Probate questions, answered with the date and the source

£526 if the estate is worth more than £5,000, and no fee if it is £5,000 or less. The £526 fee applies to applications made on or after 13 July 2026; before that it was £300. Source: GOV.UK fees page and SI 2026/642, checked 15 September 2026.

On 13 July 2026. The Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2026 substituted £526 for £300 in the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2004, and a second order (SI 2026/665) moved the start date from 6 July to 13 July 2026. GOV.UK announced the change on 19 June 2026.

No. GOV.UK: "There's no fee if the estate is £5,000 or less." Above that the fee is £526 whatever the size of the estate.

£2 each if you order extra copies when you submit the application, and £16 each afterwards, including through the online probate search. Source: GOV.UK fees page and search service, checked 15 September 2026.

£16 per probate record ordered from GOV.UK's search service; the record includes the will where one was proved. The £1.50 figure still quoted on many sites ended in November 2025. Searching the index is free.

GOV.UK says that if you have a low income or are on certain benefits you could get help with fees (form EX160), but you cannot get help with the fee for extra copies of the probate document.

HMCTS reports a mean of 5 weeks from application submission to grant issue in January to March 2026, with a median of 1 week. Digital applications that were not stopped took about 2 weeks; stopped applications took 14 weeks on average. GOV.UK's guidance still says to allow up to 12 weeks. Source: Family Court Statistics Quarterly, published 25 June 2026.

About 2 weeks if the registry does not stop the application, according to HMCTS figures for January to March 2026. 93% of applications were digital in that quarter.

Because that was the figure HMCTS used as a service standard during the backlog years, and many pages were never updated. The measured mean for January to March 2026 was 5 weeks. GOV.UK's current guidance says "usually within 12 weeks".

The registry needs something from you before it can issue the grant, for example a missing document or an inheritance tax query. HMCTS says stopped grants took 14 weeks on average in January to March 2026, compared with 2 weeks for those that were not stopped, so answering the query quickly matters more than anything else.

GOV.UK says a new probate record will be online approximately 14 days after probate has been issued.

Form PA1P if the person left a will, form PA1A if they did not. GOV.UK says paper applications take longer than online ones and to apply online if you can.

PA1S is the postal search of the probate records. It costs £16, includes a copy of the record and the will if there is one, and GOV.UK says you should get a response within 4 weeks. It is not an application for probate.

HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QF. That is the Probate Service Centre's postal address on Find a Court or Tribunal, which also says it "does not provide an in-person service".

0300 303 0648, Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm, closed on bank holidays. Welsh language line 0300 303 0654. Email contactprobate@justice.gov.uk.

As of 15 September 2026, Find a Court or Tribunal lists seven District Probate Registries you can visit by appointment: Brighton, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Oxford, Winchester. Birmingham, Bristol, Ipswich, Manchester and the London Probate Department are listed as no longer in service.

Yes. Searching the England and Wales probate index at gov.uk/search-will-probate is free. You pay £16 only when you order a copy of a record.

Search the probate index by surname and year of death. If a grant has been issued it appears there, about 14 days after the grant. If nothing shows, check the following year too (records are filed under the grant year), try name variations, or lodge a £4 standing search.

A standing search asks the registry to send you a copy of the grant and will if one is issued in the next six months. It costs £4 per six-month period (raised from £3 on 13 July 2026) and can be renewed.

£4 (form PA8A, version 07.26), lasting six months and extendable for another six months with form PA8B for the same fee. Both fees rose from £3 on 13 July 2026.

Having a will does not decide it. Probate is needed when an organisation holding an asset insists on a grant, which is almost always the case for property in the sole name and for bank balances above the bank's own limit. GOV.UK says every organisation has its own rules.

There is no national threshold. On 15 September 2026 Barclays, RBS, Santander, Nationwide, Co-operative Bank, Yorkshire, Skipton and Coventry building societies all published £50,000 (HSBC £50,000 with a will, £25,000 without), Starling £30,000, Monzo and Metro Bank £25,000, and Lloyds, Halifax and TSB published no figure for bank accounts. Each bank can change its figure at any time.

No. Form IHT205 was for deaths on or before 31 December 2021. For deaths on or after 1 January 2022 an estate is either "excepted", in which case its values go on the probate application, or it needs full details on form IHT400.

GOV.UK gives three routes for deaths from 1 January 2022: the estate is below the £325,000 threshold (or £650,000 or less with a transferred threshold); or everything goes to a UK spouse, civil partner or charity and the estate is under £3,000,000; or the person lived permanently abroad and their UK assets are £150,000 or less. Gifts over £250,000 in seven years, trust assets over £250,000 and foreign assets over £100,000 take an estate out of the category.

The intestacy rules apply. Where there is a spouse or civil partner and children, the spouse takes the personal belongings, the first £322,000 (the statutory legacy for deaths on or after 26 July 2023) and half of the rest; the children share the other half. With no spouse the children inherit, then parents, then brothers and sisters.

Both are grants of representation. A grant of probate is issued to the executor named in a valid will. Letters of administration are issued when there is no will (form PA1A), or with the will annexed when a will exists but no executor can act. All three cost the same fee and appear in the same public index.

No. There is no compulsory register. The National Will Register is voluntary (its own site says "Will Registration is not compulsory in the UK") and charged £65 including VAT for a Will Register Search on 15 September 2026. The only public record is the probate index, which lists a will once a grant is issued.

We search the public probate index for you across name variations and the right index years, order the official £16 copy of the grant and will, lodge a £4 standing search if no grant exists yet, and explain the result in plain English, for £29 all in. You can do all of that yourself on GOV.UK; the fee is for the work and the reading of the result.

We are not a law firm, we do not apply for probate on your behalf, we do not give legal or tax advice, and we do not cover Scotland or Northern Ireland, which have separate systems. For a dispute, a caveat or an inheritance tax question, use a solicitor or the official helplines.

15 September 2026, against the GOV.UK and HMCTS pages listed in the sources below. The next HMCTS timing release is due 24 September 2026.