Will writing, LPAs and probate in Rye
Personal, professional estate planning across Rye and the surrounding East Sussex villages — at your kitchen table, on your schedule.
Rye is a historic Cinque Port on the East Sussex coast, surrounded by the villages of Romney Marsh and the Rother Levels. From my base I regularly visit clients in Northiam, Beckley, Peasmarsh, Broad Oak, and Ewhurst Green. The signing visit is included in the quoted price wherever you are on that list — 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 happen mostly on the phone, at whatever time of day suits you, and the signing happens over a cup of tea at your own kitchen table — evenings and weekends if that's what works, with no office visits and no rushed appointments.
Services available in Rye
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Rye or the surrounding villages.
Wills & related documents
Will Writing
From £225
A will drafted from scratch for your circumstances, signed and witnessed properly at your own kitchen table.
Read more →Mirror Wills for Couples
£400 per couple
A coordinated pair of wills for a couple whose wishes broadly match, drafted together so they agree with each other.
Read more →Trust Wills
Price on consultation
Ringfence your share of the family home so your partner can go on living there and your children still inherit it.
Read more →Letter of Wishes
£35 with a will / £85 standalone
The personal guidance that sits alongside your will — funeral preferences, bequests, and notes for guardians.
Read more →Will Review
£95
A read-through of the will you already have, whoever wrote it, and an honest answer on whether it still works.
Read more →Codicils
From £125
A signed, witnessed addition to an existing will, where the change is straightforward enough not to need a new one.
Read more →Powers of attorney & health decisions
Lasting Powers of Attorney
From £275 (plus OPG fees)
Let people you trust make health or financial decisions for you if you ever can't make them yourself.
Read more →LPA Reviews & Revocations
From £95
Check, change or revoke a registered LPA that no longer says what you need it to say.
Read more →General Power of Attorney
From £195
Financial authority for someone who has capacity now — a spell abroad, a stay in hospital, a property sale.
Read more →Advance Decision (Living Will)
£195 one person / £300 per couple
A written, legally binding refusal of specified medical treatment, so your wishes are known if you cannot say them.
Read more →Probate & estate administration
Executor & Estate Review
£195
What the will means, what you actually have to do, and whether a grant of probate is needed at all.
Read more →Estate Administration Support
Quoted for the work agreed
Help with as much or as little of an administration you're running yourself.
Read more →Comprehensive Estate Administration
From £2,500
Everything from registering the death to distributing the estate, apart from the Grant application, which stays with the executor.
Read more →Other documents
A recent client near Rye
“When my father died, Emma came out to Peasmarsh to talk us through probate at the kitchen table — including the second home he'd kept on the south coast. She handled the HMRC paperwork and kept us informed throughout, even popping back one Saturday morning with the final papers.”
Probate in the Rye area
Losing a parent or partner around Rye, Northiam or Peasmarsh often means inheriting not just memories but a period home, sometimes a second property elsewhere, and the daunting prospect of probate at a moment when nobody has the energy for paperwork. Probate is the legal process of proving a will and getting authority to deal with the estate — collecting in assets, paying debts and tax, and distributing what’s left to the beneficiaries. It sounds straightforward and, with the right hands on it, it is. Done wrong, it can drag on for over a year.
Rye and its surrounding villages skew older, and estate values here tend to sit comfortably above the national average — period property in a Cinque Port and the surrounding Romney Marsh and Rother Levels villages doesn’t come cheap. That combination is exactly where careful, locally responsive probate help earns its keep. The typical Rye estate I’m asked to help with looks something like this:
- A substantial single Wealden or coastal property — usually the family home — that pushes the estate close to or above the inheritance tax threshold and needs proper valuation and HMRC handling.
- A second home or inherited property in another county, which is more common around Rye than further inland and adds an extra valuation, sometimes a different agent, and careful capital-gains attention.
- Out-of-area beneficiaries — adult children who long ago moved to London, the Home Counties or further afield and need a single, calm point of contact while the estate is administered.
My probate fees aren’t a percentage of the estate. Where a solicitor’s percentage arrives with hourly fees, VAT and disbursements added on top, mine is a fixed figure quoted in writing before any work begins, so it’s entirely transparent from day one. Plenty of executors start with a fixed-fee review of the will and the estate and find that’s all they need. Where you’d rather hand it over, the wider administration covers the HMRC inheritance-tax paperwork, dealing with banks, valuers and any agents, settling liabilities, and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries — quoted as a fixed figure once I know what’s involved. Where a Grant of Probate is required, the executor makes the application directly to HMCTS as a personal applicant — it’s a reserved legal activity under the Legal Services Act 2007, so it isn’t something I can do for you or charge you for. I provide practical guidance around the process and continue to assist with the wider administration of the estate, before and after the Grant. In between, I’ll take on as many or as few of those jobs as you want, for a fee agreed in writing first. Probate Registry fees are paid separately at cost, and you’ll see every figure clearly itemised before anything is signed. We start with a free no-obligation phone call so you can describe the estate and receive a clear written quote before committing to anything — and once you decide to go ahead, there’s no separate charge for coming out to you anywhere in the Rye area. No office, no hourly billing, no surprises at the end.
Questions from Rye clients
Which villages around Rye do you cover?
I cover Rye itself and the surrounding East Sussex villages, including Northiam, Beckley, Peasmarsh, Broad Oak and Ewhurst Green. There's no additional charge for visiting any of these — the signing visit is included in the quoted price, whether you're in the centre of Rye, out on Romney Marsh, or across the Rother Levels. If you're slightly outside this list and not sure whether you're in catchment, give me a ring and we'll sort it out — in practice I rarely turn anyone in the Rye area away.
Why use a will writer rather than a solicitor for probate around Rye?
Solicitors typically charge a percentage of the estate with hourly fees, VAT and disbursements billed on top, so the final figure isn't knowable at the point you instruct them. On the kind of period properties common around Rye, Northiam and Peasmarsh, that open-ended structure is worth avoiding. I don't charge a percentage of the estate — there's a fixed fee for an initial executor and estate review, a quoted fee for whichever jobs you'd like help with, and a fixed quotation for the full administration, all in writing before I start, with the Probate Registry fees paid separately at cost. Where I'm handling it throughout, that means the application, the HMRC paperwork for any inheritance tax, and the distribution to beneficiaries.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Rye?
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, with no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. Probate conversations often involve several family members, and getting everyone around the same table in Rye usually means an evening or a weekend. I'm happy to fit around school runs, work commitments or relatives travelling down from London or further afield. Whatever suits the family best — I'll come to you, whether that's a Tuesday evening after work or a quiet Sunday morning with the whole family present.
My late father's estate includes a second home outside Kent — does that complicate probate?
It's more common than people think around Rye, where second homes and inherited property elsewhere in the country are part of the local pattern. A second property doesn't fundamentally change the process, but it does mean an extra valuation, careful attention to capital gains and inheritance tax exposure, and sometimes liaison with agents in the other county. I handle all of that as part of the standard probate service — there's no surcharge for an estate that crosses county lines, and the flat fee is calculated on the total estate and quoted before I start.
I'm helping an elderly parent in Northiam or Beckley — can you visit them at home?
Yes. The detail is gathered by questionnaire and phone, which spares an older parent a formal appointment, and then I come out to them to sign — I'm in Northiam, Beckley and the smaller villages around Rye regularly. Family members are very welcome to be present, and I'm happy to coordinate appointments around relatives travelling in from outside the area. There's no obligation after the first conversation — we'll talk through the options and you can take your time deciding.
What does it cost to get everything sorted in one go?
Most couples choose the Complete Peace of Mind Package — mirror wills, both types of LPA for both partners, and letters of wishes. That's six professionally drafted documents in one process, and it works out cheaper than arranging each piece separately. I'll give you the exact figure on our first phone call, and OPG registration fees are payable separately to the government.