Excellent Fixed-Fee Bespoke Will Writing Services
Posted on 2nd December 2021
Our specialist Wills and Probate solicitors in Preston discuss our extensive services, and how we can help you today at a fixed-fee rate.
At MG Legal, we offer excellent fixed fee services, including Will writing services, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Probate applications. With over 10 years’ legal experience in her field, Lorraine Gill and the Wills and Probate team are on hand to assist with your legal matter.
Will Writing Services:
As a firm, we think it’s important to offer an affordable and personal service. With this in mind, we offer fixed-fees, on bespoke Wills, prepared by our experts.
A common misconception that some people have is that a Will is something they can simply write themselves without taking legal advice. After all, they know what they want to happen after their death. However, it is not always that straight forward and our role in Will drafting is to ensure that you receive bespoke legal advice, tailored to your personal circumstances in respect of family arrangements, inheritance tax and other personal considerations. Ultimately your Will should incorporate all the relevant provisions to ensure that your wishes are effectively carried out after your death. You won’t be around to tell people what your wishes are, so your Will can leave nothing to chance, or interpretation, when you are gone.
Many online Will-writing companies offer budget Wills at a cost of £40, or sometimes even less, whereby you submit some basic information and receive a completed, ‘one size fits all’, Will which could create a whole host of issues, for instance Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims, accidental exclusion of intended beneficiaries and no provision for your closest loved ones. These are matters which our expert team would be able to advise you on prior to you putting pen to paper and signing your final Will.
Another common issue with do-it-yourself Wills is that there is a risk they may be incorrectly signed and/or dated, or the witnesses do not sign correctly, all of which could invalidate the document, rendering it, to coin a common phrase, “not worth the paper it’s written on”.
Our bespoke Will writing service is offered on a fixed fee basis, and our fees are tiered depending on the provisions to be included in your Will.
From 1 st December, our new prices for drafting your Will are as follows:-
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Type of Will: |
Price (all prices are plus VAT, charged at 20%) |
|
A single Will (for one person): including a 30-minute appointment, drafting your Will, and an appointment to attend your local office to sign the final document. |
From £175 |
|
Mirror Wills: all of the above, for two people, who are spouses, civil partners, partners or co-habitees. |
From £325 |
|
Will incorporating Trust provisions for a single person: all of the above, plus advice in relation to the trust provisions and a letter of wishes (if required). |
£450 |
|
Wills incorporating Trust provisions for a couple: all of the above, plus advice in relation to the trust provisions and a letter of wishes (if required). |
£595 |
|
Statement to be prepared alongside a Will |
From £50 |
As our excellent Will drafting service is offered on a bespoke basis, there may be a Will service that you require which is not referred to above. If this is the case, we can still help; contact your local office to discuss your matter with our team, to find out how we can help you and what our fees would be.
As always, you do not have to just take our word for it. We have lots of 5-star reviews from our clients, which you can find some of online, here.
Contact our Wills & Probate specialists
Lasting Power of Attorney (LPAs):
If you are looking for assistance with LPAs, our team also offer this service on a fixed fee basis. From the first appointment, which can take place from the comfort of your own home or at your local office, our team will guide you through the process of making LPAs, before drafting the documents on your behalf, and dealing with the registration of your Lasting Power of Attorney, with the Office of the Public Guardian, making the process as stress-free for you, as possible.
Find out more about making LPAs on this section of our website, here.
In relation to our fixed fee services, from 1 st December, our fees will be as follows:
|
Lasting Powers of Attorney: |
Price (all prices are plus VAT, charged at 20%) |
|
A single LPA for one person: either a Health & Welfare LPA or a Financial Decisions LPA. |
£300 Registration fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian of up to £82 per document, unless the person making the document qualifies for a fee remission or exemption |
|
Two LPAs for one person: both Health & Welfare and Financial Decisions LPAs. |
£450 Registration fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian of up to £82 per document, unless the person making the document qualifies for a fee remission or exemption |
|
Two Lasting Powers of Attorney for two people: both Health & Welfare and Financial Decisions LPAs. |
£750 Registration fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian of up to £82 per document, unless the person making the document qualifies for a fee remission or exemption |
|
Ordinary Power of Attorney: an Ordinary Power of Attorney which can be used until the Donor loses capacity, dies or until their LPA Financial Decisions is registered. |
£150 |
|
Registration of Enduring Power of Attorney: the registration of an Enduring Power of Attorney, including drafting the application forms and notifying parties of the registration. |
£300 Registration fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian of up to £82 per document, unless the person making the document qualifies for a fee remission or exemption |
Estate administration services:
Lastly, our excellent team offer probate applications on a fixed fee basis, where no inheritance tax is payable:
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Probate applications: Initial appointment (up to one hour), preparation of the application for Probate and IHT205 form, submission of the application. |
£650 Probate application fee payable to the Probate Registry of £273 Fee of £1.50 payable to the Probate Registry for each original copy of the Grant of Representation required |
If you require assistance with the full administration of the estate, our fees will be calculated based solely upon how much work we carry out. Many firms charge a reduced hourly rate, plus a fixed percentage of the estate value (generally 1-1.5% of the value of the estate, excluding property, plus 0.5% of the property value), which means that you are paying two separate fees. However, at MG Legal, we do not feel like that is fair to our clients and truly reflective of the work required in these matters.
Therefore, our team simply charge an hourly rate of £200 plus VAT, with the final fees calculated based on the number of units of work carried out. This is fairer, and more transparent for our clients; all of whom receive regular updates on the progress of the estate administration.
Attendances, consideration of documents, and preparation of any paperwork will be calculated in increments of 6 minutes, which is classed as one unit. For example, this means that if we are in attendance with you or we are considering documents for 35 minutes, this will be 6 units.
Letters and emails sent, and telephone calls made or received will be calculated as one unit each, unless they are longer than a standard call or letter, in which case the time taken will be calculated. Letters and emails received in by our team are charged at half a unit each. One unit of work is costed at £20 plus VAT.
You will be provided with itemised bills, showing what work has been carried out throughout your matter. We will usually raise an invoice at the end of specific stages of your matter, for example, when the application for Probate is submitted, or once funds have been received into the estate.
Whilst we will endeavour to keep you informed of our costs at all stages throughout your matter, if at any point you would like to discuss your file and the fees charged, you can contact Ms Gill during her working hours.
As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executive, Lorraine’s charging rate is within the Grade A Guideline Hourly Rates, under the category, National 2, which means that she can charge up to £255 plus VAT per hour. However, our aim at MG Legal is to always be your affordable local solicitors, despite our team’s breadth of knowledge and experience, so we continue to charge less than the guideline hourly rates to ensure that our services are accessible.
In addition, with Probate administration matters, legal fees are payable from the estate, and therefore will be deducted from estate funds, once these have been received in, meaning that you do not have to pay any legal fees upfront in relation to the administration of your loved one’s estate.
To contact our team at MG Legal about assisting with your Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney or Probate matter, contact your local office or email wills@mglegal.co.uk and a member of the team will get back in touch with you within one working hour.
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