{"id":19798,"date":"2019-11-14T11:52:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T11:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=19798"},"modified":"2023-02-15T13:18:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T13:18:57","slug":"probate-fee-increases-abandoned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/probate-fee-increases-abandoned\/","title":{"rendered":"Probate fee increases abandoned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The planned reform of probate<\/a><\/span> fees in England and Wales has been scrapped. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago the\ngovernment tabled proposals to increase the level of probate fees in England\nand Wales. The idea was to move from the current single fee approach (\u00a3155 via\na solicitor \/ legal professional, \u00a3215 otherwise) to a sliding scale, based on\nestate value. For estates valued at over \u00a32 million, the fee would have\nescalated to \u00a36,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposals met with predictably heavy criticism, winning the distinction of being labelled a \u2018new death tax\u2019 in some parts of the press. Nevertheless, the government pushed ahead with draft legislation, aiming to launch the new fees from April 2019. One consequence was that solicitors and legal professionals, and others acting as executors, rushed to submit probate documentation ahead of the anticipated fee increase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a backlog built up at probate offices and HMRC, everything went strangely quiet at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). For reasons which are not entirely clear, April passed without the final stage of the legislative process being triggered. This only encouraged more rushed submissions as the new deadline was unknown. The Law Society<\/a><\/span><\/strong> noted that many solicitors and their clients were reporting a wait of much longer than the six to eight weeks timescale claimed by the MoJ for probate grants. It did not help that, coincidentally, a new administrative system for probate was being rolled out in the first half of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What finally put an end to the proposals was the (second)\nprorogation of parliament, which meant that the legislation automatically\nlapsed. While it could have been reintroduced, Brexit and an impending election\nboth provided reasons not to do so. Instead the MoJ will now undertake a wider\nreview of court fees which will involve \u201csmall adjustments to cover costs\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think that\nthe whole saga sounds eerily like something that has happened before, you are\nright. In 2016 even higher increases in probate fees were proposed (up to\n\u00a320,000), only to be abandoned in May 2017, just as the following month\u2019s\ngeneral election loomed into view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helpfully, the MoJ\u2019s announcement has indirectly highlighted the importance of having a Will<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and the time it can take to transform its contents into reality. If you don\u2019t have a Will \u2013 and over half of the adult population does not \u2013 your estate will be subject to a process very similar to probate, but with the added disadvantage that the laws of intestacy, rather than your intentions, determine its distribution. Creating a Will, and regularly reviewing it, is a bedrock of good financial planning<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At SMH Wills & Probate<\/a><\/span><\/strong> our professional legal executives and financial planners are on hand to help with Will drafting and estate planning<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. Drop us a line on 0114 266 4432<\/strong> or info@smhca.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/strong> to arrange a no obligation meeting today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The planned reform of probate fees in England and Wales has been scrapped. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[183,92,77,11,400,357,399,15,63],"class_list":["post-19798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills-probate","tag-brexit","tag-estate-planning","tag-financial-planning","tag-hmrc","tag-law-society","tag-probate-fees","tag-will-drafting","tag-wills","tag-wills-probate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProbate fee increases abandoned - SMH Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The planned reform of probate fees in England and Wales has been scrapped.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Probate fee increases abandoned - 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