Probate checker: how to find out if you need probate

Two different tools go by the name "probate checker"

If you have searched for a probate checker, you are almost certainly after one of two things, and they answer opposite questions. One kind looks forward: you describe what the person who died owned and how they owned it, and it estimates whether a grant of probate will be needed before anyone can deal with those assets. The other looks backward: GOV.UK's Find a Will service searches the probate records of England and Wales for grants that have already been issued, and lets you order a copy of the record and the will.

The important thing to know before you go any further is that there is no official government tool of the first kind. GOV.UK's own guidance sends you to the organisations holding the money: contact the financial organisations the person who died used, for example their bank and mortgage company, to find out whether you will need probate to access the assets, because every organisation has its own rules. Anything calling itself a checker, ours included, is a way of predicting what those organisations are going to say. This page is general information rather than legal advice, and it describes England and Wales (Scotland uses confirmation rather than probate).

The forward-looking check: what our tool actually tells you

Our do I need probate checker asks six questions: whether there was property in the sole name of the person who died, how any jointly owned property was held (joint tenants or tenants in common), how much sat in accounts in their sole name, whether there were Premium Bonds over £5,000, whether there were shares or investments in their sole name, and whether everything else was jointly owned with a spouse or civil partner. It takes a couple of minutes and returns one of three verdicts, "very likely", "likely" or "probably not", along with the specific reason for each trigger it found.

What it is doing is applying the pattern that almost always decides the outcome. Property in a sole name (or a share held as tenants in common) needs a grant before it can be sold or transferred, because the Land Registry asks for one. Shares and investment holdings usually need a grant whatever they are worth, because registrars apply a stricter policy than banks. Assets held as joint tenants pass to the survivor automatically and need nothing.

Here is what it cannot do, stated plainly. It cannot tell you the internal threshold of the particular bank you are dealing with, because those are set individually and commonly sit anywhere between £5,000 and £50,000. It does not work out inheritance tax, which is a separate question with its own forms. And it is not a determination: a "probably not" result is a well-founded prediction, not permission, and the bank can still ask for a grant. Treat it as a way of finding out which questions you need to ask, and of whom.

The backward-looking check: GOV.UK's Find a Will

This one is official, and it is often what people mean when they say they want to "check probate". The Find a Will service covers people who died in England and Wales after 1857. It tells you whether a grant was issued, what type it was, and lets you order a copy of the record including the will, which becomes a public document once the grant is made. A copy ordered online costs £16. A search by post also costs £16 and includes a copy of the record and the will if there is one.

There is a third option that is easy to miss. If the person died within the last six months and no grant has appeared yet, you can lodge a standing search for £4, and you will be sent a copy of the grant if one is issued in the following six months. That is useful for a beneficiary who has been told probate is "in hand" by someone else and wants confirmation rather than reassurance.

What this service will not do is tell you whether your estate needs a grant. It is a record of the past, not a test of the present.

Where a firm answer actually comes from

Two minutes with a checker gets you a strong steer. A firm answer comes from writing to each organisation holding an asset with a copy of the death certificate and asking directly whether they will release or transfer it without a grant. That includes every bank and building society, NS&I, any share registrar or investment platform, insurers, and the Land Registry position on any property. If a single one of them says yes, you need a grant, you need a grant, however small the rest of the estate is.

For the full step by step decision procedure, including how to run the asset list, what to do when institutions disagree with each other, and how to handle the awkward middle cases, see our companion guide on how to know if you need probate. The cluster pillar do you need probate? covers each asset type in turn, and there are focused guides on jointly owned assets, on what happens when a spouse dies, and on whether a will changes the answer (it does not, on its own). Our probate hub ties the whole process together.

If the answer turns out to be yes, the cost of the grant itself is modest: £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000 and nothing where it is £5,000 or less, per GOV.UK's probate fees page, with extra sealed copies at £2 each when ordered with the application and £16 each afterwards. Order several at the outset, because each institution will want to see one.

If the checker leaves you in the middle

Some estates come out clean at either end. The ones that stall are usually the mixed cases: a part share in a property, a business interest, an unclear joint account, or a bank that will not commit either way. If that is where you have landed, a short conversation with a probate specialist will usually resolve it faster than another round of letters, and we can put you in touch with one who can look at the actual asset list and tell you which route the estate belongs on.