Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

[charitynjw]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tax/news/...-cost-probate/

How much will probate cost your estate?

Up to £50,000 or exempt from requiring a grant of probate	58pc	£0
£50,000 - £300,000	23pc	£300
£300,000 - £500,000	11pc	£1,000
£500,000 - £1m	6pc	£4,000
£1m - £1.6m	1pc	£8,000
£1.6m - £2m	0.3pc	£12,000
Above £2m	0.5pc	£20,000

Ministry of Justice

[Peridot]

Re: Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

I believe there is a challenge to this as it has been indicated the amounts are effectively another death duty and therefore would not be allowed. Watch this space would be appropriate I think.

[enaid]

Re: Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/exp...roperty-estate

[Peridot]

Re: Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

The fee is meant to reflect the cost for the Court in dealing with the paperwork, I wish it were possible to be paid £20,000 to do some admin! (well I don't actually, it is just plain wrong but that's my opinion).
It is ridiculous and unfair to everyone. As lawyers we jumped up and down when the last fees were increased to £245. Solicitors can only charge £5 (plus £2 for each additional document attached when performing a swear of an Oath, which is set out in a statutory instrument. The Probate Registry charge is about £13 if you go there to swear the Oath. None of it is right. Blimey another little rant. Sorry peeps

[enaid]

Re: Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

We were charged £14 for the oath and also

Currently, probate fees are £215 per personal application, irrespective of the size of the estate concerned. For applications made through a solicitor, the rate is set at £155.

Why is it £60 more for for Joe public to apply? same forms, same info, maybe it's so the sols fees don't seem OTT which of course they very often are.

[enaid]

Re: Probate cost increase (up to £20,000)

U-turn

Controversial plans to raise the legal fees payable after death are to be scrapped ahead of the general election.
Probate fees had been due to rise from £155 or £215 to up to £20,000 for some estates in England and Wales from May.
The Ministry of Justice said there was now not enough time for the legislation - dubbed a "stealth death tax" by critics - to go through Parliament.
A senior Conservative declined to say if the scheme would be brought back if the prime minister was re-elected.
Probate charges are paid to the government when someone dies and the executor of their estate gathers their assets to distribute to beneficiaries of a will.
Currently, there is a flat fee of either £155 or £215 per application for probate, depending on whether or not the application is made through a solicitor.
There is no fee paid for estates worth under £5,000.
Legal move?

Under the proposed changes, this system would have been replaced by a sliding fee scale linked to the value of the estate.
Thousands of people would have faced sharp jumps in probate costs as a result.
Estates worth more than £50,000 and up to £300,000 would have attracted fees of £300, rising to £20,000 for those valued at more than £2m.
Earlier this month, a committee of MPs and peers questioned whether the changes were legal, adding that the new charges "appear... to have the hallmarks of taxes rather than fees".
The fees had been earmarked to raise around £300m a year towards running the courts and tribunal service.
The new system would also have seen the threshold below which no fee was payable increased from £5,000 to £50,000, lifting an estimated additional 25,000 estates per year out of the requirement to pay a probate fee

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39663204