Planning Today for Peace of Mind Tomorrow

Planning ahead provides peace of mind for you and security for your loved ones. Our specialist team offers straightforward advice and full support with wills, probate and estate administration, ensuring everything is handled with care and clarity.


Wills Explained

In England and Wales, if you pass away without a legally valid will, you’re deemed to have died intestate. This triggers the application of intestacy rules outlined in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925), as amended, governing the distribution of your estate (comprising money, property, and possessions). In cases where you have no family to inherit your estate, the entirety of it will be allocated to the crown.
 
Owning property or having familial responsibilities underscores the importance of safeguarding family assets. This ensures future security, a reliable income, and facilitates the swift and unhindered transfer of assets to your beneficiaries.
 
Even if you currently possess minimal property or funds, it doesn’t negate the potential existence of an estate in the future. Inheritance or monetary gains may alter your financial landscape. Thus, drafting a will becomes crucial, delineating the disposition of your estate to encompass any future acquisitions of money or property.

How It Works

A will serves as a legal instrument that dictates the distribution of your estate upon your demise. Within a will, you can stipulate:

  • Guardianship for any underage children.
  • Appointment of trusted individuals (executors) to execute your will’s directives.
  • Beneficiaries, including individuals or charities, entitled to your estate.
  • Specific bequests or monetary amounts.
  • Establishment of trusts within the will to safeguard assets.
  • Expression of funeral preferences.

What is probate

In England and Wales, if you pass away without a legally valid will, you’re deemed to have died intestate. This triggers the application of intestacy rules outlined in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925), as amended, governing the distribution of your estate (comprising money, property, and possessions). In cases where you have no family to inherit your estate, the entirety of it will be allocated to the crown.

Owning property or having familial responsibilities underscores the importance of safeguarding family assets. This ensures future security, a reliable income, and facilitates the swift and unhindered transfer of assets to your beneficiaries.

Even if you currently possess minimal property or funds, it doesn’t negate the potential existence of an estate in the future. Inheritance or monetary gains may alter your financial landscape. Thus, drafting a will becomes crucial, delineating the disposition of your estate to encompass any future acquisitions of money or property.

Simple probate service

  • We check the validity of the will and if there is no will apply the rules of intestacy to identify the correct beneficiaries and identify the personal representatives who would be named on the grant.
  • Calculate the value of the estate taking into account any relevant reliefs or exemptions, calculate the inheritance tax owed, ensure payment of it, and calculate any transfer of the Nil Rate Band and then complete the IHT 205 or IHT 400
  • Prepare and submit the grant of probate application.
  • Once the grant is received you would then deal with the estate and call in any money due, pay any debts, take any corrective action if the value of the estate has changed and it affects any inheritance tax payments and distribute the estate.

Full Probate Services

If you require our full probate service we would essentially take over the entire estate and probate. We would:

  • We check the validity of the will and if there is no will apply the rules of intestacy to identify the correct beneficiaries and identify the personal representatives who would be named on the grant.
  • Place statutory adverts to establish where there are any claims against the estate.
  • Identify and contact all financial institutions and organisations relevant to the estate and confirm the death to them by sending certified copies of the death certificate and obtain the information required in establishing the value of the estate. We would also confirm that all correspondence should come to us.
  • Calculate the value of the estate taking into account any relevant reliefs or exemptions, calculate the inheritance tax owed, ensure payment of it, and calculate any transfer of the Nil Rate Band and then complete the IHT 205 or IHT 400
  • Prepare and submit the grant of probate application.
  • Once probate has been granted, we would send certified copies of the same to the relevant institutions and call in all funds due to the estate.
  • We would then pay any liabilities due from the estate.
  • The draft estate accounts would then be drafted and sent to ethe executors for approval.
  • We would conduct all correspondence with HMRC in relation to the tax forms.
  • If any joint property needs transferring, or if property needs to be transferred into beneficiary names, or if property needs to be sold, we could arrange for this, though this would incur additional fees.
  • We would then finalise the estate accounts and take any corrective action needed in relation to the inheritance tax calculation.
  • We could then either transfer the finalised estate to the executors to distribute or we could distribute the estate as per the wills or rules of intestacy.
  • The specifics of what is required will be discussed at the initial appointment.

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Over the years we have picked up a few awards.

ESTAS Awards 2024
ESTAS Awards 2024
ESTAS Awards 2024
ESTAS Awards 2024
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Leap Modern Law
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Leap Modern Law
Client Relationship Team of the Year
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Customer Service Award 2023
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Young Conveyancer of the year 2019
ESTAS Awards 2024
What Our Clients Say...

I was very sceptical with the conveyancing process when we first instructed AConveyancing due to hearing a lot of horror stories about conveyancing companies! However, I genuinely believe I had an excellent experience with AConveyancing, in particular our lovely solicitor Grace who was always on hand to guide us through the process and answer any questions we had. As first time buyers, the process is very daunting, I had no idea of the process however, Grace made it very easy to navigate through with her professionalism and expertise in the industry. Thank you Grace for helping us secure our dream first home :)

-Faye,

I was very sceptical with the conveyancing process when we first instructed AConveyancing due to hearing a lot of horror stories about conveyancing companies! However, I genuinely believe I had an excellent experience with AConveyancing, in particular our lovely solicitor Grace who was always on hand to guide us through the process and answer any questions we had. As first time buyers, the process is very daunting, I had no idea of the process however, Grace made it very easy to navigate through with her professionalism and expertise in the industry. Thank you Grace for helping us secure our dream first home :)

-Faye,