Probate Solicitors in Cardiff

HCB Solicitors are specialists in Wills & Probate Administration. Our dedicated team in Cardiff can offer various fixed price packages to assist with your needs. We understand that this can be a difficult time and we are ready to help every step of the way.

Please click on the links below or read down for more information:

What is Probate?
Our Probate Service
Our Costs
Property

What is Probate?

Probate is the legal term that is used to describe the dealing with or administration of someone’s affairs after they have passed away. You may often hear the term ‘Grant of Probate’ being used when probate is being discussed. The Grant is the order of the court that grants the power to an executor or appointed individual to deal with the estate. Without this, the person trying to deal with the estate will not be recognised by banks, building societies or the land registry as having the power to act. As such, this order is normally required to be obtained before any estate assets can be dealt with.

Who can obtain the Grant?

Where there is a will in place, the grant is obtained by the person (sometimes more than one) who has been named as the executor in the will. If there is no will, then the next of kin will be able to apply.

When will I need the Grant of Probate?

The Grant will be needed when any assets are sold or realised (ie bank accounts closed). Banks, Building Societies, The Land Registry and Share Registrars will not deal with you unless a Grant of Probate is produced to them. As such, if there is any land/property in the estate or assets of significant financial value then a Grant of Probate will be required.

What are my legal duties once I am named on a Grant of Probate?

Once you have applied and been named on a Grant of Probate you will then be the court appointed Personal Representative of the estate. This carried a large legal responsibility to ensure that the estate is administered correctly in accordance with the Will or the rules of intestacy (these are the rules of estate division when there is no Will).

You will need to-

Obtain precise valuations of all estate assets.
Collect all assets once a Grant has been obtained always ensuring that the best possible value has been realised.
Ensure that all gifts or asset transfers made by the deceased in the last 7 years of their life have been properly documented and accounted for.
Deal with all inheritance tax matters and capital gains tax matters if applicable.
Pay all debts and liabilities of the estate during the administration.
Prepare estate accounts strictly in accordance with the Will or rules of intestacy.
Distribute the estate strictly in accordance with the Will or rules of intestacy.

Our Probate Service

We understand the need to be flexible with our legal services. As such, we can tailor our service to your needs. We offer different types of packages to assist you throughout the steps of estate administration.

Our full service includes:-

We will communicate with all beneficiaries, executors and interested parties.
We will indentify all assets of the estate and arrange for final valuations to be carried out.
Assess the will (if any) and provide advice to the executors on the content of the will.
Provide advice to the executors on the rules of intestacy if there is no will.
Pay off any debts and liabilities of the estate including inheritance tax.
Compile all paperwork in relation to obtaining the grant of probate, inheritance tax or capital gains tax.
Obtain the grant of probate.
Dispose of any assets of the estate including shares, property (see property section for more detail) or possessions with value.
Produce estate accounts.
Produce distribution accounts in accordance with the Will.
Distribute the estate.

Our partial service includes:-

We will indentify all assets of the estate and arrange for final valuations to be carried out.
Compile all paperwork in relation to obtaining the grant of probate, inheritance tax or capital gains tax.
Obtain the grant of probate.

The above two packages encompass what the majority of our clients need. However, if you would like to discuss different options then please feel free to contact us for a free initial consultation.

Our Costs

We offer a guaranteed fixed fee service for our Probate customers. In order for us to assess your case for you and provide a fixed cost quotation we will require you to attend a free consultation at our offices. This can also be done over the phone but we strongly recommended a face to face meeting where the Will can also be examined in person. Following the consultation, a no obligation fixed fee quote will be provided to you.

During our assessment of your case, the following matters will be considered-

The complexity of the matter.
The total value of the estate.
The number of different assets involved and required to be dealt with.
The skill, specialist knowledge and time that will be required.

By using the above method of assessment we believe that we can provide reasonable and extremely competitive fixed fees. For more information or to book your free initial consultation please contact us on the details above.

Property

Our Conveyancing department is also based in our Cardiff office. As such, if the estate contains a property then this can be dealt with by the same team that deals with your estate administration. The costs can be fixed into your initial quote to give you ultimate peace of mind when choosing our services.

Our Conveyancing team has expertise in the following areas:-