Wills and Probate Solicitors in Cheshire, Warrington, Northwich & Stockton Heath

Making plans for the future is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your loved ones.

If you wish to make a Will, need assistance administering the estate of a loved one, are considering inheritance tax planning, or wish to put a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, our experienced team is here to help.

How can we help?

We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

Helping You Protect Your Family, Your Assets and Your Future

At Chambers Fletcher Solicitors, we provide clear, practical advice tailored to your individual Wills and probate circumstances. From our offices in Northwich and Stockton Heath, we assist clients throughout Cheshire and the surrounding areas, helping them protect what matters most and plan confidently for the future.

Secure Your Legacy with a Legally Sound Will

A professionally prepared Will ensures that your wishes are properly documented and that your loved ones are provided for in the way you intend.

Without a valid Will, your estate will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy, which may not reflect your wishes and can create unnecessary difficulties for those you leave behind.

Our experienced Wills solicitors can help you create a Will that reflects your wishes and intentions to provide you with peace of mind.

How We Help With Your Will

We can assist with:

Every family is different, and we take the time to ensure that your Will is tailored to your individual circumstances.

Probate & Estate Administration

Losing a loved one is never easy. Dealing with their estate at the same time can feel overwhelming.

Our Probate solicitors provide practical, compassionate advice and support, helping executors and administrators navigate the legal process with confidence, reducing the stress often associated with estate administration.

If you require assistance with a specific aspect of the administration or would prefer us to deal with the entire process on your behalf, we are here to help.

Probate Support When You Need It Most

We can assist with:

We regularly assist clients throughout Cheshire, Warrington, Northwich, Stockton Heath and the surrounding areas with estates of all sizes and complexities.

Estate Planning & Inheritance Tax

Estate planning involves much more than simply making a Will.

Careful planning can help preserve family wealth, minimise inheritance tax liabilities and ensure that assets pass to future generations as efficiently as possible.

We provide practical advice designed to help you structure your affairs in a way that reflects your wishes and protects your family’s future.

Protect Your Assets for Future Generations

We can assist with:

Our goal is to help you achieve peace of mind whilst ensuring that as much of your estate as possible passes to those you wish to benefit.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows you to appoint trusted individuals to make decisions on your behalf should you become unable to do so in the future.

Many people choose to put LPAs in place alongside their Will as part of sensible future planning.

Planning Ahead with Confidence

We can advise on both:

A properly prepared LPA can provide reassurance for both you and your family and help avoid uncertainty should circumstances change in the future.

For more detailed information regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection matters, please visit our dedicated Court of Protection & Powers of Attorney page.

Our Prices - Wills, Trusts and Probate

The charges involved in probate/administration of estates vary dependent on the individual circumstances of each case so we would always suggest that you contact our probate department who will give you a better idea of the actual costs involved. If we are not appointed as executors, we are happy to be as involved as you need us to be in dealing with the administration of the estate from simply obtaining the grant of probate/letters of administration to dealing with the whole administration of the estate or anything in between.

Why Us

Our head of department, Daniele Marks has been a probate and wills solicitor for in excess of twenty years and so has many years of experience in this area. She is also a member of STEP (the society of trust and estate practitioners) and of The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (formerly Solicitors for the Elderly) having sat many exams to gain entry to both of those organisations.

As a firm we are also very proud to hold the Lexcel Accreditation which is issued by the Law Society. This involves our firm being audited annually to ensure that high standards of client care are maintained.

Fixed Fee – Application For Probate/Letters Of Administration Only - No Tax Form

If you simply need us to deal with the application for probate/letters of administration, then we can do this on a fixed fee basis. We would need a list from you of all the assets and liabilities and values for each as at the date of death. Our service would merely be to produce the online application or paper application if applicable based on the information supplied by you and provide you with the grant when received. Our charges would start at £800 plus VAT excluding disbursements, depending on any complexities.

Fixed Fee - Application For Probate/Letters Of Administration Only – IHT Form Needed

If you simply need us to deal with the application for probate/letters of administration, then we can do this on a fixed fee basis. We would need a list from you of all the assets and liabilities and values for each as at the date of death and copies of all valuation letters. Our service would only include preparing the tax form for inheritance tax purposes and the probate application (online or paper as applicable) and providing you with the grant once received. Any amendments required to the inheritance tax once signed and submitted would be charged for separately and if you require a clearance application for inheritance tax to be made again this would be charged for separately.

Our charges for this type of service start at £1,300 plus VAT depending on the complexities of the estate generally and whether inheritance tax is payable. On top of that would be disbursements.

Full Administration Service

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this type of work on a fixed fee basis, instead, we charge an hourly rate (which for our probate solicitor is currently £240 plus VAT per hour) but we can provide an estimate to you once we have more detail of the individual estate. On top of that would be disbursements. If we are appointed as executors of the will or the estate is particularly complex we may charge an additional amount of 0.5% to 1% of the value of the estate as per the Law Society.

To give you an average our fees for a simple non-taxable estate tend to start in the region of around £2,000 to £3,000 and for a straightforward taxable estate would start at around £3,500 to around £4,500 plus VAT in each case. These fees would apply where there is a valid will, there are executors appointed that are surviving and are happy to apply for probate, there is only one property, no foreign assets, no business assets, no farming assets, no lifetime gifts, only five bank accounts, only two share holdings, no more than five beneficiaries who are all known, living and you can provide addresses, no income tax or capital gains tax returns are required, no potential disputes and no potential claims against the estate.

We would then handle the administration of the estate from start to finish which would include for instance notifying any banks, building societies, share companies etc. of the death and establishing the information needed to produce the paperwork for probate, establishing any liabilities details of which you would provide, producing the paperwork for probate as above and obtaining the grant of probate to the estate, arranging to close or transfer the assets (excluding the house which would be charged for separately), paying any liabilities, placing trustee act advertisements if needed (disbursements, see below), paying out the estate to the beneficiaries.

For more complex estates the fees can vary so we could provide you with an estimate of fees for the work required on an individual basis once we have more information.

Disbursements In All Cases

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to a third party for instance probate court fees, land registry fees etc.

Possible Disbursements

ITEM/DISBURSEMENT	AMOUNT
Verification of Identification of Executor/Administrator	£5.40
Probate Court fee	£273.00 (if the estate is over £5,000)
Office Copy of the Probate	£1.50 per copy required
Land Registry Bankruptcy Search, recommended for each beneficiary	£2.00 per search
Land Registry office copies of house or land	£3.00 each copy needed
Trustee Act advertisements, if needed	We use an outside Agency and would cost in the region of £250.00 plus VAT

Intestacy

If the deceased died without leaving a will or died without leaving a valid will then the intestacy rules would determine who the beneficiaries are and who can apply to deal with the administration of the estate. Therefore, it depends on the complexities of the matter and who the potential beneficiaries are as to the costs involved in dealing with this. It may also be necessary to employ the services of a tracing agency if it is unsure as to who the beneficiaries in fact are or those beneficiaries need to be traced.

Property

The cost of selling or transferring any property held within the estate is not included within our probate prices. We are more than happy to assist you with this and would suggest that you contact us directly if you would like a quote or look at the conveyancing page for more information.

Timescale

On average the time taken to obtain a grant of probate if we are dealing with literally obtaining the grant of probate from the time that you provide us with a list of assets and liabilities, we usually have the paperwork with you within a week and once signed and forwarded to the probate office if there is no inheritance tax to pay and no IHT400 has been required then normally probate would be granted within three to four weeks of that. If an IHT400 has been required, then the timescale would be more in the region of eight to ten weeks possibly longer. Please note that post covid these timescales may no longer apply so please check with the solicitor acting.

If we are instructed to deal with the whole of the administration of the estate, then an average estate generally takes in the region of three to twelve months to deal with again depending on the assets in the estate and the complexities involved.

The above is a guidance as to the way that we calculate our fees but if you would like to speak to us, we can then provide you with an individual estimate or confirmation of fixed fee for our services and of course go through any general queries that you may have about how to administer the estate and what is involved.

Secure Your Legacy with a Legally Sound Will

A professionally prepared Will ensures that your wishes are properly documented and that your loved ones are provided for in the way you intend.

Without a valid Will, your estate will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy, which may not reflect your wishes and can create unnecessary difficulties for those you leave behind.

Our experienced Wills solicitors can help you create a Will that reflects your wishes and intentions to provide you with peace of mind.

How We Help With Your Will

We can assist with:

Every family is different, and we take the time to ensure that your Will is tailored to your individual circumstances.

Probate & Estate Administration

Losing a loved one is never easy. Dealing with their estate at the same time can feel overwhelming.

If you require assistance with a specific aspect of the administration or would prefer us to deal with the entire process on your behalf, we are here to help.

Probate Support When You Need It Most

We can assist with:

We regularly assist clients throughout Cheshire, Warrington, Northwich, Stockton Heath and the surrounding areas with estates of all sizes and complexities.

Estate Planning & Inheritance Tax

Estate planning involves much more than simply making a Will.

Careful planning can help preserve family wealth, minimise inheritance tax liabilities and ensure that assets pass to future generations as efficiently as possible.

We provide practical advice designed to help you structure your affairs in a way that reflects your wishes and protects your family’s future.

Protect Your Assets for Future Generations

We can assist with:

Our goal is to help you achieve peace of mind whilst ensuring that as much of your estate as possible passes to those you wish to benefit.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows you to appoint trusted individuals to make decisions on your behalf should you become unable to do so in the future.

Many people choose to put LPAs in place alongside their Will as part of sensible future planning.

Planning Ahead with Confidence

We can advise on both:

A properly prepared LPA can provide reassurance for both you and your family and help avoid uncertainty should circumstances change in the future.

For more detailed information regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection matters, please visit our dedicated Court of Protection & Powers of Attorney page.

Our Prices - Wills, Trusts and Probate

Why Us

Fixed Fee – Application For Probate/Letters Of Administration Only - No Tax Form

Fixed Fee - Application For Probate/Letters Of Administration Only – IHT Form Needed

If you simply need us to deal with the application for probate/letters of administration, then we can do this on a fixed fee basis. We would need a list from you of all the assets and liabilities and values for each as at the date of death and copies of all valuation letters. Our service would only include preparing the tax form for inheritance tax purposes and the probate application (online or paper as applicable) and providing you with the grant once received. Any amendments required to the inheritance tax once signed and submitted would be charged for separately and if you require a clearance application for inheritance tax to be made again this would be charged for separately.

Our charges for this type of service start at £1,300 plus VAT depending on the complexities of the estate generally and whether inheritance tax is payable. On top of that would be disbursements.

Full Administration Service

For more complex estates the fees can vary so we could provide you with an estimate of fees for the work required on an individual basis once we have more information.

Disbursements In All Cases

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to a third party for instance probate court fees, land registry fees etc.

Possible Disbursements

ITEM/DISBURSEMENT	AMOUNT
Verification of Identification of Executor/Administrator	£5.40
Probate Court fee	£273.00 (if the estate is over £5,000)
Office Copy of the Probate	£1.50 per copy required
Land Registry Bankruptcy Search, recommended for each beneficiary	£2.00 per search
Land Registry office copies of house or land	£3.00 each copy needed
Trustee Act advertisements, if needed	We use an outside Agency and would cost in the region of £250.00 plus VAT

Intestacy

Property

Timescale

Why Choose Chambers Fletcher Solicitors for Wills and Probate Guidance?

When planning for the future or dealing with the administration of a loved one’s estate, you need legal advice you can trust.

We take pride in building long-term relationships with our clients and helping generations of families plan for the future with confidence.

Clients choose Chambers Fletcher Solicitors because we offer:

Friendly and caring legal advice
Clear guidance without unnecessary jargon
Compassionate support during difficult times
Transparency on costs and considered solutions
Extensive experience and expertise in dealing with private client matters
Convenient offices in Northwich (with onsite parking and disabled access) and Stockton Heath (first floor)

Ready to Protect your Future? Contact us today

If you need advice regarding a Will, Probate, Estate Administration, Inheritance Tax Planning or Lasting Powers of Attorney, our experienced team is here to help from our offices in Northwich and Stockton Heath.

Contact Chambers Fletcher Solicitors today to arrange an initial discussion and find out how we can help you.

How can we help?

We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

FAQS

Frequently Asked Questions About Wills and Probate

Questions about Wills

Why do I need a Will?

A valid Will ensures that your wishes are properly documented. It allows you to express your wishes regarding who inherits your assets, who will administer your estate and who will care for any minor children. Without a Will, your estate will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy.

What happens if I die without a Will?

If you die without a Will, your estate will be distributed under the intestacy rules. This can produce unintended results, particularly for unmarried couples, blended families and stepchildren.

When should I make or update my Will?

You should review your Will whenever your circumstances change, such as marriage, divorce, the birth of children or grandchildren, acquiring property, or significant changes in your finances.

Does marriage or divorce affect my Will?

Yes. Marriage generally revokes an existing Will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage. Divorce does not revoke a Will but may affect provisions relating to a former spouse.

Can a solicitor act as my executor?

Yes. Many clients choose to appoint a solicitor as executor, particularly where estates are complex or family circumstances require an independent and experienced administrator. We regularly act as personal representatives (executors or administrators), ensuring estates are administered professionally, efficiently and in accordance with the law.

Probate and Estate Administration Questions

What is Probate?

Probate is the legal process of proving a deceased person’s Will and obtaining the authority required to administer their estate. This involves obtaining a Grant of Probate, after which the executors can collect in assets, pay any debts and distribute the estate in accordance with the Will.

Do all estates require Probate?

No. Whether a Grant of Probate is required depends on the nature and value of the assets involved. We can advise whether a Grant is likely to be necessary.

What is the difference between Probate and Estate Administration?

Probate is the process of obtaining the legal authority required to deal with a deceased person’s estate. Estate administration is the process of collecting assets, paying liabilities and distributing the estate to beneficiaries.

Can I deal with Probate and Estate Administration myself?

Yes, although many people prefer professional assistance because of the legal and administrative responsibilities involved. Mistakes can sometimes result in personal liability for executors or administrators.

What happens if someone dies without a Will?

Where there is no Will, the rules of intestacy apply. This means that the estate is distributed according to a legal order of entitlement (a ‘pecking order’) rather than the deceased person’s wishes, which can sometimes lead to unintended outcomes.