Signum — the estate's paperwork, done properly, with every cost in writing first.

Intake

You tell us what's needed. A short intake — no documents to gather yet, and no charge for it.

Costs in writing first

We scope the actual matter and put our fee in writing first, never a percentage of the estate. For an estate, two written agreements: one with us, one with the regulated firm. You see both before you commit to either.

The work

Wills and LPAs are prepared by the desk. On an estate, Signum gathers the figures, chases the institutions and keeps the estate in order. The regulated firm makes the probate application and files any IHT400. By law.

Kept current

Optional. Where a matter leaves records worth maintaining, we keep them live — reviewed and refreshed, year after year.

Fixed-fee services

£95 — £1,395

Lasting powers of attorney, trusts and deeds of variation, estate and trust tax returns, executor work. Each at a published fixed fee for our own work, confirmed in writing. Where the law reserves a step to a regulated firm, a separate regulated firm does it, under its own agreement with you.

Wills

£149 — £229

A single will, or mirror wills for a couple. Drafted from your instructions — an unreserved service, and one the desk does itself.

Estate administration

£1,450 — £8,950

Estimated total, both agreements · court fee of £526 (England and Wales) on top

Grant only, or the whole estate end to end. Signum finds every account, policy and debt, chases banks, pensions and insurers, values what there is and sets it out in a schedule you confirm; after the grant, we help you collect, pay and distribute. A separate regulated firm, named in your quote, prepares and submits the probate application and any IHT400. Calls and enquiries are open now; estate work starts only once the written quote, from us and from the firm, is agreed.

• ✓Locate, gather and index your records to the Estate Standard 2026
• ✓Chase missing structural details — a missing policy number, an unrecorded account
• ✓Draft your will or lasting power of attorney from your instructions (an unreserved service)
• ✓Gather what an administration needs — assets, debts, valuations, dates, beneficiaries
• ✓Chase the institutions and prepare the inventories, chronology and factual schedules
• ✓Issue a Readiness Letter: what exists, what's missing, what to do next
• ✓Explain, in general terms, how inheritance tax, probate and LPAs work
• ✓After the grant, help you collect, settle and distribute — and keep your records current year after year

• →Preparing and submitting the probate application (a reserved legal activity)
• →The inheritance-tax account (IHT400), where one is needed for that application
• →The steps that turn on legal judgment — entitlement, capacity, a trust, a disputed will
• →Deeds relating to the estate — a deed of variation, a declaration of trust — generally reserved
• →Anything before a court — a caveat, a contested will, a Court of Protection application
• →Personal financial recommendations — arranged separately, with a regulated adviser
• →Acting as your executor, attorney or trustee — Signum never takes the role

Most of the work an estate needs — gathering, valuing, chasing institutions, drafting a will or a lasting power of attorney — needs no licence, and Signum does it. For an estate you sign two written agreements, never one. The first is with Valoren, for the groundwork Signum does itself. The second is with a separate regulated firm, for the probate application and, where one is needed, the inheritance tax account. The firm is named in your written quote. Both agreements, with both prices, are put in front of you before you commit to either. A deed, anything before a court, and personal recommendations on pensions, investments or insurance are never done by the desk: a solicitor or regulated adviser does them, under their own agreement with you. Valoren is not a law firm and is not regulated: no regulator, no Legal Ombudsman and no compensation fund cover our part. The firm's part is covered by its own regulator and the Legal Ombudsman. The regulated work is always done by the regulated party.

A free assistant that explains how it all works, drafts your will from your answers, and helps organise what you have — then hands the rest to the desk, which quotes in writing before any work begins. Where the law reserves a step — the probate application — a separate regulated firm does it, under its own agreement with you. Personal recommendations on pensions, investments or insurance come from a regulated financial adviser you engage directly.

• ✓Explains inheritance tax, probate, LPAs and the rest in plain terms
• ✓Drafts a will from your instructions (unreserved)
• ✓Helps organise and name your records to ES-2026
• ✓Flags what's missing and what to ask a professional about

It never makes a personal financial recommendation and never does reserved legal work itself. Where the law reserves a step — the probate application — a separate regulated firm does it, under its own agreement with you.