Following ICAEW’s move to become an authorising body, which means accountants can provide the reserved legal service of probate, Swat UK polled three categories of firms earlier this year: those that had been authorised to conduct probate and estate administration; those who had undergone training but were not yet accredited; and those which had not expressed an interest.

The survey examined the firms’ attitude to the long-term growth potential for probate-related services; the main difficulties experienced or anticipated in becoming authorised; the number of clients and fees achieved (or expected) in the first twelve months, per authorised individual; the actual or expected pricing structure used by firms; and the attitude of local solicitors to the accountants’ entry into this market.

At the time there were 188 authorised firms, of which 25% provided responses. Of these, most (48%) had between one and five probate clients in the first year, while 27% had six to ten clients and 12% between 11 and 20 clients.

Most firms in this category had anticipated generating fee income per principal of up to £10,000 and had achieved this or more. Just 10% got probate work via the solicitors or banks acting as executors to estates.

The majority (72%) said their experience of offering probate services had matched their original expectations, while 41% were very positive and saw signs of growth ahead, and 35% anticipated modest growth. A smaller proportion (18%) felt probate services were a ‘slow burn, but only 4% said they were not a potential revenue stream.

Of those firms who had attended a two-day course to become accredited but were not yet authorised, 40% saw providing probate services as very positive for the accountancy profession, 30% expected modest growth in business, 18% saw it as a slow burn and 11% maintained it would not be a significant revenue stream.

A further 64 firms in the survey had neither had training nor considered becoming accredited, although 61% had already considered doing so and 23% said they may do so in future.

In general the survey found that there was a strong view that offering a probate service will compliment or even complete the services that firms provide to clients. For many, probate is seen as a new income stream which (over time) should generate a good contribution to the firm’s income.

The other key conclusion is that to be immediately successful it is essential that firms actively market their probate services. The results, and in particular individual comments, indicate that many firms have become accredited, or would like to do so, but have just not had time to launch the service properly.  Most had used a mix of website promotion, adverts in the local press and business flyers, but said it required time and effort to get the message across.

While many firms said they are nervous about the impact that offering this service might have on their relationship with local solicitors, the survey results indicate there has been very little impact. The surveys indicate that in most firms, probate work will be treated as a specialist area with a small team working on probate to start with. The majority of respondents have between one and three people authorised to conduct this work.

Those firms that are already providing the service tend to be charging based on time on-the-clock with a few using a mixture of time on-the-clock and a percentage of the gross estate value and a few charging a flat fee for simple cases.

The biggest deterrent to becoming authorised seems to be the actual application process and the fees that this entails, with several respondents commenting on the costs and complexities of the forms.

The swat UK probate survey is here.