Probate advice and support

We aim to provide a stress-free probate and estate administration service to support you through these difficult times. Whether you are the executor of a Will or the relative responsible for the administration of the estate, we can provide you with clear, practical advice on how to progress the estate administration following the death of a loved one.

Our probate and estate administration service offers you peace of mind for a fixed fee. We provide no obligation fixed fee quotes for probate and estate administration. When we have provided you with a fixed price written quote for the agreed work, that price will not change (unless the original information we are given is shown to be incorrect or the estate circumstances change).

Our probate advice team will listen to your particular circumstances, to ensure we are best placed to provide you with support covering:

• An explanation of probate to help you understand if probate is required to administer the estate
• An explanation of estate administration and the scope of our service

As probate and estate administration experts, we will:

• Perform detailed tax reviews on every case and take advantage of all opportunities to minimise tax liabilities and transfer unused tax allowances
• Conduct specialist searches for lost and forgotten assets to ensure that the beneficiaries’ inheritances are maximised
• Take action to protect the executor or administrator of the estate from personal liability
• Assign a dedicated probate expert to your case
• If required we can arrange highly competitive and flexible vacant property insurance
• We're regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, fully insured, and our client accounts benefit from FSCS protection.

If you choose to take care of probate and administer the estate yourself, you should be prepared to commit many hours of highly detailed work over a period of up to 12 months or more to complete the estate administration, inheritance tax, income tax, capital gains tax and any other legal work.

It’s very important to note that an executor or administrator can be held personally financially liable for any loss resulting from a breach of their duty, even if a mistake or mistakes were genuine errors. See Executor and Administrator Duties Explained.

As part of the Co-op Group our values of openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others are core to the service we provide.

We can take full responsibility for probate and the estate administration, with fixed fee probate pricing that we will agree with you upfront. We'll support and guide you through the probate process from start to finish and we’ll avoid using legal jargon wherever possible.

Probate Solicitors and local Probate Consultants are available in England and Wales only for customers using our probate and estate administration service.

Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Estate administration in England and Wales is not a reserved legal activity. This means that unregulated providers can offer estate administration services regardless of whether they are insured, experienced or qualified to provide a full service.

Co-op Legal Services is a trading name for Co-operative Legal Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, giving you peace of mind that your estate administration affairs are being dealt with by a regulated organisation and a brand you know and trust.

Co-op Legal Services carries insurance covering all of our work plus we have protection of client funds under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Our team of Probate Solicitors and Specialists includes many members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). All STEP members are subject to an extensive Code of Professional Conduct, requiring them at all times to act with integrity and in a manner that inspires the confidence, respect and trust of their clients and of the wider community.

Please note that our Probate Solicitors and local Probate Consultants are available in England and Wales only for customers using our probate and estate administration service. If you don't know if probate is required, we can tell you.