News

We offer Basic Wills and Declarations of Trust for £300 inc VAT

With the current uncertainty around COVID-19, we would like to assure you that Carpenter & Co is open for business Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm.

Some of our clients have expressed concern regarding their Wills. We can confirm that we are able to provide Basic Wills without estate planning/Inheritance Tax advice at a fixed fee of £300 (inc 20% VAT).

(We also provide basic Declarations of Trust for the same fixed fee of £300 inc VAT.)

We strongly recommend that temporary Wills be reviewed as soon as restrictions on isolation and social distancing are lifted. If you need a more comprehensive Will then we can do that at an hourly rate and will provide an estimate on request. Please send your Will enquires to wills@carpenterssolicitors.co.uk.

However, please do not attend our office unless we ask you to.

Statement on COVID-19

In light of rising concerns surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to assure you that Carpenter & Co is committed to maintaining business operations as usual. Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our clients and staff. With this in mind, we wanted to let you know what we are doing to keep everyone as safe as possible during this time.

We are not accepting “walk-ins” and we are not arranging face-to-face meetings. We have however the technology to have meetings via telephone conferencing and video calls.

What else are we doing?

• Our lawyers and staff are working from home wherever possible. Our operating model supports remote working. We are confident that clients will continue to be well served with limited disruption and delay;
• We are using digital technologies that support an enhanced connected experience;
• Our offices are no longer open to the public;
• No face-to-face meetings will take place at our offices;
• Regular updates for staff on government and company guidelines;
• Admin staff come in to the office as much as necessary to check the post and support our lawyers so they carry on working from home; and
• We are communicating regularly with staff as their welfare is our primary concern.

We are also able to advise clients in respect of the legal challenges they face due to COVID-19. So if you do need help, please give us a call on 020 8669 5145 or drop us an email at covid-19@carpenterssolicitors.co.uk.

Some of our clients have also used this opportunity to attend to legal matters that have been hanging over their heads, such as finalising their Wills, LPA’s, estate planning, cohabitation agreements, etc. If you need any assistance on any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact Luiza Lobo or Taynia Pemberton in our Private Client Team.

Our primary focus is to support our staff and to continue delivering the needs of our clients. We will continue to update you on developments at the earliest and most appropriate opportunity, and we would ask that you work with us during this time.

We are conscious that you are likely to be receiving a high volume of communications about COVID-19, but we hope the above provides you with the re-assurance that we can continue to partner together uninterrupted during this challenging time. If you have any further questions, please email Sue McCormack who will respond to you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Paul Verlander
Senior Partner
Carpenter & Co

A Chilling Forecast: England and Wales to See a Sharp Rise in Probate Fees from April 2019

The Government has announced major changes to probate fees, which means applications for a Grant of Probate may cost some families £6,000 or more – unless the estate is worth less than £50,000, in which case no fee will be payable on application.

Currently, probate fees – paid when administering someone’s estate after they die – are fixed at £0 for estates worth £5,000 or less and £215 (or £155 when applying through a solicitor) for estates valued over £5,000.

The good news is that the £0 fee threshold is set to extend to estates worth up to £50,000 from April 2019, which means that approximately 25,000 estates per year will be exempt from paying probate fees to the Probate Registry.

The bad news, however, is that if the estate’s value is higher than £50,000, applicants will see a sharp increase in probate fees. Estates that are worth between £50,000 and £300,000 will be charged £250, while estates with a value of £300,000 or more will be charged on a sliding scale up to a maximum charge of £6,000 for estates worth £2 million or more.

These changes could also prove challenging for executors if the deceased was ‘capital rich but cash poor’ meaning they had little money in their bank account but significant wealth tied up in property or investments which cannot be accessed until the Grant of Probate has been obtained. On a practical note this means that unless funds are freed to cover the probate costs the executors will have to pay the fees personally.

See also:

https://www.ft.com/content/fa2ba466-e365-11e8-a6e5-792428919cee

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/government-resurrects-probate-fee-hikes-but-bows-to-pressure-over-richest-estates/5068207.article