How much does probate cost?

Probate has two quite separate costs: the fixed court fee, which everyone pays, and professional fees, which are optional and vary enormously.

The fixed costs

• £526 application fee for estates worth more than £5,000. Estates at or below £5,000 pay nothing.
• £1.50 for each additional official copy of the grant. Order several — every bank, registrar and share registrar will want to see one, and sending the single original round the country is slow.
• Inheritance tax, where due, must normally be paid before the grant will issue, which creates a funding problem because banks will not release money without the grant. HMRC's direct payment scheme lets banks pay the IHT straight from the deceased's account.

Before applying you must settle the inheritance tax position: either confirm the estate qualifies as an excepted estate, or file the IHT400 with its schedules. IHT is payable within six months of the end of the month of death before interest starts running, and tax on land and buildings can be paid in instalments over ten years.

Do you even need a grant?

Often not. Assets held as beneficial joint tenants pass automatically to the survivor. Life policies written in trust and pension death benefits directed by nomination go straight to the named person. Many banks release accounts below their own threshold — anywhere from £5,000 to £50,000 — on production of a death certificate alone. A grant is normally needed for property owned solely or as tenants in common, larger accounts and investment portfolios, and paper share certificates.

Apply on PA1P where there is a will or PA1A where there is not, online for straightforward estates, sending the original will, the death certificate, the application and the fee. The Probate Registry typically takes four to eight weeks; a straightforward administration runs three to six months overall, and six to twelve is common once property has to be sold.

Professional help is priced either as a percentage of the estate, usually 0.75% to 2%, or hourly. You are not obliged to use a solicitor at all, and many executors do the whole thing themselves. A sensible middle course is to instruct one only for the difficult parts — the IHT400, the conveyancing, or a foreign asset — rather than the entire administration.