What is the probate application fee?
Every application for a grant of representation, whether a grant of probate where there is a will or letters of administration where there is not, is made to the Probate Registry, part of HM Courts and Tribunals Service. The Registry charges an application fee, fixed by the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order. The current figure, and the estate value below which no fee is charged, are on the GOV.UK probate fees page listed in the sources below. The fee is the same whether the application is made by a professional or by the executors themselves.
Additional official copies of the grant are charged per copy, at the rate on the same GOV.UK page. Executors usually need several, because each bank, investment manager and insurer wants to see a sealed copy before releasing funds, and sending them out in parallel is faster than sending one copy round in turn.
That is the whole of what the court charges. Everything else that people call the cost of probate is either tax, a third-party charge, or professional time. The application fee is rarely the largest of the three and is never the reason two estates of similar size end up costing very different amounts.
What actually drives the cost of an estate?
Three things, in order of weight. First, whether inheritance tax is payable. A taxable estate needs a full inheritance tax account on form IHT400 with its supporting schedules, submitted to HMRC before the grant can be applied for. Section 109(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 bars a grant except on production of excepted estate information, or of an account showing that the tax payable on delivery has been paid or that none is payable, and section 226(2) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 requires the personal representatives to pay what they are liable for on delivery of the account. In practice HMRC sends a code once it is satisfied, and since 17 January 2024 the probate application cannot be submitted without it (checked 20 September 2026). For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, an excepted estate, broadly one below the thresholds or passing to a spouse or charity, reports its values through the probate application alone (Inheritance Tax (Delivery of Accounts) (Excepted Estates) Regulations 2004 as amended by SI 2021/1167, checked 19 September 2026). The difference in work is large.
Second, whether the estate includes property. A house needs a formal valuation at the date of death, has to be insured and maintained while empty, and then has to be sold or transferred to a beneficiary. Each of those is a separate task with its own timetable and its own third-party charges. Selling an inherited home explains the sequence.
Third, how many separate asset holders there are. Each bank, building society, pension provider, share registrar, insurer and premium bond holding has its own form, its own identity requirements and its own turnaround. An estate with one current account and no tax is a short piece of work. An estate with a house, six investment accounts, a taxable value and beneficiaries in three countries is a different exercise entirely, and the professional fee follows the work, not the headline value.
Two other factors move the cost. A will that is unclear, out of date or contested adds correspondence and sometimes court time. Beneficiaries who cannot be found, or who are minors, add tracing, indemnity insurance and trust work. A clear will, an up-to-date list of assets and executors who answer emails is the cheapest estate there is.
Which third-party fees should executors expect?
None of these are set by us and none are paid to us. They are paid by the estate to the body concerned, and a good estimate at the outset lists every one that applies so that executors are not surprised later. Not every estate incurs every item.
Inheritance tax, where the estate is over the thresholds, is the largest by a distance. It is due six months after the end of the month in which the death occurred, and interest runs on anything unpaid after that (sections 226(1) and 233(1)(b) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984). Tax on land can be paid in ten equal yearly instalments by written election under section 227, but interest still runs on the instalments for an ordinary house, and a sale makes the unpaid tax payable at once (section 227(4), checked 19 September 2026). Where the money to pay it is locked in the estate, banks will usually pay HMRC directly from the deceased's account under the direct payment scheme before the grant issues.
| Charge | Paid to | When it arises |
|---|---|---|
| Probate application fee | HM Courts and Tribunals Service | Every estate above the no-fee threshold |
| Official copies of the grant | HM Courts and Tribunals Service | Every estate; one per asset holder is usual |
| Inheritance tax and any interest | HMRC | Estates over the thresholds after reliefs |
| Property valuation | A RICS-registered valuer | Estates with a house or land; HMRC expects an open market valuation at the date of death |
| Statutory notices to creditors | The Gazette and a local newspaper | Recommended in most estates; protects executors under section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 |
| Bankruptcy searches against beneficiaries | HM Land Registry, Land Charges Department | Before any distribution |
| HM Land Registry fee on an assent or transfer | HM Land Registry, set by the fee order | Where property is transferred to a beneficiary rather than sold |
| Missing beneficiary or missing will indemnity insurance | An insurer | Where a beneficiary cannot be traced or the original will is lost |
| Unclaimed assets and lost policy searches | Search providers | Where the deceased's records are incomplete |
| Empty property insurance and clearance | Insurer; clearance contractor | Estates with a house standing empty |
| Conveyancing on the estate property | The conveyancer acting on the sale | Where the property is sold; a separate fixed fee |
Grant only or full administration: which do you need?
The professional fee depends more on how much of the work you hand over than on anything else. Executors who want help with the grant instruct a firm that holds a probate licence, and such firms usually offer the work at two levels. With a grant-only service, the firm prepares the inheritance tax forms, drafts the statement of truth, checks the will and obtains the grant, and the executors then collect in the assets, pay the debts and distribute the estate themselves. It suits families who have the time and the confidence to deal with the banks once they hold the grant.
With full estate administration, the firm does all of it: values the estate, obtains the grant, collects the assets, settles the liabilities and tax, prepares the estate accounts and distributes to the beneficiaries. It suits executors who live abroad, who are elderly, who are grieving, or who simply do not want the job. The fee is higher because the work is larger, and it is worth asking for it to be agreed in writing at the start rather than charged as a percentage of the estate, which rewards nothing but the deceased having been wealthy.
The middle ground is common. Executors get the grant, collect the simpler assets themselves, and instruct a professional only for the pieces that need one, usually the sale of the property. That is the part we do. Once the grant is in hand, we act on the sale of the house, or register an assent on form AS1 if a beneficiary is keeping it, on a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts.
| Grant only | Full administration | |
|---|---|---|
| Inheritance tax forms | The probate firm | The probate firm |
| Probate application and statement of truth | The probate firm | The probate firm |
| Valuing each asset | Executors gather, the firm checks | The probate firm |
| Collecting in bank and investment accounts | Executors | The probate firm |
| Paying debts and expenses | Executors | The probate firm |
| Selling or transferring the property | A separate conveyancing instruction | The probate firm, or a separate conveyancing instruction |
| Estate accounts and distribution | Executors | The probate firm |
| Best for | Simple or medium estates with willing executors | Complex estates, or executors who want none of it |
How long does probate take?
Valuing the estate comes first and often takes longest, because every asset holder has its own process for confirming a date-of-death balance, and a property valuation has to be arranged and carried out. Where inheritance tax is payable, HMRC must process the account and issue its confirmation before the application can proceed. For England and Wales that confirmation is no longer form IHT421 but a letter or email containing a unique code, which HMRC has issued since 17 January 2024. GOV.UK says you will usually get it within 20 working days of HMRC receiving the IHT400 or the inheritance tax payment, whichever is later, so an executor who files promptly and then waits for a bill has not started the clock at all.
The Probate Registry then takes its own time. GOV.UK tells applicants they will usually get the grant within 12 weeks of submitting the application. There is no published HM Courts and Tribunals Service target beyond that, only published statistics on what actually happened, and those show completeness driving the difference: applications that are stopped take far longer than those that are not. Applications that are not, because the will is not the original, the statement of truth is unsigned, the values on the tax forms do not match the application, or an executor has not been accounted for, are stopped, and a stopped application can add months.
After the grant, collecting the assets, selling the property and settling liabilities usually takes a further few months. Executors are generally advised not to distribute until the statutory notice period for creditors has expired, and until six months have run from the date representation was first taken out, after which section 20 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 protects a personal representative who distributes from being held liable for not having allowed for a late claim. It is worth being clear that nothing expires at six months: the court can give permission for a claim later, and there is no long stop. What changes is the executor's own exposure (checked 20 September 2026). They should also wait until HMRC has confirmed that the inheritance tax position is closed. Distributing early makes the executors personally liable if a claim or a tax bill later appears.
The avoidable delays are the ones that hurt. An incorrect inheritance tax account, a missing original will, an unsigned statement of truth: each triggers a stop and adds weeks. So does starting the property sale only after the grant arrives, when the contract pack could have been prepared in parallel from day one, and so does an executor who leaves the bank forms in a drawer. The estates that finish quickly are the ones where the paperwork is right first time and the sale runs alongside the grant.