Do you need a solicitor or lawyer to get probate?

No, a solicitor is not legally required

You do not need a solicitor, lawyer or any other professional to get probate in England and Wales. The executor named in the will (or the next entitled relative where there is no will) can apply personally, and GOV.UK's probate application service is built for exactly that: you value the estate, deal with any inheritance tax, then apply online or by post yourself. The only unavoidable cost is the court fee, currently £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, and nothing at all where it is £5,000 or less, per the official fees page. Extra sealed copies of the grant cost £2 each when ordered with the application.

So the real question is not whether you must use a solicitor but whether you would be wise to. That depends on the estate, not on the law, and this page (which is general information rather than legal or financial advice) gives you the practical test. If you want to see the trade-off in pounds and hours for your own situation, our DIY vs solicitor probate calculator compares the two routes side by side, and our fuller guide, do you need a solicitor for probate, walks through every factor in depth.

When applying yourself works well

Thousands of executors obtain the grant without professional help every year, and for a certain shape of estate that is a perfectly sound choice. DIY probate tends to go smoothly where:

• There is a clear, valid, recent will naming a willing executor, and nobody is questioning it.
• No inheritance tax is payable and the estate qualifies as an excepted estate, so the values go straight onto the probate form with no separate IHT400 account.
• The assets are mainstream and UK-based: a house, bank accounts, ISAs, a car, personal possessions.
• The beneficiaries are few, adult and on speaking terms.
• The estate is clearly solvent, with debts that are obvious and easily paid.

In that scenario the hardest work is usually the valuation and paperwork gathering rather than the application itself, and the saving over a professionally handled estate can run to several thousand pounds. Our guide to probate solicitor costs shows what those fees typically look like, from fixed-fee grant-only services to full estate administration charged as a percentage.

When paying for help is the better call

Certain features reliably turn probate from form-filling into technical work where mistakes are expensive. Treat any of these as a signal to at least get a quote:

• No will. Intestacy brings its own rules about who can apply and who inherits, and errors are easy to make.
• Inheritance tax to calculate and pay. A full IHT400 account, taper on lifetime gifts, or claims for the residence nil-rate band add real complexity. Start with our inheritance tax guide if you are unsure which side of the line the estate falls.
• A business or farm in the estate. Valuation, relief claims and keeping the enterprise trading all need specialist handling; see what happens to a business when the owner dies.
• Trusts. A will that creates trusts, or assets already held in trust, moves the administration into specialist territory. Our explainer on whether a trust can help you avoid probate covers how the two interact.
• Overseas assets, an insolvent estate, missing beneficiaries, or a beneficiary who wants to give up their share (covered in refusing or disclaiming an inheritance).
• Any brewing dispute: a sidelined relative, doubts about the will, or executors who cannot agree. Take advice before applying, not after things ignite.

Who actually makes the call, and why it matters

The decision sits with the executor or administrator personally. Beneficiaries can lobby, but they cannot compel, because the application and the legal responsibility are the executor's alone. That responsibility is the point: executors are personally liable if the estate is valued wrongly, tax is underpaid or the wrong people are paid. On a simple estate that risk is small and a personal application is proportionate. On a complex one, professional fees are effectively insurance for the person doing the job, paid for by the estate rather than out of the executor's own pocket. If you take on the role, our probate guide maps the full process from death certificate to final distribution.

How to decide in practice

Write down the estate's assets, check whether inheritance tax is in play, and scan the trigger list above. If nothing on it applies, a personal application for the £526 fee is a reasonable route, and you can always bring a solicitor in later for a single sticking point. If one or more triggers apply, get fixed-fee quotes before committing either way; the DIY vs solicitor calculator will show you what the difference is actually worth. And if the estate is tangled enough that the quotes themselves are confusing, that is a fair sign the work belongs with a probate specialist. We can put you in touch with one who will look at the estate as a whole and tell you honestly which parts, if any, you can safely keep for yourself.