My accountpremium service terms & conditions
1. Your agreement with us
1.1 These terms and conditions relate to www.prob8.co.uk, which is wholly owned and operated by Whitehead Monckton of Monckton House, 72 King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1BL, a solicitor’s practice of England & Wales regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority 59423 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. You can contact Whitehead Monckton on 01622 698000 or at enquiries@whitehead-monckton.co.uk.
1.2 “You” or “your” refers to the registered user dealing with the estate administration of a deceased person.
1.3 “We” or “us” refers to Whitehead Monckton.
1.4 “The Estate” means the collective assets and liabilities of the person who has died (the deceased).
1.5 “Grant” means either a grant of probate or a grant of letters of administration issued by a probate registry.
1.6 “Gross Value” means the open market value of all the assets in the Estate at the date of death which need to be administered under the Grant without taking in to account the value of any debts or liabilities owed by the deceased at the date of death.
1.7 “Net Value” means the open market value of all the assets in the Estate at the date of death which need to be administered under the Grant after deducting the value of any debts or liabilities owed by the deceased at the date of death.
1.8 “Our Fixed Fee” means the fee we will charge calculated as a fixed percentage of the Gross Value of the Estate at the date of death in accordance with paragraph 5.
1.9 “Our Fixed Cancellation Fee” means the fee we will charge if you decide to cancel this agreement in accordance with paragraph 5 before the Gross Value of the Estate has been fully determined.
1.10 These terms and conditions represent your agreement to enter in to a legally binding contract for the provision of the legal services set out below with us.
1.11 By using this site you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions.
1.12 A legally binding contract to supply a full Estate administration services will be formed once you have completed the online registration form. You should therefore only complete the form if you are happy to be bound by these terms and conditions.
1.13 In accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, you have the right to change your mind and withdraw from the contract with us without incurring any fees or charges (commonly known as a cooling off period). Should you wish to cancel the contract under these provisions then you must do so in writing to Whitehead Monckton at Monckton House, 72 King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1BL within 7 working days of the day you submitted the online registration form. No cancellation under these provisions received after this time will be accepted and you will be bound by these terms and conditions.
1.14 Once you are bound by these terms and conditions you will only be able to terminate this agreement in accordance with paragraph 8 upon payment of the fees set out herein and payment of all third party costs incurred by us in conjunction with the Estate administration. All terminations must be made in writing by letter to Whitehead Monckton at Monckton House, 72 King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1BL. Whitehead Monckton reserves the right to refuse to accept or suspend a request for the use of these services if it believes that it would not be reasonable to accept or continue with the instructions. The reason for the cancellation/suspension will be communicated in writing within 48 hours.
2. People responsible for your work
2.1 Work is carried out by solicitors (who may be partners), legal executives, trainee solicitors and paralegals. The solicitor who is head of the department concerned is responsible for the supervision of work. The ultimate responsibility for the work is with the partnership of Whitehead Monckton as a whole.
2.2 We try to avoid changing the people who are handling your work but if this cannot be avoided, we will notify you promptly who will be handling your matter.
2.3 Should a conflict of interest arise we will notify you immediately and discuss the best way to resolve the situation.
3. Our Prob8 Premium Service
3.1 For Our Fixed Fee we will only:-
3.1.1 provide a secure online access to your personal account which will tell you what stage we have reached and the money we know about;
3.1.2 assign you a dedicated specialist fully qualified lawyer who will handle your case and be available to answer your questions;
3.1.3 provide you with a clear, simple fixed price for the work we will do;
3.1.4 Ask you to send us all of the relevant paperwork which we will then sort through for you and prepare a comprehensive schedule of assets and liabilities;
3.1.5 deal with all correspondence arising whether by way of letter, e-mail, telephone or any other methods of communication;
3.1.6 value all the assets and liabilities in the Estate at the date of death including valuations of all the properties and contents;
3.1.7 maintain a schedule of assets and liabilities;
3.1.8 conduct a search with the Unclaimed Assets Register to see if the deceased had any other assets we do not know about;
3.1.9 advertise the death to search for any unknown creditors or beneficiaries;
3.1.10 prepare a personal representatives’ oath;
3.1.11 prepare the appropriate H M Revenue & Customs forms and accounts;
3.1.12 complete where appropriate, the claim form to enable the uplift in the tax free band for inheritance tax purposes to be claimed on a second death (this only applies to married and civil partnership couples);
3.1.13 apply for and obtain the grant of probate/letters of administration;
3.1.14 collect in all UK based assets including arranging the sale of any UK properties that you instruct us to sell (although our fee will not include any fee for sharedealing or conveyancing services which, if we are instructed to handle, would be charged for separately);
3.1.15 settle all the Estate’s debts and liabilities out of the monies we recover;
3.1.16 complete the deceased’s income tax and capital gains tax affairs for the tax year to the date of death and settle any liability from the monies we recover or reclaim any overpayment due to the Estate;
3.1.17 settle all income tax and capital gains tax liabilities arising during the period of administration period out of the monies we recover;
3.1.18 calculate any inheritance tax liability and advise on any steps which may be open to reduce that liability;
3.1.19 arrange for settlement of any inheritance tax which falls due out of the monies we recover;
3.1.20 pay the legacies (if any) to the beneficiaries;
3.1.21 prepare an Estate account for your approval;
3.1.22 pay the final distributions to the residuary beneficiaries;
3.1.23 obtain receipts for all payments made; and
3.1.24 store our papers.
3.2 We sometimes find that other work crops up during an Estate administration which cannot be covered by the Our Fixed Fee. For example our fee would not include:
3.2.1 conveyancing fees for selling any properties in the Estate or stockbrokers’ fees for selling shares;
3.2.2 implementing any strategies required to reduce a tax liability, such as inheritance tax arrangements by way of deed of variation;
3.2.3 arguing with H M Revenue & Customs over the probate values included in the inheritance tax accounts;
3.2.4 handling specialist inheritance tax claims, e.g. arguing with H M Revenue & Customs over business property and agricultural property reliefs;
3.2.5 collecting foreign based assets including arranging the sale of any foreign properties and obtaining foreign jurisdiction grants of representation;
3.2.6 advising on and/or acting for you in respect of any contentious matters arising out of the Estate, e.g. arguments over the validity of the will, the mental capacity of the deceased, challenges to the will/intestacy rules etc.
3.3 This list is not exhaustive and there may be other matters which arise during the course of the administration which fall outside the list of services we have agreed to provide for our fee. If so, you will be advised of this and told what your options are to deal with them.
3.4 We have the specialist expertise to handle all these types of matters that can arise and we would therefore be able to assist you. Please ask the lawyer who is handling your case for further details. We would make a separate charge for providing any of these additional services and you will be advised in advance of you instructing us how those fees would be calculated and be given an estimate of those fees.
4. Accuracy of information
4.1 The information you provide us in the online application form and any subsequent to that will form the entirety of the assets and liabilities which we will administer under the terms of this contract. You must therefore ensure that all the information provided by you is factual, correct, accurate, complete and valid. We will not be responsible for the administration of any asset or liability wheresoever situated in the world or any loss or liability which may arise as a result of failing to administer such assets or liabilities which are not notified to us during the course of this contract.
4.2 We will be obtaining information from third parties about the assets, liabilities and distributions connected with the Estate. Whitehead Monckton shall use all reasonable endeavours to obtain any such information from suitably qualified and experienced third parties whom it believes to have the relevant degree of expertise and appropriate professional standing. Whitehead Monckton cannot be held liable for any errors/omissions in any such document or any delays caused as a result of late receipt of the documents.
5. Our fees
5.1 Our fee is calculated as a fixed percentage of the gross value of the estate (i.e. the value of all the assets in the estate at the date of death which need to be administered).
5.2 We will charge a fixed fee of 1.5% of the Gross Value of the Estate, subject to a minimum charge of £1,250 for providing the services listed in paragraph 3.1.
5.3 We will add VAT to our fees at the rate that applies when the work is completed. At present VAT is 20%. We will also add any disbursements to the total fees payable (see 5.8 below).
5.4 If for any reason, you decide to terminate your instructions with us at any time before the Gross Value valuation process is completed and therefore before we are able to calculate Our Fixed Fee, we will charge you our Fixed Cancellation Fee of £500 plus VAT.
5.5 However, once the Gross Value valuation process is complete and the Grant application has been submitted to the Probate Registry, Our Fixed Fee will become payable.
5.6 We do not make any charge on the value of jointly owned property which automatically passes to a living co-owner outside the provisions of the will or the intestacy rules. We also do not make any charge on the increase in the value of an asset which arises after death.
5.7 Once we have completed the valuation stage you will be informed of the precise fee payable and this will appear in your secure online financial statement. This will only change if further assets that need to be administered under the Grant come to light after the Grant has been obtained.
5.8 During the administration of the Estate, there will also be additional expenses incurred which will be payable. These are commonly referred to as “disbursements”. The main disbursements will be:
5.8.1 The probate application fee of £40.00;
5.8.2 Sealed office copies of the Grant of Probate at £1.00 each;
5.8.3 Commissioner’s fees of at least £5.00 – the precise fee will depend on a variety of factors and will be notified to you at the beginning of the process;
5.8.4 Unclaimed Assets Register search of £25.00;
5.8.5 Creditors’ search advertisements – variable amount; and
5.8.6 Beneficiaries’ bankruptcy searches at £2.00 each
5.9 There may also be others which we will advise you of if necessary.
6. Billing arrangements
6.1 We will bill the Estate 50% of the total fee payable (as calculated in accordance with the above) once the Grant is obtained. We will bill the Estate the remaining 50% of the total fee payable upon conclusion of the administration of the Estate.
6.2 Where you have requested that additional work be carried out and agreed by us, you will be advised when the additional fees relating to that work will be payable.
6.3 Payment is due to us when we send you a bill. We will charge you interest on any unpaid bill if the bill remains unpaid after 30 days. Interest will be charged on a daily basis. We will charge interest at the rate payable on judgment debts (currently 8%).
6.4 We reserve the right to suspend working on the administration of the Estate in the event that any of our fees or disbursements are not paid within a reasonable period of time of us asking for them to be paid.
6.5 In most cases, any bills we issue (whether they are for Our Fixed Fee, disbursements or any additional fees that are to be paid) can be paid out of the funds we will receive during the course of the administration work so there will be no need for you to pay these personally. However, for various reasons this is not always possible and you will be advised if this looks likely. In such cases you will be personally responsible for the payment of our fees.
6.6 If you have any query about your bill, you should contact the person dealing with your work straight away. Your rights to have our charges reviewed are explained on the back of the bill.
7. Storage of papers and documents
7.1 After completing the work we are entitled to keep all of your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for charges and expenses. We will keep our file of papers (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) for six years or longer at our discretion. We keep the file on the understanding that we have the authority to destroy it six years after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will not destroy any documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.
7.2 If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on the time spent producing stored papers or documents to you or another at your request. We also may charge for reading, correspondence or any other work necessary to comply with the instructions given by you or on your behalf.
8. Termination
8.1 You may terminate your instructions to us in writing by letter at any time to Whitehead Monckton at Monckton House, 72 King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1BL but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.
8.2 In some circumstances you may consider that we ought to stop acting for you, for example, if you cannot give clear of proper instructions on how we are to proceed, or if it is clear that you have lost confidence in how we are carrying out your work.
8.3 We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example, if you do not pay a bill or comply with our request for a payment on account. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
8.4 If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you, you will pay our charges and expenses as set out in paragraph 5.
9. Communications between you and us
9.1 We are confident of providing a high quality of service in all respects. If, however, you have any queries or concerns about our work for you, please raise them in the first instance with the person who handled your work. If that does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction or you would prefer not to speak to that person, then please contact the head of the department.
9.2 All solicitors must attempt to resolve problems that may arise with their services. It is, therefore, important that you immediately raise any concerns you may have with us. We value you and would not wish to think you have reason to be unhappy with us.
10. Money laundering regulations
10.1 We are obliged by law to take certain steps to comply with money laundering regulations. These requirements fall into two categories, namely:
10.1.1 Identify clients and beneficiaries; and
10.1.2 Report any suspicious activities to the authorities.
10.2 In order to comply with the first obligation we will require sight of documentary evidence of all the people who are to act as executors or administrators in order to establish their identity and present residential address. Copies of these documents will be stored by us. We reserve the right to terminate our retainer with you in accordance with paragraph 8 if you fail to provide us with satisfactory evidence of identity when asked for.
10.3 It will be necessary for each of the executors or administrators to produce one document from each of the following two categories:
Proof of Identity |
Proof of Address
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· Current valid passport · National identity card/validated National Insurance number · Current driving licence · Other (e.g. known employer identity card with photo and signature) |
· Utility Bill · Council Tax bill · Bank/Credit Card statement |
10.4 You can either send us originals of the documents or we can accept copies of them providing they have been certified as being true copies by a person or institution who is regulated for money laundering purposes such as a bank, building society, insurance company, accountant, independent financial adviser etc.
10.5 In order to comply with the second requirement we are obliged to report the details of any transaction(s) which a reasonable person would suspect to be connected with any form of criminal activity. This obligation overrides our duty of confidentiality to you, the client. If such a report is made, we are prevented from informing you or any other person of that fact.
11. Agreement
11.1 Unless otherwise agreed these terms of business apply to any future instructions you give us.
11.2 Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business. Even so, we ask you please sign and date the enclosed copy of this document and return it to us immediately. We reserve the right not to do any work for you until this has been done. We can then be confident that you understand the basis upon which we will act for you.
12. Limit of liabilities
12.1 No information published on this website will create a warranty. Whitehead Monckton and its partners and suppliers will not be liable for any loss or damage arising either directly or indirectly from any transaction or use of the service.
12.2 Whitehead Monckton will not be responsible for any losses or damages that may arise as a result of any data transfer delays, the corruption of any data, any non-deliveries of data, any misdeliveries of data or any service interruptions howsoever arising. This includes any transfers of data from you to us or third parties and from us to you or third parties.
13. Transfer of rights and obligations
13.1 You may not transfer, assign, charge or otherwise dispose of this contract, or any of your rights or obligations arising under it without our prior written consent.
13.2 We may transfer, assign, charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of this contract, or any of our rights or obligations arising under it, at any time during the term of the contract. Only the parties to a contract may seek to enforce its terms.
14. Events outside our control
Whitehead Monckton will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under a contract caused by events outside our reasonable control.
15. Law and jurisdiction
These terms and conditions and any contracts entered into through this site will be governed by English law and subject to the non exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
16. Complaints
We aim to provide a friendly, effective and efficient service and I hope we will succeed in doing so. However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are dissatisfied, and which we cannot resolve between ourselves, please raise the matter with Stephen Beck, who will do his best to resolve the problem.
17. Linked websites
Linked websites are not under the control of prob8 or Whitehead Monckton, and Whitehead Monckton is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. Prob8 and Whitehead Monckton provide links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply or constitute an endorsement by Whitehead Monckton of the site.
18. Enforceability
18.1 Each right or remedy we have under the terms and conditions is without prejudice to any other right or remedy, whether under contract or not.
18.2 If any provision of the terms and conditions is found by any court, tribunal or administrative body of competent jurisdiction to be wholly or partly illegal, invalid, void, voidable, unenforceable or unreasonable it shall to the extent of such illegality, invalidity, voidness, voidability, unenforceability or unreasonableness be deemed severable and the remaining terms and conditions shall continue in full force and effect.
18.3 Any failure or delay by us in enforcing or partially enforcing any of the terms and conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of any of our rights to do so.
18.4 Any waiver by us of any breach of, or any default under, any of the terms and conditions by you shall not be deemed a waiver of any rights arising from any subsequent breach or default and shall in no way affect the other terms and conditions.
18.5 The parties to this agreement do not intend that any term shall be enforceable by virtue of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 by any person that is not a party to it.
19. Your information
19.1 The www.prob8.co.uk website is only available in English and applies to Estate administration in England and Wales.
19.2 You can update and/or enter information about the Estate by using the unique login name and password supplied to you by email when you first register at www.prob8.co.uk.
19.3 The information that you enter at prob8 is securely stored and protected by a Comodo EV SSL certificate. By relying upon a Comodo certificate, the user agrees to be bound by the Comodo Relying Party Agreement, which is incorporated herein in its entirety, and which can be found at https://www.comodo.com/repository/relying_Party.html