B
bourke155
Guest
Hi All,
I am looking for some advice regarding the typical fee charged in relation to my recently deceased fathers estate. We recently met with my fathers solicitor where his will was filed and proceeded with the necessary steps to sort out his estate. He left a valid will with my mother being executrix and sole beneficiary and no one contesting the will. The estate was small - family home, bank a/c and post office savings and no debts associated with the estate.
To make it as easy as possible we provided the solicitor with everything from PAYE details, death certificates, birth and marraige certs, bank and post account details, share certificates and house deeds. Foolishly at the time we did not enquiry about fees, however we have received a bill for E4,500 + 21.5% vat. The solicitor gave a break down of the fees
- Valuing the assets as of the date of death - house valuation (e300)
- Completing an Inland Revenue Affidavit and having it certified by the Revenue Commissioners.
-Lodging an application with the Probate Office for grant of probate.
- Probate fees (e195) and oath of commissioners fees(e150).
the above is a brief breakdown, but we are shocked with the fee charges as we would have thought the process was very straight forward and a simple task, bearing in mind very little tax work required and with everything left to our mother no inheritance tax implications.
The bulk of the estate was the family home valued at 275k and savings of approx 150k.
- Are we in a position to negoitate the above fee now ?
- Where in the process could we halt proceedings with the solicitor, I believe we have to sign doucementation for the Inland Revenue Affidavit, does this mean that the Grant of probate work will not be carried out yet, so we could negoitate a bill for completing the In Land Revenue work only?
- Can the family home be excluded from the estate valuation ?
- What are the implications if some savings in sole name of my father ? Majority of savings in joint name, is it necessary to obtain a grant of probate if savings in joint names ?
- Is it necessary to complete grant of probate, not sure if the family home is in joint names are in our fathers name only. Will this make a difference as my mother intends to live out the rest of her days there.
Many thanks and apologies for such a long thread, I suppose at the time of visiting the solicitor we should have done research, but believing it was a straight foward will, didn't think of th cost implications.
Kind Regards
I am looking for some advice regarding the typical fee charged in relation to my recently deceased fathers estate. We recently met with my fathers solicitor where his will was filed and proceeded with the necessary steps to sort out his estate. He left a valid will with my mother being executrix and sole beneficiary and no one contesting the will. The estate was small - family home, bank a/c and post office savings and no debts associated with the estate.
To make it as easy as possible we provided the solicitor with everything from PAYE details, death certificates, birth and marraige certs, bank and post account details, share certificates and house deeds. Foolishly at the time we did not enquiry about fees, however we have received a bill for E4,500 + 21.5% vat. The solicitor gave a break down of the fees
- Valuing the assets as of the date of death - house valuation (e300)
- Completing an Inland Revenue Affidavit and having it certified by the Revenue Commissioners.
-Lodging an application with the Probate Office for grant of probate.
- Probate fees (e195) and oath of commissioners fees(e150).
the above is a brief breakdown, but we are shocked with the fee charges as we would have thought the process was very straight forward and a simple task, bearing in mind very little tax work required and with everything left to our mother no inheritance tax implications.
The bulk of the estate was the family home valued at 275k and savings of approx 150k.
- Are we in a position to negoitate the above fee now ?
- Where in the process could we halt proceedings with the solicitor, I believe we have to sign doucementation for the Inland Revenue Affidavit, does this mean that the Grant of probate work will not be carried out yet, so we could negoitate a bill for completing the In Land Revenue work only?
- Can the family home be excluded from the estate valuation ?
- What are the implications if some savings in sole name of my father ? Majority of savings in joint name, is it necessary to obtain a grant of probate if savings in joint names ?
- Is it necessary to complete grant of probate, not sure if the family home is in joint names are in our fathers name only. Will this make a difference as my mother intends to live out the rest of her days there.
Many thanks and apologies for such a long thread, I suppose at the time of visiting the solicitor we should have done research, but believing it was a straight foward will, didn't think of th cost implications.
Kind Regards