Legal Secretary- Estates in Royal Tunbridge Wells

We are looking for an experienced Legal Secretary to join our Estates team, supporting fee earners on probate and estate administration matters. This is a varied and detail-focused role, ideal for someone who enjoys providing high-quality support while working closely with clients during sensitive and often emotional times.

The role

You will play a key part in ensuring probate and estate administration matters progress smoothly, providing proactive administrative and legal support to solicitors and acting as a professional point of contact for clients, executors and beneficiaries.

Key responsibilities

• Providing comprehensive diary management for fee earners, including arranging meetings, calls and travel.
• Acting as a first point of contact for clients, executors and beneficiaries, handling calls and correspondence with professionalism and discretion.
• Liaising with third parties including HMRC, the Probate Registry, banks and the Land Registry.
• Drafting standard correspondence, letters of authority and completing closure and encashment forms.
• Preparing and processing accounts documentation, including payment and receipt forms, and assisting with basic estate financial administration.
• Opening and closing probate files in line with firm procedures and regulatory requirements.
• Collating and maintaining accurate client, beneficiary and estate information, including bank details and identification documentation.
• Logging and tracking key documents such as wills and Grants of Probate, and managing key dates throughout the estate administration process.
• Conducting bankruptcy searches and supporting due diligence requirements.
• Uploading and managing documents using HighQ or similar document management systems.
• Maintaining Excel spreadsheets, including estate account updates and tracking information.
• Supporting fee earners with meeting preparation, document collation and business development activity where required.

About you

You will have previous experience as a legal secretary, ideally within private client or probate work. You are confident dealing with clients and third parties and understand the importance of sensitivity and confidentiality. You are highly organised, accurate and comfortable managing multiple priorities. You have strong IT skills, including Word and Excel, and are confident producing correspondence and spreadsheets. You are a team player with a calm, professional approach and a strong client-service ethos. You’ll be part of a supportive and collaborative Private Wealth team, working on high-quality probate and estate administration matters and providing meaningful support to clients at important times in their lives.