Wills and Probate Solicitors in Kenton

 

Most estates in Kenton need a Grant of Probate, because the family home alone usually exceeds the £325,000 inheritance tax threshold: the median HA3 sale over the past year was £530,000 (HM Land Registry price paid data). Ash Hill Solicitors, located in North Harrow, handles probate, deputyship and estate planning for Kenton families.

 

Most Kenton families own the one asset that makes probate unavoidable: the house. The median sold price across HA3 over the past year was £530,000, and a typical Kenton semi went for £600,000 (HM Land Registry price paid data). Both sit above the £325,000 inheritance tax threshold , and above the £500,000 mark that applies when a home passes to children or grandchildren. In Kenton West, 43 per cent of households own their home outright , more than double the London average of 20.7 per cent (Census 2021). That combination, high value and no mortgage, usually means a Grant of Probate will be needed before anything can be sold or transferred, and it often means inheritance tax has to be worked out before the estate can be settled.

 

If you would like to talk it through, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute chat. Call 0208 515 2790 or send us an enquiry.

 

Our wills and probate services for Kenton clients

Probate and estate administration

 

As probate solicitors in Kenton, we handle three things: the application for the Grant of Probate, the inheritance tax account that has to go to HMRC before it is issued, and the administration of the estate afterwards.

 

Where the family home is the main asset, the estate almost always needs a Grant of Probate before the property can be sold or put into a beneficiary name. With HA3 semis at a median of £600,000 and terraced houses at £527,500 (HM Land Registry price paid data), most Kenton estates clear the inheritance tax threshold on the house alone, so the tax position has to be calculated and reported before the Grant is issued. We handle the whole process, from valuing the estate to distributing it, and we will tell you honestly at the start whether you need us for all of it or only part.

 

For more information, read our guides on what probate is, how much probate costs and how long probate takes.

 

Deputyship and the Court of Protection

 

Ash Hill Solicitors acts on Court of Protection and deputyship matters for families in Kenton, on both the Harrow and the Brent side of Kenton Road. There are three things we are usually asked for: a deputyship application, where someone has lost capacity and no Lasting Power of Attorney was made; decisions about that person’s property, finances and care once a deputy is appointed; and disputes, where an attorney or deputy is not acting in the person’s best interests.

 

Kenton has an unusually high rate of elderly population on the Brent side, where 19.1 per cent of residents are 65 or over against 11.6 per cent for Brent as a whole (Census 2021). It also has a concentration of nursing care. When someone loses the ability to make decisions for themselves and no Lasting Power of Attorney is in place, the family cannot simply take over. An application to the Court of Protection is needed to appoint a deputy. This is the situation we see most often once a parent moves into residential care and the council begins a financial assessment.

 

Estate planning: wills, trusts and inheritance tax

 

A Kenton house bought decades ago and owned outright is frequently the whole estate, and it is frequently worth more than the tax-free allowances. Planning ahead is what keeps a family from discovering the problem at the worst possible moment. We advise on wills, on trusts where they genuinely help, and on how the residence nil-rate band applies when a home passes to children or grandchildren.

 

Read more about making a will, trusts and inheritance tax.

 

Lasting powers of attorney

 

A Lasting Power of Attorney is the document that avoids the Court of Protection route entirely. It lets you choose, while you still can, who makes decisions about your money and your care if you later cannot. With 3.1 per cent of the Kenton ward in Brent aged 85 or over, more than double the borough figure (Census 2021), this is not a distant concern for many local families.

 

Contentious probate

 

Where there is a dispute about a will, about how an executor is behaving, or about whether someone has been properly provided for, we act in contested estates and we try to resolve them without court proceedings wherever that is possible. Contested probate is charged at an hourly rate of £350 + VAT.

 

Why Kenton families choose us

 

Your matter is handled by our expert solicitors, led by Nasreen, who has more than 10 years in private client law and is also an accredited civil and commercial mediator, which matters when a family disagreement could otherwise become a court case.

 

We advise in English, Urdu, Punjabi and basic Arabic. If English is not the language you are most comfortable in, we will explain the process in plain terms in whichever of those you prefer.

 

We come to you. If travelling is difficult, whether because of illness, bereavement or caring for someone else, we offer home visits across Kenton, and we visit clients in hospitals, in hospices and in care homes.

 

A straightforward probate matter is £6,500 + VAT plus disbursements. Contested probate is charged at an hourly rate of £350 + VAT. A single will is £350 + VAT, with everything else set out on our fees page.

 

A case we handled

 

A husband died without leaving a will. His estate was complicated: property overseas, an interest in a business, and young children who could not inherit directly. The family were facing a substantial inheritance tax bill and a growing disagreement with his business partners. We advised on how the intestacy rules divided the estate, applied to HMRC on the basis that no inheritance tax was due, set up a trust for the children and claimed Business Relief. HMRC accepted the application. We obtained the Grant of Letters of Administration, and the family avoided a contested court battle at a point when they badly needed the matter handled quietly.

 

Kenton households and assets abroad

 

Kenton is a settled, family-owning suburb. Around two thirds of homes in Kenton West are semi-detached, against 18.6 per cent across London (Census 2021), and most were built between the wars as Metroland expanded along the railway. Households tend to be larger and to stay put, and on the Brent side 11.2 per cent of households are a single person aged 66 or over (Census 2021).

 

Close to 38 per cent of Kenton residents were born outside the UK (Census 2021). In practice that means a good number of local estates include property or accounts held abroad, and we deal with those regularly. Assets in another country do not stop an estate being administered here, but they do need handling carefully, because the succession rules where the asset sits may differ from the rules in England and Wales. Tell us early if there is anything overseas, because it changes the order in which things need to be done.

 

Care homes, hospitals and deputyship in Kenton

 

Kenton has two notable nursing homes that accept residents living with dementia. They are Birchwood Grange (at 177 Preston Hill, HA3 9UY) and Carrick House (61 Northwick Avenue, HA3 0AU).

 

Another nursing home just outside of Kenton is Primrose House, at 765 to 767 Kenton Lane, HA3 6AH in Harrow Weald.

 

The nearest accident and emergency department is at Northwick Park Hospital, Watford Road, HA1 3UJ, run by London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. St Luke’s Hospice is in Kenton itself, at Kenton Grange on Kenton Road, and serves both Harrow and Brent.

 

A move into one of these homes triggers a council financial assessment, and families often discover at that point that nobody has legal authority over the person’s money. If no Lasting Power of Attorney was made, a deputyship application is the way forward, and we can get it started while care arrangements are still being settled.

 

Probate applications are handled centrally by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, and the Court of Protection sits in London with the Office of the Public Guardian in Birmingham. There is no local registry for either, so where you live does not affect how long they take.

 

What to do after a death in Kenton

 

Kenton is split between two councils, with Kenton Road forming the boundary, so which council you deal with depends on the address.

 

A death must be registered within five days in both boroughs. The table below covers both.

 

 

Two points are particular to this boundary rather than to either borough. Brent will register a death that happened abroad if you bring the foreign death certificate, which Harrow does not offer in the same way. And a death in hospital follows the hospital, not the home address, which on this boundary sends a great many Kenton families to Brent, whichever side of Kenton Road they live on.

 

Getting to us from Kenton

 

Our office is at Harrow Business Centre, 429 to 433 Pinner Road, HA1 4HN, five minutes on foot from North Harrow station.