How we chose
We drew up twenty-nine Telford candidates for wills and probate work, researched a dozen in depth and ranked the ten that met our three eligibility requirements: each firm is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and it holds SRA regulation. Two will-writing businesses fell outside that last requirement and appear below as researched but not assessed. We looked first at what customers say, professional standing counts next, and trading history, stated cover, pricing clarity and website detail make up the rest. Memberships were sourced from the SRA register, each firm's own site and review platforms where shown [1] [3]. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Start by matching the professional to the job. A solicitor is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, appears on its public register and answers to a formal complaints route ending at the Legal Ombudsman [1] [9]. A will writer is not a solicitor and is not on that register; the established ones instead join the Society of Will Writers, which sets standards for its members [10]. For a straightforward will either route can work, while tangled affairs — a business, property abroad, a second family, a trust for a vulnerable dependant — sit more naturally with a regulated practice.
Check regulation before you book. Type the firm name into the SRA register search and open the matching entry: it confirms regulation, the SRA number and any closure or prohibition history [1]. No result means no record, which the register says is not safe to read as regulated [1]. To find a specialist, use the Law Society's Find a Solicitor search filtered to wills, trusts and probate, or the STEP directory to find a Trust and Estate Practitioner by name, area and practice [3] [4]. Match the name, address and phone on the firm's site against the register entry.
Telford adds its own first steps after a death. The death is registered in person at the Register Office in Wellington, by appointment, once the medical paperwork is through [12]. At that appointment the registrar explains Tell Us Once, which notifies government departments and the council in one go and must be used within four weeks of the reference [13]. An empty property in the borough usually pays no council tax until probate is granted, with a further six months free while it stays empty and unsold [14].
Press every firm for the same written quote. Solicitors that advertise uncontested probate must already publish the building blocks on their site: the total cost or a range, the charging basis, likely disbursements, the VAT position, what is included with key stages and timescales, and who will do the work [2]. Your own quote should carry all of that for your matter: the assets and documents covered, fixed or hourly fee with a cap, each disbursement such as the court fee and extra sealed copies, whether VAT sits on top, and a start date with a timescale [5] [2]. Firms with no website must still supply this detail on request [2].
For a will, take a list of your assets, your chosen executors and guardians, and any funeral wishes to the first meeting; the draft should come back for you to read before anything is signed and witnessed. Ask where the signed original will live — many solicitors store wills free of charge — and tell your executors the location [7]. Pair the will with lasting powers of attorney if you have none: each one carries a registration fee to lodge with the Office of the Public Guardian, which takes around two months to register a clean application [6]. You can also list the will on the National Will Register so executors can trace it later [7].
After a death, ask whether you need a grant at all: banks and share registrars each set their own threshold, while land and larger holdings almost always need one. The court fee is fixed by the government and sits outside the solicitor's bill — nothing to pay for the smallest estates, a set fee above the threshold, with extra copies costing less when ordered alongside the application [5]. Then choose grant-only help, where you do the legwork, or full estate administration, where the firm values assets, settles debts, prepares estate accounts and distributes to beneficiaries.
Where the property stands can shape the probate workload. The Severn Gorge conservation area covers Ironbridge and its neighbours with tighter planning control, and Wellington has its own conservation area, so an estate sale in either place can need extra conveyancing care [16]. Period terraces in towns like Dawley and Madeley sit at one end of the borough's stock and new-builds at Lawley at the other, each with its own title paperwork — so name the property's street and age at first contact [17] [18].
A typical instruction runs the same course. First contact sets out the people and assets involved; the firm answers with scope, price and timescale in an engagement letter; drafts or applications come back for approval at each stage; sign-off leaves signed documents and storage or grant papers in your hands. Keep every letter until the matter closes — an Ombudsman complaint would rest on them [9].
Close the file properly. Leave with the signed will or a certified copy, the storage letter, registered powers of attorney where made, the grant with enough sealed copies for every bank and registrar, and final estate accounts showing money in and out. Read the accounts before you sign them off and keep the bundle with your house papers. If the service falls short, complain to the firm first — every regulated practice must publish its complaints procedure with the Ombudsman and SRA route [2] — then take an unresolved complaint to the Legal Ombudsman [9].
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, a Which? survey from the previous spring found people paying £287 on average to make a will, rising to £328 among those who used a lawyer, while will-writing firms typically started at around £100 [7] [8]. The Telford firms in this round that publish will prices show the same spread: from £200 plus VAT for a single will at one practice and £300 at another, to £550 plus VAT for a simple will with full fee booklets at a third. Wills with property abroad or a dependant to provide for cost more, because the advice behind the drafting takes longer [8].
Lasting powers of attorney carry the solicitor's drafting fee plus the registration fee for each document lodged with the Office of the Public Guardian [6]. The registration fee is set by the government with reductions for lower incomes, and a clean application takes around two months to come back stamped [6].
For probate, the court fee is fixed by the government and sits outside the solicitor's bill — nothing for the smallest estates, £526 above the threshold since July 2026, with extra copies costing less alongside the application [5] [12]. Above that, grant-only help in this round starts from under a thousand pounds plus VAT, while one regional team publishes hourly rates from just over two hundred pounds to just over seven hundred plus VAT. Stopped applications — missing papers, errors, tax mismatches — take far longer to clear, which sits behind higher estimates for tangled estates [12].
Complexity moves the price most. Which? recommends a solicitor where there is a business, overseas property, support for a dependant who cannot support themselves, or likely inheritance tax on the estate [8]. Contested estates, missing paperwork, property to sell alongside the administration, and beneficiaries who cannot agree all add hours. A trust will costs more than a simple one, and full estate administration costs far more than a grant-only application.
VAT and disbursements decide whether quotes compare. VAT applies at the standard rate [11], while the SRA requires published probate prices to state the VAT position, likely disbursements and key stages with timescales [2]. Get the charging basis, any cap, each disbursement and the timescale in writing before you instruct. If money is tight, Will Aid offers free November solicitor appointments for a charity donation, and Free Wills Month covers solicitor-drafted wills for the over fifty-fives each spring and autumn [8].
Red flags
Calls itself a solicitor or firm of solicitors but returns no matching entry when you search the SRA register [1].
Advertises wills or probate work yet publishes no prices, though price information for uncontested probate has been required for years [2].
Quotes a fixed fee that names no scope, no disbursements and no VAT position [2].
Will not say who will handle your matter or what that person is qualified in, though published prices must carry exactly that [2].
Asks for the full fee in cash before any work starts, with no written terms.
Publishes no complaints procedure and no route to the Legal Ombudsman on its site [2] [9].
Pressures you to sign the will at the first meeting without time to read the draft.
Offers to store your will yet gives no storage letter or receipt saying where the original lives [7].
Will not say how long each stage is likely to take, though published probate prices must carry timescales [2].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.