[Closed] Typical cost for achieving probate

Probate falls within the current price transparency rules for solicitors so they're supposed to make their fees clearly available on their website. Look round a few and you should get an idea of the going rate.

You can do it online and don't need a solicitor.

Done this with my Mum's estate and whilst I was happy to pay a solicitor an hourly rate for all the work that needed doing,I just couldn't get my head around the percentage thing irrespective of the amount of work done,sure there must be winners and losers but it just sounded wrong..in the end she ended up doing everything including distributing the estate as per the will (30+ different people and charities!) and charged just over 7k on a 900k estate.
I was recommended to use the people who looked after my Dad's affairs when he died as they would be familiar with allowance's etc and it certainly simplified things.
I rang around a few solicitors (south coast) and i was gobsmacked to find that some that found it normal to charge for an initial consultation or needed a signed contract before any talk at all!..
Ring around,find someone to talk to..you are the customer!!

If the estate is simple, with money only in bank accounts and ISAs and no shares or property, and if there is one beneficiary named in the will, you may not need probate. I have been executor three times in the last six years, and I twice used solicitors - where there were shares and property to sell. While I thought the rates (similar to the ones you quoted) seemed steep at the outset, when all was done and dusted I was happy that they had earned their corn, they were far more efficient than conveyancers. I simply didn't have the time and the properties were hundreds of miles away.

you may not need probate

You nearly always need probate. You just don't necessarily need a solicitor to get it.

Thanks all, I'm 250 miles away, and I'd just like it completed without haemorrhaging money unnecessarily.

Solicitors we're using is a fixed fee, £4000. No idea if it's expensive, cheap, a massive con. But we've used them for other stuff, know they do a good job, they make the whole process as simple as possible.

Could we do it ourselves? Probably yes, but do I want to? No.

Co-op charge a fixed fee.
Having said that, how complex is the estate?
I'm doing one at the moment, to save on fees. It's cash, ISA's, house, a will with two beneficiaries, under the 650000 limit. I was worried whether it'd be too difficult but it's been surprisingly straightforward. If the IHT submission can be done with the IHT205 form rather than IHT400 then once you've got your documentation together, filling that out and the PA-1 probate application is only a couple of hours work, all done online.

Sorry for your loss, I know of 2 going on at the moment, both fairly straightforward being cash and 1 house, similar size estates, big difference in costs, 2k and 6k, different areas.

I didn't realise when you pay for probate you still do all the chasing around for certificates from banks, unless you pay someone to do that too.

I did probate for my father's estate. There was a house to sell and various accounts to wrap up but it wasn't difficult. My brother was the other executor-he did the funeral arrangements and I took care of probate.
I wouldn't use a solicitor unless it was large sums, the government website and the probate office work well and if you need to ring them they couldn't be more helpful