A UK costs judge has ruled that a law firm was not entitled to charge an estate more than £53,000 for professional services provided while acting as an executor because the deceased’s will did not contain a clause expressly allowing the professional executor to receive remuneration.

The decision in Royal Holloway and Bedford New College v QLaw Legal Services Limited [2026] EWHC 2090 (SCCO) concerned a dispute over fees claimed by QLaw Legal Services Limited in connection with the administration of the estate of Margaret Anne Selby.

The appointment of the professional executors

Margaret Anne Selby died on 20 November 2022. Her will, made on 12 March 2020, appointed her friend Patricia Malcher together with the directors of Quantick Daley Solicitors as executors. Quantick Daley Solicitors was a trading name of QLaw Legal Services Limited. Neil Quantick, the firm’s sole director, accepted the appointment and acted as a joint executor of the estate.

The will, however, did not contain an express charging clause authorising the professional executors to charge the estate for their time and professional services. Despite the absence of such a provision, QLaw subsequently rendered bills to the estate for Mr Quantick’s work in administering it. The bills totalled £53,187.60. The dispute eventually reached the Senior Courts Costs Office after Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, the residuary beneficiary of the estate, challenged the firm’s entitlement to the fees.

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The central legal issue

The fundamental issue was whether QLaw had a legal entitlement to charge for the work at all.

The court considered the position of professional executors under the applicable legal framework, including section 29(2) of the Trustee Act 2000. The provision can permit remuneration in certain circumstances where the necessary agreement exists between the trustees.

In this case, however, there was no charging clause in the will, and the co-executor had not entered into the written agreement required to establish QLaw’s entitlement to remuneration under the statutory route relied upon. As a result, the court found that QLaw had no present right to charge the estate for Mr Quantick’s professional services as executor.