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This will be a complete nightmare for clients and solicitors will be blamed for it - it will just be part of the "enormous costs my solicitor charged me for dealing with a simple estate". The government have always claimed that they never want a husband/wife to be in any worse position as a result of the death of one of them (hence IHT spouse exemption) but if the house is in the name of one of them or not held as joint tenants the survivor could be up to £6,000 worse off.
Are we now to advise these clients to make sure they hold their property as joint tenants which may not tie in with other IHT planning ?
The increase in fees is not required to fund the service as it has been quite adequately financed by the existing fees. It is another stealth tax to fund other government requirements and should be blocked.
If it is not will the whole range of fees be provided on a website together with the CV's of those persons providing the additional services which are going to be provided and their qualifications to do so ?