Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
Probate is the legal process of administering someone's estate. You need it if they owned property in their sole name, or held assets above the limit the institution holding them applies. The work runs in three phases: get the death certificate, value the assets and settle the inheritance tax position; apply for the grant and wait; then collect the assets, pay the debts and distribute. This page describes England and Wales — Scotland has confirmation and Northern Ireland its own probate office.
When someone dies, their estate doesn't automatically transfer to their beneficiaries. If they owned property or had significant assets, you'll need to go through probate – the legal process of administering their estate.
Probate can feel overwhelming, especially whilst grieving. This complete guide walks you through every step of the UK probate process in 2026, from the first week after death to final distribution of the estate.
Whether you've been named as an executor in a will or need to apply as an administrator (when there's no will), this guide covers everything you need to know.
Probate is the legal right to deal with someone's property, money, and possessions (their 'estate') when they die. According to GOV.UK, you need probate to access the deceased person's assets and distribute the estate.
When you apply for probate, you're asking the Probate Registry to confirm that:
Once granted, you receive a "grant of probate" (if there's a will) or "letters of administration" (if there's no will).
This legal document gives you the authority to access bank accounts, sell property, close accounts, and distribute the estate according to the will or intestacy rules.
Whether you need probate depends on what the deceased owned and how much it was worth. According to Citizens Advice, banks and financial institutions have different thresholds for releasing funds without probate.
Not sure if you need probate? Read our detailed decision guide
If There IS a Will (Executors)
The will names one or more executors – these are the people with legal authority to apply for probate.
If you're named as executor, you have the right to apply, but you're not legally required to do so. If you don't want to act, you can:
- Renounce (permanently give up the role)
- Reserve power (step aside for now but retain the right to apply later)
- Appoint an attorney (if you're unwell or abroad)
If There IS NO Will (Administrators)
When there's no will (intestacy), you apply for "letters of administration" instead of probate. There's a priority order for who can apply:
- Spouse or civil partner (highest priority)
- Children (or their descendants if deceased)
- Parents
- Siblings (or their descendants)
- Half-siblings
- Grandparents
- Aunts/uncles
Eligibility Requirements
To apply for probate/administration you must:
- ✓ Be over 18 years old
- ✓ Have mental capacity to manage the estate
- ✓ Not be bankrupt (if applying as administrator without a will)
Here's the full probate process from death to final distribution. Each step includes what to do, who to contact, and what documents you need.
1
Timeline: Within 5 days
Register the death at the local register office. You'll need:
You'll receive:
💡 Pro Tip:
Order at least 3-5 certified death certificates (£12.50 each). Many institutions require an original, and certified copies ordered later are more expensive.
2
Timeline: Week 1-2
Where to look for the will:
⚠️ Important:
You MUST submit the original will to the probate registry, not a copy. If the original is lost, the process becomes significantly more complex.
If there's no will: You'll apply for "letters of administration" instead of probate. The estate is distributed according to intestacy rules, not the deceased's wishes.
3
Timeline: 2-6 weeks
Create a complete inventory of everything the deceased owned and owed. You need the value at date of death, not current value.
Assets to value:
Debts to deduct:
💡 Valuation Tips:
- • Use professional valuers for significant items (reduces HMRC challenge risk)
- • Be realistic with valuations – undervaluing can lead to penalties
- • Keep all valuation evidence (estate agent letters, bank statements)
4
Timeline: 1-2 weeks
Even if no inheritance tax is due, you must report the estate value to HMRC to prove it.
Excepted estate (No Tax Due) — report within the probate application
For deaths on or after 1 January 2022 there is no short-form IHT return; you simply report the figures as part of the application if:
- The gross estate is within the nil-rate band — £325,000, or up to £650,000 where a full unused band is transferred from a spouse or civil partner who died first. The residence nil-rate band does not extend this limit: an estate that needs the RNRB to escape tax must file a full IHT400
- OR everything passes to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK, or to a qualifying charity, and the estate is worth less than £3 million
- No complex assets (business, agricultural property, trusts)
IHT400 (Full IHT Return – Tax Due)
Use if:
- Estate is over the IHT threshold (after exemptions)
- Estate is over £3 million (even if no tax due)
- Deceased made gifts over £250,000 in last 7 years
- Complex assets involved
Current IHT thresholds (2026/26):
⚠️ Critical:
If IHT is due, you must pay at least some tax BEFORE applying for probate. This creates a catch-22: you need the grant to access funds to pay tax, but you need to pay tax to get the grant. Solutions: estate funds you can access, selling assets that don't need probate, or Direct Payment Scheme (pay from deceased's account directly to HMRC).
Need detailed IHT guidance? Read our complete IHT guide
5
Timeline: usually granted within 12 weeks
Now you're ready to apply to the Probate Registry for the grant of probate.
Application options:
Documents you need:
💡 Speed Tip:
Online applications are typically processed faster (4-6 weeks) than postal applications (6-8 weeks). However, complex estates or those requiring additional documentation may take longer regardless of method.
6
Timeline: 2-4 months (depends on complexity)
With the grant of probate in hand, you now have legal authority to collect all the estate's assets.
Actions to take:
⚙️ Set Up an Estate Account:
Open a dedicated "executor account" or "estate account" at a bank. Keep ALL estate money separate from your personal finances. This protects you and makes accounting much easier.
If selling property:
7
Timeline: 1-2 months
Before distributing anything to beneficiaries, you MUST pay all debts and taxes. If you don't, you're personally liable.
Priority order for payments:
Executor expenses you can claim:
⚠️ Unknown Creditors:
Protect yourself from unknown creditors by placing statutory notices in:
Wait 2 months after publication before distributing. This gives creditors time to come forward. If you distribute before this, you're personally liable if creditors appear later.
What if the estate is insolvent?
If debts exceed assets, the estate is insolvent. DON'T pay anything yet. Seek professional advice immediately – there are strict legal rules about which creditors get paid in which order. You could be personally liable if you get it wrong.
8
Timeline: 1-2 weeks
Estate accounts show exactly what you've done with the estate's money. They're essential for transparency and protecting yourself from disputes.
Your estate accounts should show:
💡 Record Keeping:
Keep EVERY receipt, statement, and piece of correspondence. Beneficiaries have the right to see estate accounts, and detailed records protect you if anyone questions your decisions. Section 22 of the Limitation Act 1980 gives a beneficiary twelve years to bring a claim to their share of an estate, so twelve years is the sensible floor for keeping everything.
Get beneficiary approval:
Share draft accounts with beneficiaries before final distribution. Get them to sign off that they're satisfied. This provides valuable protection against future disputes.
9
Timeline: 1-2 months
Only distribute the estate AFTER you've completed steps 1-8. Distributing too early makes you personally liable if issues arise.
Before distributing, confirm:
Distribution methods:
📝 Get Receipts:
Ask each beneficiary to sign a receipt confirming what they've received. This protects you if they later claim they received less than their entitlement.
What if a beneficiary can't be found?
If you can't trace a beneficiary after reasonable efforts (genealogist searches, public notices), you can either:
10
Timeline: Final week
Final tasks:
🎉 You're Done!
Once you've completed these steps and received formal discharge from beneficiaries, your duties as executor are finished. Well done – probate is complex and you've successfully navigated it.
How long does probate actually take? The honest answer is that only one stage of it has a published figure. GOV.UK says you will usually get the grant within 12 weeks of applying, and the Ministry of Justice's Family Court Statistics for January to March 2026 put the mean at 5 weeks and the median at 1 week for England and Wales. Nothing official is published about the stages either side. The sequences below are the order the work happens in, not a schedule you can hold anyone to.
(No IHT, one property, simple assets, cooperative beneficiaries)
The only published figure in this sequence is the wait for the grant.
(IHT due, property to sell, business assets, or disputes)
No official source publishes a total for an estate like this.
What Affects Timeline:
None of these has a published figure attached to it, so this guide lists what adds time without pretending to know how much:
- • An IHT400 estate, which waits on HMRC's unique code
- • A property that has to be sold
- • Business or agricultural assets
- • Overseas assets
- • Disputes or claims against the estate
- • A beneficiary who cannot be traced
- • A stopped application — 14 weeks on average, against 2 weeks for one that is not stopped
Probate costs vary dramatically depending on whether you do it yourself or use a solicitor.
| Probate application fee | £526 |
| Death certificate (each) | £12.50 |
| Sealed copies of the grant, ordered with the application | £2 each |
| Sealed copies ordered afterwards | £16 each |
| Registering an assent or transfer of the property (HM Land Registry, Scale 2, by post) | £45–£305 |
| Registering the death of a proprietor (HM Land Registry) | No fee |
| Valuations, Gazette notice, postage | Not published |
Only the fees above are published by a public body. Valuers, surveyors and The Gazette set their own prices — check The Gazette's current price list and get quotes for valuations, rather than budgeting from a figure on a website. We do not give a “typical total”, because no official source publishes one and the variable half of the bill is the half that varies.
No official body publishes what solicitors charge for probate — not the Ministry of Justice, not HMCTS, not the Legal Services Board — so this guide does not quote a range. Any figure you see elsewhere is somebody's estimate.
What you can do instead is get written quotes from two or three firms and compare them on the same footing. The questions that decide the number are: is this a fixed fee or a percentage of the estate; what is and is not included; which disbursements are extra; and what happens to the fee if the estate turns out to be more complicated than it looked.
Disbursements that are published:
Instructing a solicitor does not move the personal representative's personal liability onto them. It stays with you.
Why there is no cost comparison here
We used to set out a worked comparison here with a solicitor figure in it. We have taken it out, because the solicitor half of that sum was invented — no official source publishes what probate solicitors charge, so any comparison built on one is a guess dressed up as a calculation.
What you can compare honestly: applying yourself costs the £526 fee plus the published disbursements above plus your time. Against that, put the written quotes you get. That is a real comparison, and it is specific to your estate rather than to an average one.
Detailed cost comparison and decision guide: DIY Probate vs Solicitor Costs
Problem 1: Can't Find the Original Will
Why it matters: The Probate Registry requires the original will, not a copy. Without it, they may assume the deceased destroyed it (revoking it).
Solutions:
- Check with solicitors, banks, National Will Register, Certainty
- If you have a copy, you can apply to court to accept it (complex and expensive)
- Provide evidence the will wasn't destroyed intentionally (witness statements)
- If definitely lost, the estate may be distributed under intestacy rules
Problem 2: Can't Pay IHT Before Getting Probate
The catch-22: You need the grant to access funds, but you need to pay some IHT before getting the grant.
Solutions:
- Direct Payment Scheme: Pay from the deceased's account directly to HMRC (ask bank for form IHT423)
- Sell assets that don't need probate: Joint accounts, National Savings
- Executor loan: Pay from your own funds and reclaim from estate (keep receipts!)
- Instalment option: Pay IHT on property in 10 annual instalments (interest charged)
Problem 3: Beneficiaries Dispute the Will
Common disputes: Claims the deceased lacked mental capacity, was unduly influenced, or the will wasn't properly witnessed.
Solutions:
- Pause probate application: Don't proceed until dispute is resolved
- Mediation: Try to resolve without court (faster and cheaper)
- Caveat: Disputing party can lodge a caveat (blocks probate for 6 months)
- Legal advice essential: Will disputes are complex – get specialist help
- Executor insurance: Consider taking out insurance against litigation costs
Problem 4: Property Needs Major Repairs Before Sale
The issue: Estate property needs expensive repairs but there's no cash in the estate to pay for them.
Solutions:
- Sell as-is: Sell to cash buyer or investor at reduced price
- Executor loan: Loan money to the estate for repairs (get beneficiary consent)
- Essential repairs only: Make property safe and weatherproof, not full renovation
- Beneficiaries buy: Offer property to beneficiaries at market value (independent valuation required)
Problem 5: Probate Application Rejected or Delayed
Common reasons: Missing documents, errors on forms, incorrect valuations, or unclear will clauses.
Solutions:
- Respond promptly: Answer all Probate Registry queries within their deadline
- Provide evidence: Submit supporting documents for valuations, relationships
- Correct errors: If you made mistakes, correct and resubmit (may need to pay again)
- Will interpretation: If will clause is unclear, may need court to interpret
- Get help: If repeatedly rejected, consult a probate solicitor
Problem 6: Can't Trace a Beneficiary
The issue: Will names someone you can't locate, or intestacy rules mean distant relatives inherit but you can't find them.
Solutions:
- Reasonable searches: Electoral roll, social media, genealogist
- Public notices: Advertise in Gazette, local papers where last known to live
- Missing beneficiary insurance: Insurance that protects you if they appear later
- Court application: Apply for permission to distribute without them
- Hold back their share: Retain their portion safely for up to 12 years
Everything above describes England and Wales. The two other UK legal systems are genuinely different, not variations on the same process, so a guide that says “UK probate” and means this is only telling you two thirds of the story.
Scotland
- The grant is called confirmation, not probate, and it is applied for at the sheriff court
- Where there is no will, the court appoints an executor-dative — there is no such thing as letters of administration
- Intestacy works through prior rights and legal rights rather than a statutory legacy
- The £526 fee, the PA1P and PA1A forms and every week figure on this page are English and Welsh, and do not apply
- In Scotland a death must be registered within 8 days, not the 5 that applies in England and Wales
Northern Ireland
- The grant is still called probate, but it is issued by the Probate Office of the High Court in Belfast, under its own rules, forms and fees
- The intestacy statutory legacy is £270,000, not the £322,000 that applies in England and Wales
- Northern Ireland is not covered by the Family Court Statistics used for the timings on this page
Inheritance tax is a UK-wide tax, so the nil-rate bands, the excepted-estate rules and the IHT400 apply throughout. It is the court process, the forms and the fees that change at the border. Check the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service or nidirect rather than relying on this page.