Wills, Probate and Lasting Powers of Attorney

Most families meet these in the same order: a will while you are well, a lasting power of attorney when you start thinking about what happens if you are not, and probate when someone else has died. They are separate jobs with separate fees, and you do not need all three at once.

If someone has died, you are looking for probate. The first decision is whether to instruct us for the grant alone and administer the estate yourself, or hand us the whole thing. That choice turns on what the estate contains rather than what it is worth, and it makes a substantial difference to the cost. If the estate includes a house to sell, our conveyancing team handles probate sales in-house.

If you are making or updating a will, the question worth answering first is whether your circumstances are the kind where a template does the job. The short version: second marriages, unmarried couples, property held as tenants in common, children under 18, a business, foreign property, or a beneficiary on means-tested benefits. Any one of those and you want it drafted properly. Marriage also revokes an existing will, so if there is a wedding coming, deal with the will after it or have it drafted in contemplation of that marriage.

If you are planning for losing capacity, that is a lasting power of attorney, and it does for your lifetime what a will does after it. There are two types, property and financial affairs, and health and welfare, and most people should make both. You can only make one while you still have capacity, and it cannot be used until the Office of the Public Guardian has registered it. Without one, your family faces a Court of Protection deputyship application to do things as ordinary as paying your bills.

If you are thinking about inheritance tax, that is estate planning, and it is the one area here where timing genuinely matters: most of what can be done has to be done years before it takes effect.

Wills and lasting powers of attorney are fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start. Probate is charged either at an hourly rate or at 1% of the estate, and we agree which with you at the outset. Our rates, worked examples, the court fees and the disbursements are all published so you can compare us against anyone else before you call.

We act from 47 High Street, Maidenhead, for clients across Berkshire and, on probate and wills, across England and Wales. Home visits are available where getting to the office is difficult, and we work by video appointment otherwise.

Call 01628 777233 or email enquire@jscottlegal.co.uk. J Scott Legal is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 621898.