Personal, professional estate planning across Battle and the surrounding East Sussex villages — at your home, on your schedule.
Battle is the historic small town on the East Sussex coast hinterland, surrounded by a cluster of villages between Robertsbridge and Hastings. From my base I regularly visit clients in Sedlescombe, Mountfield, Bodiam, Westfield, and Brede. Home visits to all of these are included in the quoted price — there's no extra travel charge for the smaller villages.
I'm Emma Wrigley — a law graduate with over 20 years in the legal sector — and I set up Kent Legacy Planning because estate planning should fit around your life, not the other way around. The conversations I have with clients are usually held over a cup of tea at the kitchen table, on an evening or weekend if that's what works, with no office visits and no rushed appointments.
All prices include home visits across Battle and the surrounding villages.
From £225
A professionally drafted will that clearly expresses your wishes, protects your assets, and provides for your loved ones with legal certainty. Includes a free phone consultation, a home visit for detailed instructions, careful drafting tailored to your circumstances, and a signing appointment at your home with proper witnessing.
£350
Coordinated wills for partners that reflect shared wishes while accounting for individual circumstances. One phone consultation, a home visit for joint instructions, two complete wills, and a signing appointment at your kitchen table.
£275 per document
Ensure trusted people can make important decisions on your behalf for health, welfare, and financial matters if you're ever unable to. I guide you through every step including registration with the Office of the Public Guardian. OPG registration fee of £92 per document is payable separately.
Free with will / £85 standalone
A personal document to guide your executors on matters close to your heart — funeral preferences, personal bequests, and messages to loved ones. Included free with every will, or £85 as a standalone document.
£595 per couple
Protect your share of the family home while ensuring your partner can continue living there — safeguarding assets for future generations. Includes severance of joint tenancy so your property is properly structured for the trust to work.
1.5% of estate value
Practical, compassionate help administering an estate after a loved one has died. I handle the paperwork — applying for the Grant of Probate, valuing assets, dealing with banks and HMRC, settling liabilities, and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries — so the family doesn't have to. Transparent percentage pricing, far below typical solicitor rates. Probate Registry fees are payable separately.
A recent client near Battle
“Emma came out to Sedlescombe to help me sort out probate after my husband died, which I'd been dreading. She handled the HMRC forms and the bank paperwork so I didn't have to, and explained everything over a cup of tea at the kitchen table.”
For families around Battle, Sedlescombe, Bodiam and the neighbouring villages, probate usually arrives at a difficult moment — a parent has died, the family home is sitting empty, and the paperwork starts piling up before anyone has had a chance to grieve. The typical estate I help with in this area looks much the same from one household to the next: a retired couple, a family home owned outright in a desirable corner of East Sussex, modest savings and investments, perhaps a small pension pot still to claim.
That profile matters because it sets the price. Estates around Battle are rarely small. A two- or three-bedroom home between Brede and Westfield can easily push the estate value into the £500,000–£750,000 range before any savings are counted, and that’s typical of the area, not exceptional. Solicitors handling a probate of that size will usually quote a percentage of the estate plus hourly fees for the executor work — a combination that can run well into five figures for an otherwise straightforward case. My fee is a flat 1.5% of the estate value with no hourly charges on top, which on most Battle estates is materially less than a solicitor would charge for the same work.
The three situations where I’m most often called in:
What’s included for the 1.5% is the full executor service — registering the death with banks and providers, valuing the estate for HMRC, preparing and submitting the probate application, dealing with any inheritance tax, calling in the assets, settling liabilities, and distributing to the beneficiaries. We start with a free no-obligation phone consultation so you know exactly what’s involved before committing — once you decide to proceed, the home visits are included in the fee. Probate Registry fees and any inheritance tax due are payable separately to the government. I’ll give you a written estimate before any work starts so you know exactly where you stand.
I cover Battle itself and all of the surrounding villages, including Sedlescombe, Mountfield, Bodiam, Westfield, and Brede. There's no additional charge for visiting any of them — home visits are included in the quoted price, and I'm happy to travel to whichever address makes the conversation easiest. For executors dealing with a probate matter that's particularly important, since there are often boxes of paperwork at the family home that are far simpler to work through in situ than to box up and bring anywhere else.
Most estates around Battle are dominated by a family home in a desirable part of East Sussex, which means the estate value is often well into six figures even for modest households. Solicitors typically charge a percentage of the estate plus hourly fees on top, which can add up quickly. My probate fee is a flat 1.5% of the estate value, with no hidden hourly charges. On a typical Battle estate that's materially cheaper, and you get the same careful handling of HMRC, asset valuations, and beneficiary distribution.
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. Families dealing with probate often need to coordinate around working children travelling down to Battle from London or further afield, so a Saturday morning or a weekday evening can work better than office hours. If you're an executor juggling probate alongside your own job and family, I'll always fit the appointment around your schedule rather than the other way round, and I'll travel to whichever address in the area works best on the day.
Probate timelines have stretched since HMCTS centralised the service — straightforward applications currently take around 16 weeks from submission, longer if HMRC inheritance tax is involved. The Grant itself has to be in hand before the family home can be sold or transferred, so I prioritise getting a clean application in early. In the meantime I deal with the bank accounts, life policies, and utility companies so the smaller pieces of the estate are moving forward while we wait for the Grant to arrive.
Of course — most of my older clients prefer to discuss these matters in their own front room, and that's especially important for anyone with mobility difficulties or who finds an unfamiliar office stressful. Adult children are very welcome to be present, and I'll happily coordinate a time when a son or daughter can travel down to Westfield, Brede, or wherever your parent lives. There's never any pressure to decide on the day — I leave written information behind so families can talk it over before committing.
Most couples choose the Complete Peace of Mind Package at £1,195 — mirror wills, both types of LPA for both partners, and letters of wishes. That's six professionally drafted documents in one process. OPG registration fees (£368 for four LPAs) are payable separately to the government.
