About Us

At Clear Probate, we are a specialist non-contentious probate practitioner firm. We are an inclusive organisation that welcomes everyone through the door. The company, Clear Probate Limited, is founded and operated by Adrian Hargreaves who is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax Advisor and Non-Contentious Probate Practitioner. Adrian is publisher of the Clear Probate DIY Probate Pack available to all individuals wishing to complete probate on their own. Adrian is also the Co-founder of an accountancy firm called Everyday Accountants General Partnership which may support any clients with more complicated estates who need accountancy and taxation services such as income and capital gains tax returns along with tax planning.

Clear Probate Limited is regulated by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICEAW). ICAEW were approved by The Law Society in 2014 to be an approved regulator for the reserved legal activity of Non-Contentious Probate. This sent shockwaves into the legal profession as it enabled Chartered Accountants, such as Adrian Hargreaves, to specialise and become probate practitioners.

The ICAEW’s regulatory acceptance is rooted on improving access to justice and increasing competition in a sector where valuable information has been too inaccessible and too expensive. Adrian Hargreaves was in the first few hundred accountancy firms to branch into probate services from his accountancy practice, Everyday Accountants (www.everydayaccountants.co.uk), pioneering a new wave of professionals in the sector upholding the ICAEW’s institutional values and code of ethics with probate services. Additionally, Adrian Hargreaves is one of few Chartered Accountants to specialise in Non-Contentious Probate with Clear Probate Limited as a separate trading business facing direct competition against law firms who have monopolised the industry for too long.

Whilst most UK citizens associate probate services with being the work of solicitors’, in actual fact, a large proportion of work is rooted in taxation and the completion of paperwork such as Inheritance tax returns and Estate tax returns. Furthermore, the work is heavily process-based with an essential need to be methodical and organised; which is the typical skillset and work you would associate with accountants. Over time, this may create a new understanding in the industry that non-contentious probate will eventually become the day-to-day work of accountants and solicitors are specialising more in contentious probate.

Whilst many will say probate is extremely complicated work, it is often relatively straightforward to obtain the grant of probate yourself. In fact, over half of applications into the probate registry are by individuals rather than through an accountant or solicitor.

The half of probate applications completed by individuals may benefit from our DIY Probate Pack to help guide them. The probate application will still be in the individual’s name even with our upgraded Probate Support package whereby we complete the application on your behalf. Alternatively, we can complete the whole process with our Estate Administration service allowing you to focus on what matters most.