Probate Service

Since 2014, some accountants have been able to offer probate services previously only carried out by solicitors. Dean Howard & Co Probate Limited are authorised and regulated by CILEx Regulation as a CILEx-ACCA Probate Entity (3002072) to carry out non contentious probate services in England and Wales. There are several advantages to using us for probate services because we have detailed knowledge of clients’ finances and assets. It is cost effective to use accountants due to their knowledge of the clients’ tax and financial affairs and it’s expertise in completing the necessary tax forms. We understand how difficult it can be to handle a deceased’s legal and financial affairs, particularly at a time when you are likely to be coming to terms with the death of someone close. We are here to help you every step of the way.

We provide advice and assistance in connection with the whole probate process and can act as professional executors and administrators of the estate. We deal with the administration of a deceased person’s estate from registering the death to negotiating any final settlements of tax with HMRC and distribution of assets.

Dean Howard & Co Probate Limited are authorised and regulated by CILEx Regulation as a CILEx-ACCA Probate Entity (3002072) to provide probate legal services. If we carry out both probate/letters of administration work and estate administration work, we are authorised and regulated by CILEx Regulation for the probate work alone. The administration of estate work will be carried out by our accountancy firm, Dean Howard & Co Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the ACCA. You can talk to us if you need more information about this.

Dean Dairo is authorised as a CILEX Practitioner (ACCA Probate) and is therefore authorised to provide reserve probate work under the Legal Services Act 2007. Where he is supported in this work by other members of the team he supervises the undertaking of this work.

Our services

Dean Howard & Co Probate Limited, CILEx-ACCA Probate Entity will provide the following services:

1. Send notifications of death to the relevant government organisations, financial institutions, utility providers etc.
2. Ensure the validity of the will, codicils and legacies.
3. Identify the beneficiaries based on the provided information.
4. Advise whether a grant is required.
5. Place statutory notices in The Gazette and a local newspaper.
6. Prepare and take any appropriate oaths.
7. Prepare the application for a grant of probate or grant of administration.
8. Completing the statement of truth for Probate Registry
9. Submit application for the grant of probate to the Probate Registry
10. Obtain additional copies of the grant of probate or grant of administration.

Dean Howard & Co Limited, accountancy firm will provide the following services if instructed to administer the estate:

1. Obtain a valuation of the estate.
2. Finalise the income tax and capital gains tax position of the deceased for the tax year.
3. Calculate the inheritance tax if applicable.
4. Take control and gather the assets of the estate.
5. Pay debts of the estate, including tax liabilities.
6. Finalise the estate tax.
7. Pay any legacies.
8. Transfer the remaining balance to the residuary beneficiaries.
9. Prepare the estate accounts.

Full administration of decease estate involves:

1. Obtaining valuations for the deceased’s assets and establishing all debts
2. Co-ordinating property and asset insurance
3. Calculating the total value of the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes
4. Completing the required IHT 205 or IHT400 tax return
5. Co-ordination of the payment of Inheritance Tax liabilities and liaising with HMRC
6. Completing the statement of truth for Probate Registry
7. Applying for the grant of representation (a grant of probate where the deceased left a valid will or if not, a grant of letters of administration)
8. Administering the estate (gathering in the assets and settling the debts of the deceased)
9. Paying legacies/ transferring property
10. Dealing with Income and Capital Gains Tax liabilities of the estate
11. Preparing the estate accounts
12. Distributing the assets to the beneficiaries.

Pricing

Our charges for the full administration of estate:

Application for grant of representation only

If we are only applying for the Grant of Representation because you are going to identify the assets and liabilities within the estate, we shall be happy to prepare the paperwork needed to apply for the Grant. If all information about the estate will be provided by you, our fixed costs for this are:

Completion of form IHT 205 and statement of truth £600.00 Plus Vat (£720.00)
Completion of form IHT400 and statement of truth £850.00 Plus VAT (£1,020.00)
together with any other charges incurred that are listed below under the heading of disbursements which are payable in addition to our fees.

Disbursements

There are fees that are payable to third parties for other services that may be provided. You may encounter the following charges:
1.Probate Application Fee £300.00 if the estate is over £5,000.00
2. Official Copies of the Grant of Probate £1.50 per copy
3. Advertisement in the Official Gazette From £110.00

4. Advertisement in Local Paper From £80.00 + VAT (£96.00)
5. Bankruptcy Search Fee (per person) £3.00
6. Land Registry Search Fee Between £6.00 and £40.00
7. Fee for the valuation of the property £360.00
8. Fee for the sale of the property £2,500.00 + VAT (£,3000.00)

A typical example of charges with an estate valued at £500,000 will result in an estimated fees quoted below:

The likely disbursements we will incur on your behalf, and likely expenses in the course of carrying out our work for you are below. These will be added to our invoices where appropriate, unless agreed otherwise:

The exact cost will depend on your specific circumstances. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end. If there are several beneficiaries, property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

Probate is not always required in every case. If the deceased had assets below £15,000 most banks will release assets subject to the completion of a small estates form. Assets held in joint names will also not need probate.

You will definitely need probate in the following circumstances:

• to sell or transfer land or property
• to collect shares
• to make a claim on behalf of an estate eg medical negligence
• to claim under a life insurance policy
• to collect assets in a bank account if £30,000 or more

We can act as professional executors or work with the named executors in your will.

How long this type of service takes:

• On average, for simple cases we will try and conclude the estate administration within 6 – 12 months of being instructed.
• We allow 3-4 months for obtaining the Grant of Representation from the point we are instructed.
• Collecting assets then follows, which can take a further 3–4 months.
• Once this has been done, distribution of the assets normally takes a further 3-4 months.

The above time estimates are for guidance only and vary depending upon the work involved.
Large and /or more complex estates will take longer to conclude as there will likely be inheritance tax issues which will require us to liaise with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
HMRC can take up to 6 months to finalise their own position on an estate, and this increases the time it will take for us to conclude the estate administration.
Where there are one or more properties in an estate that need to be sold, there might be a delay if a buyer is not found quickly.

Insurance

We are required to have professional indemnity insurance which covers all the work we provide. This ensures that you do not lose out financially in the unlikely event that our firm makes a mistake. The professional indemnity insurance covers work carried out by Dean Howard & Co Limited and Dean Howard & Co Probate Limited and is provided by Allianz Insurance plc.

Complaint Handling Procedure

Here at Dean Howard & Co Probate Limited we aim to provide high quality service to all our clients at all times, so if you have any concerns, please contact the individual managing your matter as soon as these arise so that they can be addressed promptly. If this does not address the issue to your satisfaction, you can raise a formal complaint, by contacting Mr Dean Dairo:

• Telephone on 0207 476 8401
• Letter: Unit F55, Expressway Studios, 1 Dock Road, London E16 1AH
• Email: dean@deanhowardco.com

To help us understand your complaint and to ensure we do not miss any relevant information, please provide your full name and contact details, and information about what you think has gone wrong and when this occurred.

All complaints will be acknowledged by email within four working days, so that you have confirmation that your complaint is being investigated. We will then investigate your complaint, which will involve reviewing the file and speaking to relevant members of staff. We may need further information from you and will contact you if this is necessary. If appropriate we may invite you to a meeting to discuss the complaint. You would not be required to attend if you do not wish to, and we would be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone if you prefer.

At the end of our investigation, we will provide you with a written response detailing our findings and outlining what action we propose to take. We aim to do this within 28 days of receiving your complaint but will advise you in advance if this period needs to be extended. Upon receipt of our letter detailing the outcome of our investigation and our proposed action, we would ask that within 14 days you contact us to either inform us:

That you are satisfied with the action that has been taken and that we can therefore close the complaint, or
That you are dissatisfied with what is proposed.

Where you are dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, we will carry out a further review of the complaint and consider any new information, if there is any. We will aim to do this within 14 days and then provide you with a final written response to your complaint detailing the findings and proposed action.

Legal Ombudsman

If your complaint relates to the service we have provided and you are still not satisfied with the outcome in our final written response to you or we have not provided a final written response to your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving it, then you may be able to have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints relating to poor service, but before accepting a complaint for investigation the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, and you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and
• No more than one year from the date of the act / omission that gave rise to the complaint; or
• No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman also publishes on its website decision data on the action it has taken against law firms in the last twelve months, this information is listed by the name of the firm in alphabetical order and can be found on their website https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk On their website type ‘Decision data’ into the search facility on the homepage and it will take you to the relevant page: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/data-centre/ombudsman-decision-data/

The legal Ombudsman can be contacted by:

• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email on enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
• Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

CILEx Regulation

As the firm is authorised by the CILEx Regulation, if your complaint relates to the misconduct of a CILEX member or CILEX Practitioner (ACCA Probate), you can refer your complaint free of charge to CILEx Regulation for them to investigate. Misconduct is defined as any breach of the CILEX Code of Conduct: 2.-Code-of-Conduct-2019.pdf (cilexregulation.org.uk). Misconduct complaints must be made within 12 months of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint or within 12 months of the complainant having knowledge of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint, whichever is the greater. CILEx Regulation can be contacted by:

• Telephone: 01234 845770
• Email on info@cilexregulation.org.uk
• Website: https://cilexregulation.org.uk
• Post: Room 301, Endeavour House, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire, MK45 4HS.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies such as ProMediate of Brow Farm, Top Road, Frodsham WA6 6SP, www.prometiate.co.uk exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. Currently we do not agree to using an ADR scheme as we believe our own inhouse investigation supported where necessary by that provided by the Legal Ombudsman and CILEx Regulation is sufficient.