Kings Court Trust Corporation

Terms of business

Terms and Conditions for Probate

This document sets out the services Kings Court Trust Corporation plc (Kings Court) provide and how they are paid for. Our aim is to provide a high quality service tailored to meet your requirements, those of the Probate Office and of the Estate.

For Your Information

By acting on behalf of the Estate either alone or jointly we will undertake the work involved including valuing the Estate, preparing the necessary documentation for the Capital Taxes and the Probate Office, applying for probate and distributing the Estate.

Charges

Once quoted our fee is inclusive of the following;

• Direct contact with Personal Case Manager
• Advertisements for claims against the estate when necessary
• All letters and phone calls
• Court fees for Probate
• Arrangement of Loan where possible to pay Inheritance tax
• Regular updates of Progress to joint executors and others by arrangement
• Handling the income tax affairs from the 5th April to the date of probate, but this excludes prior year work.
• VAT

An invoice will be raised after the Grant of Representation and will be payable from the Estate unless there are insufficient funds in which case the liability will fall on those giving Kings Court their authority to act. Interest will be charged on outstanding accounts of over one month at the rate of 4% above the Royal Bank of Scotland's base rate.

Where cases are unusually complex or where there is litigation ( eg family disputes) we reserve the right to negotiate a different charging structure or to withdraw from acting. If we are asked to perform work outside of the terms of the contract our standard charging rate for Directors is £190 per hour and for Probate Executives at £120 per hour. The fee does not cover creation or management of trusts, the tracing of missing beneficiaries, the sale or management of property or other assets, valuation and land registration fees, registering unregistered land and associated costs.

For Your Protection

Where Kings Court act on behalf of the estate the following applies;

1. All bank accounts will be in the name of the personal representative of the deceased and will be conducted only by Kings Court. Interest will not be paid on client accounts unless separate arrangements have been agreed.
2. All securities, valuables, share certificates, deeds and any other documents of title shall be held under the exclusive custody and control of the personal representative.
3. The personal representative's name shall appear first on all registers for ownership for stocks, shares and other securities and interest and dividends will be paid exclusively to the personal representative or its nominees.
4. Kings Court will exercise all its voting and other rights at its absolute discretion on behalf of the personal representative.
5. Where any business is included in the estate unless expressly authorised, Kings Court will not carry on the business any longer than is deemed necessary for its sale, winding up or other disposition.

Confidentiality

Information passed to us will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties except as authorised by you or required by law. If, on your authority, we are working in conjunction with other professional advisers we will assume that we may disclose any relevant aspect of your affairs to them. We will keep the data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

On completion of the matter and payment of our fees we will return to you any documents provided to us and any other papers to which you are entitled. We will retain our working papers. We cannot undertake to retain files for any specific period of time, but will generally endeavour to keep all files for a minimum of six years, after which time we reserve the right to dispose of them. If we are required to produce the papers, by you or others, then we reserve the right to make a small charge to cover our costs.

Cooling Off and Complaints

By signing and returning this letter you are entering into a binding contract. You have seven days from the date of signing to change your mind and revoke the instruction without charge. After this time period we will allow you to withdraw providing you pay our costs to date based on the time spent on the basis of £140 per hour.

If you have any complaints about the way we have or are handling the Estate please write to The Customer Services Manager, Kings Court Trust Corporation plc, Kings Court, Bath, BA1 1ER or ring on 0845 126 0891. We will supply a copy of our complaints procedure on request or on receipt of a complaint.

The terms of the contract are subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2003. The contract will be governed by English Law and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. TC1204