Will writing, LPAs and probate in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Personal, professional estate planning across Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding villages — at your kitchen table, on your schedule.
Royal Tunbridge Wells is the largest town in the area, an affluent spa town on the Kent–East Sussex border with a fan of villages spread out across the High Weald to its south and east. From my base I regularly visit clients in Pembury, Matfield, Brenchley, Lamberhurst, Frant, Capel, and Five Oak 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Tunbridge Wells
“When my mother passed away, the thought of dealing with probate on top of everything else felt impossible. Emma came out to the house in Matfield, talked us through the whole process over a pot of tea, and then quietly got on with it. She even drove back over on a Saturday morning to pick up some paperwork we'd forgotten.”
Probate in the Tunbridge Wells area
For families across Royal Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Brenchley and the surrounding High Weald villages, administering a parent’s estate is rarely the kind of paperwork you can tackle alone in the evenings. The values involved are too high, the deadlines too unforgiving, and the emotional weight too heavy to add to everything else that comes with a bereavement.
Probate in the Tunbridge Wells area is shaped by one dominant factor: property. A long-held family home in TW, Pembury or Matfield is very likely to be the largest single asset in the estate, and very likely to push the total above the inheritance tax threshold. That changes the process. Instead of a relatively simple application for a Grant, you’re dealing with HMRC, with valuations that have to stand up to scrutiny, and with reliefs and allowances — the residence nil-rate band, transferable allowances from a predeceased spouse — that can save the family tens of thousands of pounds if they’re claimed correctly, or cost them just as much if they’re missed.
I’m a will writer, not a solicitor, and I price probate the way I think it should be priced: not as a percentage of the estate, but as a fixed fee for the work we agree, quoted in writing before I start, with no hourly add-ons and no padded disbursements. That might be a fixed-fee review of the will and the estate so you know what you’re actually facing, support with the specific jobs you’d rather not take on, or the wider administration handled for a fixed quotation. High-street firms more commonly charge a percentage of the estate and then bill their time on top by the hour, so the figure you agree to at the outset isn’t the figure you end up paying — and around here that percentage is really a charge on the value of the house, not on the work the estate needs.
Three scenarios where my probate service is particularly useful for families in the area:
- Higher-value estates pushing into IHT territory — where a Pembury or Frant home, combined with savings and investments, takes the estate above the nil-rate band and HMRC needs a full inheritance tax account before the Grant can be issued.
- Estates with a second home or holiday let — common in the Tunbridge Wells–Lamberhurst–Brenchley belt, and a complication that needs careful handling for capital gains as well as IHT.
- Adult children administering a parent’s estate from a distance — often from London or further afield, where having someone local who can attend the family home, meet valuers, and coordinate with the executors saves a great deal of back-and-forth.
In practical terms, we start with a free phone consultation — no obligation — and I’ll walk you through what’s likely to be involved and give you a clear quote before you commit to anything. If you’d like me to take it on, there’s no separate charge for coming out to you, and I deal with HMRC for any inheritance tax, value the assets, settle the liabilities, and distribute the estate to the beneficiaries. 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. Probate Registry fees are payable separately. How long the whole thing takes depends on the estate and on HMCTS’s current processing times, so I’d rather tell you where those stand when we speak than quote you a figure here — what I will promise is that I keep you updated at every stage, so you’re never left wondering where things stand.
Questions from Royal Tunbridge Wells clients
Which villages around Tunbridge Wells do you cover?
I cover Royal Tunbridge Wells itself and the villages spread out across the High Weald to the south and east — Pembury, Matfield, Brenchley, Lamberhurst, Frant, Capel, and Five Oak Green. Home visits to all of these are included in the price I quote, with no extra travel charge for the smaller villages. If you live just outside that list and aren't sure whether you're in my area, give me a call — most of the time the answer is yes, and if it isn't I can usually point you in the right direction.
How does your probate fee compare to using a Tunbridge Wells solicitor?
I don't charge a percentage of the estate at all — 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. Whichever you choose is quoted in writing before I start and unchanged as the work goes on. High-street firms more commonly charge a percentage of the estate and then bill their time on top at an hourly rate, so the final figure isn't knowable at the point you agree to it — it grows with every letter and every phone call. If you're comparing quotes, ask whether the hourly charges sit inside the percentage or alongside it. The work itself is the same either way: valuing the estate, dealing with HMRC, and distributing to the beneficiaries.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Tunbridge Wells?
Yes — I'm available seven days a week, including evenings, and there's no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. Many of the working families I see in Tunbridge Wells find an evening appointment after work much easier than trying to take time off, and weekend visits suit clients who want a grown-up son or daughter present for the conversation. Probate in particular tends to involve coordinating several family members at once, so being flexible on when and where we meet usually makes the whole thing run a great deal more smoothly.
My parents' estate is likely to be over the inheritance tax threshold — does that complicate probate?
It adds steps but it isn't unusual round here, where a long-held Tunbridge Wells home can easily push an estate above the nil-rate band. I prepare the full inheritance tax account for HMRC, claim any transferable allowance from a predeceased spouse, and apply the residence nil-rate band where the family home is passing to direct descendants. The IHT must be settled before the Grant is issued, so getting the figures right first time matters — I'll walk you through what's owed, when, and what reliefs apply before anything goes in.
I'm helping my elderly parents in Pembury or Brenchley sort out their affairs — can you visit them at home?
Of course. Older clients almost always prefer to sort these things out somewhere familiar rather than travelling into town, so the questions come on paper and over the phone, at their own pace, and I come out to them when the documents are ready to sign — no office appointment at any stage. You're very welcome to sit in on the conversation if your parents want you there, and I'm happy to fit appointments around relatives travelling down from London or further afield. Whether it's a will refresh, new LPAs, or probate, we always start with a free no-obligation phone consultation so we can talk through the situation and agree a quote before anything is arranged in person.
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.