Wills and Probate Solicitors in Pinner
We help local families with probate, wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. We'll come to you if it's difficult to get to us.
If you are sorting out an estate in Pinner, the family home is usually the largest part of it and often very nearly all of it. Over the last twelve months the median home here sold for £665,000, and 90.4% of local sales cleared the £325,000 inheritance tax threshold (HM Land Registry price paid data). Pinner is also older than the borough around it: 3.1% of residents are aged 85 or over, against 1.6% across London (Census 2021).
So a grant is nearly always needed here before a property can be sold or transferred, inheritance tax is a real question rather than an abstract one, and a Lasting Power of Attorney matters more in Pinner than in most places, because more people reach the age where it counts. You can read how the tax thresholds work on our inheritance tax page.
If you would like us to help you with estate planning or estate administration, feel free to call on 0208 515 2790, or send us an enquiry for a free initial 20-minute chat.
Our wills and probate services for Pinner clients
Probate solicitors in Pinner: estate administration
When someone dies, almost everything that needs doing sits behind one document: the court paper proving an executor can act (a Grant of Probate, or Letters of Administration where there is no will). In Pinner that document is nearly always needed, because the estate nearly always includes a house.
Of the 261 homes sold in Pinner and Pinner South in the last year, 90.4% sold for more than £325,000 and 71.3% for more than £500,000 (HM Land Registry price paid data), so estates here rarely fall under the small-estate limits banks use to release money without a grant. About a quarter of local sales, 23.0%, were leasehold (HM Land Registry price paid data), which adds a step, because the freeholder or managing agent has to be dealt with alongside everything else.
We will value the estate, apply for the grant, deal with HMRC, collect in and distribute the assets, and keep you updated at each stage. Probate applications across England and Wales are handled centrally by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, so there is no local probate registry to visit and how long the wait is has nothing to do with where you live. A straightforward probate matter is £6,500 + VAT plus disbursements, and contested probate is charged at an hourly rate of £350 + VAT.
Court of Protection and deputyship solicitors in Pinner
Our Court of Protection solicitors act for families in Pinner, Hatch End, Eastcote and across Harrow, from our office on Pinner Road in North Harrow. 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.
If someone has already lost the ability to make decisions for themselves and no Lasting Power of Attorney was put in place beforehand, the family cannot simply step in and take over. You have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as that person’s deputy. The Court sits in London and the Office of the Public Guardian, which supervises deputies afterwards, is in Birmingham. Neither is local, and there is no local Court of Protection.
This comes up a great deal in Pinner. Five of the six care homes in and around HA5 accept residents living with dementia, and Harrow Council’s Ward Profiles 2021 show 31.3% of Pinner’s over-65s live alone, against 26.7% across the borough.
A standard deputyship application costs £3,500 + VAT, plus the court fee and other disbursements. A Lasting Power of Attorney, if capacity has not yet been lost, costs £850 + VAT plus disbursements for each type, health and welfare or property and finance. Making one now is the cheaper and faster route, and it is the only one that lets the person choose who acts for them.
Wills, trusts and inheritance tax planning in Pinner
With a median sale price of £665,000, and 37.2% of Pinner households owning their home outright against 20.7% across London (Census 2021), most estates here sit above the £325,000 nil-rate band before anything else is counted. That does not automatically mean a tax bill. The residence nil-rate band can lift the threshold to £500,000 where a home passes to children or grandchildren, and there are reliefs beyond that. It does mean the sums are worth doing while there is still time to act on them.
If you are looking for a will solicitor in Pinner, a single will costs £350 + VAT and mirror wills for a couple cost £650 + VAT.
Lasting powers of attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney lets you choose, while you still can, who makes decisions for you if the day comes when you cannot. It has to be made in advance, which is exactly why it gets left. Harrow Council records that Pinner has an older population than Harrow as a whole, and male life expectancy here is 87.0 years, more than four years above the Harrow average of 82.9 (Harrow Council Ward Profiles 2021, life expectancy at birth 2015 to 2019). A long life is a good reason to have this in place, not a reason to put it off.
Contentious probate
Where a will is disputed, or someone has been left without reasonable financial provision, we can advise on entering a caveat, on negotiation and on mediation. Contested probate is charged at an hourly rate of £350 + VAT.
Why Pinner families choose Ash Hill
We have a team of expert private client solicitors who will handle your matter: probate and estate administration, deputyship and Court of Protection applications, Wills, Trusts and inheritance tax. We advise in English, Urdu, Punjabi, and we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
If getting to us is difficult, we come to you. We offer home, hospital, hospice and care home visits throughout Pinner, which matters when the person the matter concerns is the one who cannot easily leave the house. Our published fee lists home, hospital and hospice visits at £550 + VAT under Elderly Client Care plus an attendance fee for the solicitor.
Our office is on Pinner Road in North Harrow, one stop from Pinner on the Metropolitan line.
A matter we handled recently
In one matter we handled recently, three siblings had been appointed together as attorneys under a Lasting Power of Attorney. One of them was not acting in their mother’s best interests: restricting the food her carers provided, disrupting her sleep and interfering with the heating in her home. We applied to the Court of Protection to have that attorney removed. The court agreed, and her daughter became sole attorney. Her quality of life improved a great deal afterwards. She is settled, properly looked after and has an active social life again. It shows why choosing the right attorneys at the outset matters, and what can be done when one of them lets you down.
Pinner’s households, and estates that reach abroad
Pinner’s households are noticeably older than the borough around them. 24.8% are made up entirely of people aged 66 or over, against 17.3% across Harrow, and 14.3% are a single person aged 66 or over (Census 2021). That shapes the work: more planning done in advance, and more estates where the whole of it is one house and a few accounts.
38.7% of Pinner residents were born outside the UK, close to the London figure of 40.6% (Census 2021). Where an estate includes overseas property, a foreign bank account or assets in more than one country, both the paperwork and the tax position change. We handle cross-border estates and will tell you early if a lawyer in the other country needs to be involved.
Care homes, hospitals and deputyship in Pinner
The care homes inside Pinner itself are Abbotsford Residential Care Home, 53 Moss Lane, Pinner HA5 3AZ. Just up the road in Hatch End are Kailash Manor, Royston Grove, Hatch End HA5 4HE and Haven Residential Care Home, 36 to 38 Wellington Road, Hatch End HA5 4NL.
The nearest A&E is at Northwick Park Hospital, 3.7 miles away, and the nearest hospice is Michael Sobell Hospice at Mount Vernon in Northwood, 3.4 miles away, with a 12-bed inpatient unit. The H11 bus runs there from Pinner directly.
Getting to our office from Pinner
The three nearest stations to Pinner are Pinner (Metropolitan line, zone 5), Rayners Lane (Metropolitan and Piccadilly, zone 5) and Northwood Hills (Metropolitan, zone 6).
From Pinner station the quickest way to get to us is by train, taking the Metropolitan line to North Harrow.
By bus, from Pinner High Street the 183 bus to Durham Road is usually the best route.
By car it is 1.5 miles from Pinner station. The nearest council car park is on Cambridge Road, North Harrow HA2 7LD.
Questions we are asked about probate and deputyship in Pinner
My relative died in a Pinner care home. Which register office do I use?
Harrow. A death at home in Pinner or in a Pinner care home registers at The Pavilion on College Road, by appointment, within five days. The exception is a death in hospital at Northwick Park, which is a Brent registration, covered on our Kenton page.
Do I have to pay council tax on my parent’s empty house in Pinner while probate goes through?
No. A home left empty after its owner dies is exempt from council tax until probate is granted, and for a further six months afterwards while it stays empty and has not been sold or transferred. After that six months, the full charge returns.
My mother is in a care home and has lost capacity. Can I sell her house?
Not on your own. Without a Lasting Power of Attorney you need the Court of Protection to appoint you as her deputy, and the authority to sell property should be asked for in that first application. It can be added afterwards, but that takes longer and costs more.
How do I pay my father’s care fees while a deputyship application is going through?
Applications take months, so this needs planning rather than improvising. Care providers will often agree an arrangement in the meantime, and the court can be asked to deal with urgent matters sooner. Speak to us early, before arrears build up, and we will look at what applies to him.
Is an estate in Pinner likely to pay inheritance tax?
It is worth checking. Over the last year, 90.4% of homes sold in Pinner and Pinner South went for more than the £325,000 threshold and 71.3% for more than £500,000 (HM Land Registry price paid data). Whether tax is actually due depends on who inherits and which reliefs apply.
What if Harrow’s care home allowance does not cover the fees?
If you choose a home costing more than the council will pay, the difference is a top-up payment, normally met by a relative rather than out of the resident’s own money. Someone has to sign the agreement, and an attorney or deputy usually does.
Areas we serve around Pinner
We act for clients across Pinner and the surrounding area, including Pinner Green, Pinner Hill, Pinnerwood Park, Nower Hill, Waxwell, Pinner South and Rayners Lane, and on into Hatch End, Eastcote, Northwood Hills, North Harrow and Headstone. That covers HA5 and parts of HA2 and HA6.
You can also read about our work across Harrow and London.
Talk to us
If someone has died and you have no idea where to begin, or you are trying to sort out a parent’s affairs and the whole thing has stalled, we are happy to talk it through before you commit to anything.
Call us on 0208 515 2790, or send an enquiry and we will come back to you. If getting to our office is difficult, we can come to you: at home, in hospital, at a hospice or in a care home.
