Inheritance disputes
Unfairly cut out of a will? Fallen out with family members over an inheritance? Fraudulent grant of probate? Colaru Law Chambers can help!
Our legal team has extensive experience of dealing with these matters in a sensitive, but firm way and getting the best outcome for our clients.
Please see below for a summary of what is involved in inheritance disputes, but if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
What are the steps in this type of case?
1. Initial advice
What's involved?
We will review all your documents and provide you with advice via a video call at a time and place to suit you.
How long does it take?
We can usually get this done within a week.
What will it cost?
There is a fixed fee in this type of case of £600 including VAT
2. Try to negotiate
What's involved?
We will write to the other parties / beneficiaries / executors and try to resolve the matter, providing evidence and challenging any issues they bring up.
How long does it take?
It does depend on the case but we can usually do this within about 2 months or so.
What will it cost?
Again it depends on the case, but you can expect this stage to cost around £2,000 or so.
3. Court action
What's involved?
If negotiation can not resolve matters, we will issue any appropriate Caveats if necessary and then issue a claim on your behalf before the Business and Property Courts.
How long does it take?
Most cases settle long before any final hearing. If the case does not settle you can expect the case to take around 12 to 18 months to come to a final court hearing.
What will it cost?
No two cases are alike, but this type of court claim is quite costly so you can expect to incur £20,000 to £40,000 in court costs and possibly more depending on the value of the property in dispute and how complex the case is. Some case are of course much less and some are much, much more! Obviously we will give you more advice as to likely costs and whether you are going to be able to claim these costs from the estate or beneficiary or opponent.
What to do now?
If you'd like to discuss the services we offer, and how we can help, please contact us. There's no charge for making an enquiry and the quicker you contact us, the quicker we may be able to help!
An indication of the steps involved, and the fees that we would charge if you were our client is set out on this page above. Please note that the charges listed are intended to cover the most common types of case that we see. If you came to us with an out of the ordinary case, it could be that we would not be able to act for your for the fees set out above. However, we would discuss this with you first, and you would have the opportunity to decide whether you wished to go ahead or not. Fees set out above are not fixed price quotes. They include VAT but any fees that are charges by third parties (such as the court) are subject to change, and the amount you need to pay is the whatever they charge when you instruct us to proceed.
In some cases and in some situations a court may order you to pay costs to the "other side" in a case. Usually (but not always) this happens if you "lose" your case and the other side "wins", or sometimes if a settlement offer is made it can happen if you don't take the settlement but a judge later thinks you should have done. These costs would be broadly similar to the costs you incur, but are often higher as our costs tend to be lower as we work more efficiently for you and aim to keep our costs low. They are not included in the breakdowns above.
Whilst we're happy to talk through what we can do to help, we won't be able to give legal advice until you formally become our client and you have signed the Client Care Pack we will send to you.
We can offer help in a number of different way, whether that's from just providing you with written advice, helping with one step or stage of your case, or handling the whole case for you from start to finish. We will help in whatever way best suits you!