We aim to deliver a professional service which achieves your aims whilst being transparent about our pricing structure.

 

Our focus is on providing excellent value for money whilst providing a personal touch to our service.

Funding Options

There are a number of ways to fund our services and we will aim to provide a funding package for you which is suitable for particular circumstances. We are not obliged to offer any particular method of funding and some methods of funding may only be available in cases where we assess that the case is suitable for both you and us.

Typically, the funding options we can consider are:

 

Fixed Fee

We may agree to charge you a fixed fee for a particular matter, or part of a matter. Our charge will not be relevant to the time we spend on the matter albeit an estimate of the likely time we spend on a matter will be used as the basis for setting the fee.

We may set a number of fixed fees relevant to a matter to fix a fee for a particular matter in the transaction or dispute. By way of example, we may agree a fixed fee to review your prospects of success and provide an advice on this.

Typically, many of our services offered for Wills, Probate and Estate Planning are on a fixed fee basis as explained below.

 

Private Retainer

You will pay us for our charges based on an hourly rate set in our retainer. We will provide you with an estimate of fees from time to time but our charges will be based on the amount of time we spend on your matter.

Our standard hourly rates are dependent on the qualification and experience of the fee earner dealing with the matter.

Grade of Fee Earner	Hourly Rate
Grade A Any Solicitor of Legal Executive with over 8 years PQE. Grade a will include Directory	£250 per hour plus VAT
Grade B Any Solicitor or Legal Executive with more than 4 year’s PQE but less than 8 year’s PQE. Any other fee earner with more than 4 years experience.	£200 per hour plus VAT
Grade C Any Solicitor or Legal Executive with less than 4 years PQE. Any other fee earner with more than 1 year but less than 4 years experience. Trainee Solicitors shall be regarded as Grade C if they have more than 2 years experience prior to commencement of the training contract.	£175 per hour plus VAT
Grade D Any Trainee Solicitor or other fee earner with less than 1 year’s experience.	£135 per hour plus VAT

 

An estimate of our charges on a Private Retainer are detailed below.

 

Estimate of Fees

We have provided two examples of fees below based on different styles of funding.

 

Fixed Fee

Most of our services are provided on a Fixed Fee basis and our Fixed Fees are detailed below. In some circumstances, where your estate planning is particularly complex or high value, it may be more appropriate to instruct us on a private retainer.

 

Our standard fees are:

 

Services – Wills and Probate	£(+VAT)
Single Standard Will	£180.00
Single Will (Non-Standard)	Price from £250
Mirror Wills (Standard)	£280.00
Mirror Wills (Non-Standard)	Price from £400.00
Single Standard Codicil	£100.00
Mirror Codicils (Standard)	£175.00
Mirror Wills with half house to children on first death and Severance of Joint Tenancy & Advice	£500.00
Severance of Joint Tenancy and Advice	£500.00 (iii)
Single Will with Discretionary Trust (i)	Price from £400.00
Mirror Wills with Discretionary Trust (i)	Price from £650.00
Single Will with Trust for Disabled Child (ii)	£350.00
Mirror Wills with Trust for Disabled Child (ii)	£500.00
Letter of Wishes (in addition to a Will or Trust)	£100-150
Cost of Care Advice	Price from £280.00
Inheritance Tax Advice	Price from £300.00
Severance of Joint Tenancy only	£175.00
Removal of a restriction	Price from £150.00 (iii)
Living Will (Advanced Directive) Single	£150.00
Living Wills (Advanced Directives) Pair	£200.00
Change of name deed	£150.00
Declaration of Trust	Price from £500.00
Lifetime Discretionary Trust	Price from £1000.00
Personal Injury Trust	Price from £500.00
Bare Trust (Iifetime)	Price from £750.00
FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH WILL REVIEW IF APPLICABLE (30 MINS) FREE STORAGE OF WILLS, LPAs, DECLARATION OF TRUSTS AND UNREGSITERED TITLE DEEDS
Powers of Attorney
General Power of Attorney (v)	Price from 200.00
Single Lasting Power of Attorney with certificate ONLY (no registration)	£300.00
Two Lasting Powers of Attorney with certificate ONLY (no registration)	£400.00
Single Lasting Power of Attorney with certificate and Registration (vi)	£500.00 (vii)
Two Lasting Powers of Attorney with certificate and Registration (vi)	£700.00 (vii)
Four Lasting Powers of Attorney with certificate and Registration (vi)	£1,000 (vii)
Registration of an Enduring Power of Attorney	£450.00 (vii)
Registration of a Lasting Power of Attorney	£350.00 (vii)
Provision of a certificate ONLY	£250.00
Court of Protection Applications	Costs to be advised during consultation
Probate
Application for Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration – ONLY with IHT205 Simple	Price from £550 (iv)
Application for Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration – ONLY with IHT205 + transferable NR Allowances	Price from £650.00 (iv)
Application for Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration – ONLY with IHT400	Price From 850.00-1,400.00 (iv)
Deed of Variation	Price from £500
Full administration of the estate with Grant	Fixed fee to be advised at meeting
Full administration of the estate without Grant	Fixed fee to be advised at meeting

 

Notes

(i) This includes the Standard Will, Discretionary Trust, Provision of specialist advice and Letter of wishes

(ii) This includes the Standard Will, SND Trust, Provision of specialist advice, Letter of wishes and letter of guidance

(iii) Land Registry Fees will be in addition to our costs

(iv) Probate court fees will be in addition to our costs

(v) Our costs include up to 10 Solicitor certified copies

(vi) Our costs include two solicitor certified copies

(vii) Office of the Public Guardian fees will be in addition to our costs

 

Private Retainer

The extent of our fees will be dependent upon the amount of time we spend on your case and the level of the fee earner who has conduct of the matter.

We will allocate a fee earner of a suitable level to your case. So for example, more complex cases will ordinarily be dealt with by more senior staff.

By way of example if a case is dealt with by our Head of Department, Charlotte Bandawe, her hourly rate is £250 per hour plus VAT. If we spent 10 hours working on your file, our fees would therefore equate to £2,500 plus VAT.

 

How long will my matter take?

The length of time of your matter will depend on what steps you instruct us to take. We normally aim to draft your Will within 2-3 weeks of instruction.

If we are instructed to draft a Lasting Powers of Attorney this will also be prepared within 2-3 weeks of instruction but can take up to 6 months to register.

More complex work such as the preparation of Trusts and Probate matters will depend on a number of factors including the availability of information, documentation and your instructions.

 

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If you would like to enquire about any of our Wills and Probate services, call us now on 0113 200 9720 or email us at enquiries@oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk.