Wills, Probate & Later Life Planning

Please note:

The Office of the Public Guardian who register Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) are experiencing delays. They have advised that we need to allow them 20 weeks to process LPAs before we contact them to ask for an update.
Grants from The Probate Registry are taking anything from 8 weeks to 20 weeks. If we try to chase them before 16 weeks the Probate Registry will discontinue our call.

We apologise if you are impacted by any of the delays mentioned above. Please consider this when contacting a member of our team.

This relates to legal matters and issues that can occur in or need to be put in place for later life. This area of law is sometimes referred to by solicitors as Private Client.

We specialise in:

Wills (basic costs provided below)
Estate Administration
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Court of Protection Matters
Trust Administration
Later Life Planning
Elderly Care (legal advice relating to care in the home, residential & nursing homes)

If you don’t see what you’re looking for here please give us a call, the chances are we’ll be able to help.

Please note:

We are not financial experts and if we feel that that you or an estate or trust would benefit from expert tax advice then we will recommend appropriate providers i.e.
- Accountants
- Financial Advisers

Our legal team specialise in successfully dealing with a wide variety of matters including wills, estate management, Powers of Attorney and trust administration; from initial advice through to completion.

Expertise and experience

With over 60 years experience between them the expertise and advice that the team offer:

can simplify and shorten the legal process,
provide you with a realistic assessment of your situation,
as well as providing you with the comfort of knowing that all the legal requirements and issues will be managed professionally.

Tom Metcalfe-Jackson is an affiliate member of STEP (Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners).

STEP is a professional body, comprising lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and other practitioners that help families plan for their futures. They set standards, train and educate their members, and ensure standards are upheld.

Full STEP members, known as TEPs (Trust and Estate Practitioners), are experts in inheritance and succession planning.

Choosing a professional to help you to deal with such important and often sensitive issues can be difficult. Many aspects of planning are non-regulated, meaning anyone can write a will, for example, regardless of training or expertise. With a TEP, you’re in safe hands.

Expertise
Integrity
Knowledge
Connections

STEP

Naturally, most of us want to put off thinking about our later years, but difficulties and family disputes can arise if legally binding plans and provisions are not put into place.

We also appreciate that no-one really wants to involve a solicitor, but the simple fact of the matter is that not obtaining the right guidance early on can be false economy.

To help make things a little easier we offer:

Home visits
Out of hours appointments
Off street parking
Disabled parking and facilities

We promise to be up front about our costs and we will also discuss what payment methods are available. We understand that the costs for legal services can be a real worry for clients so click on Legal Fees to find out more.

In keeping with the SRA's Transparency Rules we are happy to provide further information concerning the costs of different types of wills, dealing with various estate and probate matters as well as setting in place plans for later life.

Single basic (straightforward) will - £250 plus VAT
Two basic (straightforward) mirror image wills - £400 plus VAT
Statement re Inheritance Tax claims or detialed list of personal possessions - £75 plus VAT (for one), £150 plus VAT (for two) etc.

Single codicil - £150 plus VAT
Two codicils - £250 plus VAT

Single property life interest trust will - £350 plus VAT
Two mirror image property life interest trust will - £600 plus VAT
Severance of Joint Tenancy - £150 plus VAT

Single life interest or discretionary trust will - £500 plus VAT
Two life interest or discretionary trust wills - £800 plus VAT
This includes the cost of a detailed letter of wishes relating to how the trust will operate.