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Probate Cost Calculator 2026

Three questions decide most of the cost: whether a grant is needed at all, whether you can apply yourself, and what a firm would charge. Every figure is read from GOV.UK, HMCTS or a firm's own published price page, with the date shown. Runs in your browser. Updated October 2026.

Probate cost estimator

England and Wales. Figures from GOV.UK, HMCTS and firms' own published price pages, read 15 October 2026. Nothing you enter is stored.

1. Is a grant of probate needed?

Did they own a property in their sole name, or as tenants in common?

A home owned as joint tenants passes to the other owner without a grant. The Land Registry title shows a Form A restriction for tenants in common.

Is any single account or investment above that provider's limit for releasing money without a grant?

There is no legal threshold; each provider sets its own. Published examples: Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, NatWest, Santander, Nationwide, TSB, Co-operative Bank, Tesco Bank £50,000; Virgin Money £35,000; Post Office, Skipton and Yorkshire building societies £30,000; Sainsbury's Bank, Chase, Metro £25,000; First Direct £20,000; Starling £10,000; NS&I, Monzo, Revolut, M&S Bank £5,000 (Farewill, reviewed 10 May 2024; Anglia Research, May 2025. HSBC and RBS decide case by case.). Ask each provider.

Was everything else held jointly with a surviving spouse, civil partner or co-owner?

It depends on the answers above. Check the title for any property and ask each bank or investment provider for its limit; if any one of them needs a grant, the whole estate goes through probate.

2. Can you apply yourself?

Is there a will?

Does any of this apply?

Each one takes the estate outside the simple online route, either because a full inheritance tax account is required or because a mistake is expensive.

Gifts worth over £250,000 in the seven years before death, or a gift they kept using (a gift with reservation)Assets held in trust worth over £250,000, or more than one trustForeign assets worth over £100,000, or property abroadA business, farm or agricultural propertyDebts may exceed the assetsA spouse, child, cohabitant or dependant has been left out or left littleDoubts about the person's mental capacity, or pressure on them, when the will was madeThe death was before 1 January 2022

Straightforward: the GOV.UK online service handles this. With a valid, undisputed will, no inheritance tax expected and none of the complications above, most people can apply themselves. The cost is the court fee below.

3. What it costs

Gross estate value (£)Copies of the grantOne per bank or asset holder

Home left to children or grandchildren A spouse or civil partner died first and left their allowance unused Death on or after 6 April 2027

What you pay the court

Probate application fee (estate over £5,000)	£526
3 copies of the grant, ordered with the application	£6
Do it yourself on GOV.UK	£532

No inheritance tax expected. £350,000 is under the £500,000 threshold for this estate (£325,000 nil-rate band plus £175,000 where the home goes to children or grandchildren, frozen until 5 April 2031). An excepted estate: no IHT400, the values go on the probate application.

Sources: gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees; gov.uk/inheritance-tax; gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died. Read 15 October 2026.

If you instruct a firm

Grant only, firms in our data n = 1185	£995 to £2,500 + VAT
median £1,500 + VAT
Full estate administration our estimate	£3,000 to £6,000 + VAT
Percentage model, 1% to 2% of the estate	£3,500 to £7,000 + VAT
Time to grant (HMCTS, January to March 2026)	about 5 weeks
about 2 weeks for a correct digital application; 14 weeks if HMCTS stops it for more information; about 16 weeks on paper

Grant-only figures are the lower quartile, median and upper quartile of 1185 grant-only prices published by SRA firms, read from their own price pages in October 2026. The full-administration band is our own model, not a market figure; the firms below are the check. Percentage convention: Law Society guidance cited in HMRC manual CG30550; some firms charge up to 5%.

Firms near you that publish a probate price

1051 SRA-regulated firms in our data publish a probate price on their own website (data read 20 October 2026). Enter a postcode to see the nearest, with each figure exactly as the firm printed it. No firm paid to appear.

Apply yourself on GOV.UK Get quotes from regulated firms near you

Indicative only. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The percentage and full-administration lines show what each pricing model would cost on this estate so you can compare quotes; always get a firm's price in writing.

How this estimator works

Probate is the legal authority to deal with someone's assets after they die. Most of its cost is decided by three things, in order, and the estimator asks them in that order.

Is a grant needed? A property in the deceased's sole name, or a single account above the provider's limit, means yes. Jointly held assets pass to the survivor without one. There is no legal threshold for accounts; the published provider limits range from £5,000 to £50,000, and the estimator lists them with their dates so you can ask the right question of each bank.
Can you apply yourself? The GOV.UK online service is designed for estates with a valid, undisputed will, no inheritance tax to pay and no full IHT400 account required. The estimator checks the HMRC triggers for a full account (gifts, trusts, foreign assets) and the situations where a mistake is expensive (a business, an insolvent estate, a dependant left out, doubts about capacity), and names each reason it gives for instructing a firm.
What it costs. The court fee and copies are fixed. The inheritance tax position comes from the estate value against the nil-rate band, the residence nil-rate band where the home goes to children or grandchildren, and a transferred allowance from a spouse who died first. Firm fees are shown three ways so you can compare any quote you receive: the grant-only prices firms publish, our own full-administration model, and the percentage model.

Then, for a postcode, it lists the nearest SRA-regulated firms whose own websites publish a probate price, with each figure exactly as the firm printed it and a link to the page it came from. We have not asked those firms for quotes, and no firm pays to appear.

Grant only versus full administration

A grant only service means the firm prepares the application and any inheritance tax forms from the figures you supply, obtains the grant and hands it to you; you collect the assets, pay the debts and distribute. Firms price this as a fixed fee, usually higher where a full IHT400 account is needed. Full estate administration means the firm does everything from valuation to final accounts, and is priced by estate complexity: the number of properties, accounts and beneficiaries, whether tax is payable, and whether anything is abroad. Most firms quote it after seeing the estate, which is why the estimator shows a labelled model rather than a published figure for it and puts the real published prices beside it.

Percentage fees

Some firms charge a percentage of the gross estate, either as the whole fee or as a "value element" on top of hourly charges. The Law Society convention, cited in HMRC's Capital Gains Manual, is about 1% to 2%; MoneyHelper reports between 1% and 5%. On a £500,000 estate, 2% is £10,000 plus VAT against a typical fixed fee of £3,000 to £6,000 for the same work. If you are quoted a percentage, ask for a fixed fee for the same scope, and compare both with the firms-near-you panel above.

The figures and where they come from

Figure	Value used	Source (read 15 October 2026)
Probate application fee	£526 above £5,000; nil at or below; copies £2 with the application, £16 later	gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees; Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2004 as amended by SI 2026/642, in force 13 July 2026
Inheritance tax thresholds	£325,000 nil-rate band; £175,000 residence nil-rate band; frozen until 5 April 2031; 40% above	gov.uk/inheritance-tax; HM Treasury policy paper, Inheritance Tax thresholds, 26 November 2025
Excepted estates	No IHT400 where the estate is under the threshold, or under £650,000 with a transferred allowance, or everything passes to a spouse or charity under £3m; full account needed for gifts over £250,000, trust assets over £250,000, foreign assets over £100,000	gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/check-type-of-estate (deaths on or after 1 January 2022)
Pensions	Unused pension funds count towards inheritance tax for deaths on or after 6 April 2027	HMRC policy paper, Inheritance Tax on unused pension funds and death benefits, 26 November 2025
Time to grant	About 5 weeks mean, median 1 week; digital not stopped about 2 weeks; stopped 14 weeks; paper about 16 weeks	Family Court Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026 (published 25 June 2026); HMCTS management information to May 2026
Statutory legacy on intestacy	£322,000 to a surviving spouse or civil partner where there are children	Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Fixed Net Sum) Order 2023, deaths on or after 26 July 2023
Grant-only prices	1185 published prices: lower quartile £995, median £1,500, upper quartile £2,500, excluding VAT	The firms' own price pages under the SRA Transparency Rules, read October 2026 (data dated 2026-10-20)
Full administration band	Our own model by estate value, carried on this site since July 2026 and labelled as such	Built from the Guideline Hourly Rates and the work stages of an administration; the firms-near-you panel is the check
Percentage model	1% to 2% of the estate is the convention; some firms charge up to 5%	Law Society guidance cited in HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG30550; MoneyHelper; firms' own price pages

Primary sources: gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees, gov.uk/inheritance-tax, gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026, SI 2026/642. Firm prices: each firm's own page, linked from its row.

Probate calculator FAQs

How much does probate cost in 2026?

The court fee is £526 for an estate worth more than £5,000 and nothing for an estate of £5,000 or less, plus £2 for each copy of the grant ordered with the application (£16 each later). That is the whole cost if you apply yourself. If you instruct a firm for the grant only, the middle half of the prices SRA firms publish on their own websites runs from about £950 to £2,000 plus VAT. Full estate administration is usually quoted by the firm after seeing the estate; our model puts a straightforward estate of £250,000 to £500,000 at £3,000 to £6,000 plus VAT, and some firms charge 1% to 2% of the estate instead.

Do I need probate?

Usually yes if the person owned a property in their sole name or as tenants in common, or held any single account or investment above that provider's limit for releasing money without a grant. There is no legal threshold; each bank sets its own, from about £5,000 to £50,000 in published lists. Jointly held assets pass to the surviving owner without a grant. If everything was joint or under the providers' limits, you may not need a grant at all.

Can I do probate myself?

For a straightforward estate, yes: the GOV.UK online service handles applications where there is a valid, undisputed will (or a simple intestacy), no inheritance tax to pay, and none of the complications that require a full IHT400 account, such as gifts over £250,000 in the seven years before death, assets in trust over £250,000, foreign assets over £100,000, a business or farm, an insolvent estate, or someone left out who could claim. Any of those is a reason to instruct a regulated firm.

How long does probate take in 2026?

HMCTS issued probate grants in about 5 weeks on average from submission in January to March 2026, with a median of one week. A correct digital application that is not stopped takes about 2 weeks; an application HMCTS stops for more information takes about 14 weeks; paper applications take about 16 weeks. GOV.UK's own statement is 'usually within 12 weeks'. Administering the whole estate takes longer: typically 6 to 12 months for a straightforward estate.