Probate guides

Probate and inheritance tax, explained.

Practical guides on grant of probate, estate valuation, the nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band, intestacy and executor duties. Written by specialist probate advisers.

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Probate Process

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Probate Process
Are Probate Fees Tax Deductible? The Three Different Answers
Three separate taxes can arise around a death, and the probate application fee is treated differently by each. For inheritance tax the answer is no, because the estate is valued at the moment of death and the fee is incurred afterwards. For income tax on estate income the answer is also no, and HMRC says so in terms. For capital gains tax on a sale by the executors the answer is effectively yes, through a published scale that stands in for the cost of establishing title. This guide separates the three.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
Confirmation: The Scottish Probate Process Explained
Scotland has its own succession law and its own court process. The authority to administer an estate is called confirmation, it comes from the sheriff court rather than a probate registry, and the application is made on form C1, an inventory of everything the person owned. Estates of £36,000 or less follow a simplified small estate route where the sheriff clerk will prepare the paperwork for you. Above that figure the estate is a large estate and the court service is barred from helping. This guide walks the whole process end to end, with the current fees and a worked example.
3 August 20268 min read
Probate Process
Do You Need Probate (Confirmation) in Scotland? The £36,000 Line and What It Actually Decides
Scotland does not use probate. The equivalent authority is confirmation, granted by the sheriff court, and the Scottish Government's bereavement guidance is explicit that it need only be obtained if a fund holder such as a bank asks for it. The £36,000 small estate figure is widely misread as a threshold below which nothing is needed; it is not. It marks a simpler route to confirmation, with sheriff clerk help, no bond of caution and no court fee for issuing it. This page sets out when confirmation is genuinely required, when an estate can be settled without it, and why survivorship destinations in Scottish titles work differently from English joint tenancy.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
Do You Need Probate for a Small or Excepted Estate?
England and Wales has no statutory small estate threshold. Whether a grant is needed is decided asset by asset by the organisations holding the money, which is a completely separate question from whether the estate owes inheritance tax, and separate again from whether it counts as an excepted estate for tax reporting. This guide pulls the three tests apart, shows a £231,000 estate that is excepted for tax and still needs probate, and sets out what the application actually costs on a small estate.
3 August 20268 min read
Probate Process
Do You Need Probate for Bank Accounts, ISAs and Life Insurance?
Probate is not decided once for the whole estate. Every bank, platform, insurer and savings provider applies its own release policy, so the same estate can need a grant for one asset and not for another. This guide works through the four asset types that generate the most confusion: bank and building society accounts, ISAs (which keep their tax shelter for up to three years after death), life insurance written in trust and not in trust, and NS&I holdings including Premium Bonds, which have a genuine £5,000 statutory line behind them.
3 August 20268 min read
Probate Process
Do You Need Probate If There Is No Will (or No Assets)?
These are two separate questions that get asked as one. The absence of a will does not remove the need for a grant: it changes which grant you apply for, because the court issues letters of administration rather than probate, and the intestacy rules decide both who may apply and who inherits. The absence of assets is what actually removes the need. Where everything was held jointly and passes by survivorship, or where the only sole assets are small enough for the institutions holding them to release without a grant, there may be nothing to apply for at all. This guide separates the two, with the current statutory legacy and application fee figures.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
Executor and Sole Beneficiary: Do You Still Need Probate?
Being named both executor and sole beneficiary feels like it should short-circuit the paperwork, and it does not. Whether a grant is needed turns on what the asset holders require before they will release or transfer an asset, not on who ends up with the money. Sole-name property and certificated shares are the two usual forcing points. Where everything passes by survivorship or sits below the thresholds banks set, no grant may be needed at all. This guide explains which situation you are in and what the dual role does and does not change.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
Do You Need Probate When a Parent Dies?
When the first parent dies, the family home held as joint tenants passes to the surviving parent automatically and often no grant is needed at all. On the second death there is no surviving co-owner, the house sits in one sole name, and a grant of probate is usually required before it can be sold or transferred. This guide explains why the two deaths are treated differently, what to check asset by asset, and what the application costs.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
Executor Costs and Fees Explained: Who Pays for What
An executor in England and Wales does not fund the estate out of their own money. Costs properly incurred in administering the estate, from the £526 probate application fee to valuations, statutory notices and professional help, are reimbursed from the estate under section 31 of the Trustee Act 2000. Two things complicate that. The executor often has to pay before any estate money is accessible, and where they get the administration wrong, the liability can be personal. This guide sets out the line items, the timing gap and the points where an executor is genuinely on the hook.
3 August 20265 min read
Inheritance Tax
How Many Valuations Do You Need for Probate? Count the Assets, Not the Opinions
The number of valuations an estate needs is decided by how many assets the person owned, not by how many opinions you collect on each one. There is no legal requirement to obtain three valuations of a house. GOV.UK says you can get a professional valuation for anything worth over £1,500 and can have property valued by an estate agent or a chartered surveyor, and the standard every figure must meet is open market value at the date of death. Most estates need exact figures supplied free by banks and registrars, plus one or two paid valuations at most.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
How Much Do Probate Court Fees Cost? The Full Fee Schedule
Probate court fees in England and Wales are fixed and published: £526 to apply where the estate is worth more than £5,000, nothing at or below £5,000, £2 for each extra sealed copy ordered with the application and £16 for copies ordered later. This page sets out the whole non-contentious probate fee schedule, explains the increase that took effect on 13 July 2026, covers help with fees for applicants on low incomes, and shows how Scotland and Northern Ireland charge on a completely different basis.
3 August 20265 min read
Probate Process
How Much Does a Grant of Probate Cost?
Getting the grant of probate in your hands costs £526 in England and Wales, whatever the estate is worth, with no fee at all where the estate is £5,000 or less. Sealed copies of the grant cost £2 each ordered alongside the application and £16 each afterwards. A careful executor doing the application themselves is usually looking at a little over £530 to hold the grant, while a grant-only fixed fee service adds an observed £500 to £1,500 plus VAT on top. This page covers the cost of the grant itself, not the whole estate administration that follows it.
3 August 20264 min read