needed after deaths in England and Wales. Applying for probate is notoriously complex and expensive, so we designed our service to make it simple, quick and affordable.
I would highly recommend this company to all. I was looking to apply for probate for my late mother’s estate. This company were so efficient. Very, very friendly and professional.
Terry, probate customer
Clear, fixed pricing
3 out of 4 customers pay this price
Simple estates
£595
inc VAT
1 out of 4 customers pays this price
Complex estates
£1,045
inc VAT
Additional costs: the probate registry fee of £155 and copies of probate for £1.50 each (usually no more than £10 in total)
Whether you need probate or full estate administration, we work with experts that can support you. Most probate cases are handled by our partner law firm, Farewill Legal Services, which is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The Farewill Legal Services team includes:
Lorraine Robinson • STEP-Qualified Solicitor
June Yap • Solicitor
How we get probate for you
1
It all starts with a phone call
Our friendly probate specialists will chat through your situation to help you understand what probate is, whether you need it and how much it’s going to cost.
We’ll arrange a follow-up call to find out more details about the estate. Then, the probate and tax forms are prepared. They’re checked by solicitors and sent to you to be signed.
3
Getting your grant of probate
Once everything has been approved by the government, your grant of probate will be in the post to you, so you can start taking care of all the admin like closing accounts and selling the house. Or if you’d like us to handle those things too, we can you refer you to our partners who’ll provide a fixed quote for estate administration.
Probate is the legal process you need to go through to deal with someone’s estate when they die. This is often called ‘applying for probate’. After submitting your application to the government, you’ll receive a document that you can take to banks, the Land Registry and other organisations. This gives you the authority to collect assets and distribute funds to beneficiaries.
Probate is required after around 50% of deaths in the UK and can be needed whether there is a will or not. If most of the assets were jointly owned or the estate’s value is less than £10,000, you may not need to apply for probate. In most other cases, applying for probate is an essential step in dealing with someone's estate.
In cases where probate is required, it's the executor's responsibility to apply for probate and deal with the estate. This may include gathering information about the deceased's assets, submitting the probate application, selling property, closing bank accounts and distributing funds to beneficiaries.
Farewill's fixed-fee probate service can help you get a grant of probate for as little as £595. We also offer a full estate administration service if you don't have the time or confidence to deal with the estate admin yourself, which we quote for on case by case basis.
If you're happy to sell property, close down bank accounts and distribute money in accordance with your loved one's wishes, your probate fees could be as little as £595 with Farewill’s fixed-price service. This could save you hundreds compared to the UK average of £1,400.
If the estate you’re dealing with is more complex and you don’t have the time or confidence to deal with all the admin, you may also be interested in our full estate administration service. This is quoted on a case-by-case basis depending on the complexity of the estate, but is fixed and agreed upfront.
Depending on the size of the estate, the whole probate and estate admin process can take anywhere between 3-12 months – sometimes even longer in the most complex cases. The first part of this process is applying for the grant of probate (or grant of letters of administration if there is no will).
For simple cases, we aim to get your grant of probate to you within 30 working days. Then, once you’ve received the grant, you’re free to close accounts, sell property and distribute assets to beneficiaries. Or, if you’d prefer to use our full estate administration service, we can handle all the admin and finances on your behalf.
If there is a will, the executors named in the will are responsible for obtaining probate and distributing funds to beneficiaries. In cases where there is no will – or when the executors of the will have died or are unable to deal with the estate – the person who stands to inherit the most usually handles the application.
If the total value of the estate is less than £10,000, you probably won’t need to apply for probate. This is because banks are more willing to release smaller funds and assets without seeing a formal grant from the government.
In some cases, banks and other organisations have been known to release up to £50,000 without seeing a grant. So if you think the estate value is fairly small, check with the specific companies to see what their probate threshold is.
Compared to most probate solicitors, Farewill is faster, more affordable and less hassle. Our legal team submits most probate applications within 7 days for a fixed price of £595 inc VAT. And because everything is handled over the phone, there's no need to visit a probate registry either.
Losing a loved one is an incredibly difficult thing to go through, so we’ve created a free guide to help make things a little bit easier. You can see our guide on what to do when someone dies here.
Prefer to talk to a specialist about your situation? Give us a call on 020 3318 3029 – we're here from Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm to help.
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