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A caveat costs £4 and lasts 6 months. It stops the Probate Registry from issuing a grant. Enter it online or by post on form PA8A. It can be extended in its last month. Someone with an interest in the estate can issue a warning, which requires the caveator to respond within 14 days or the caveat ceases to have effect.
A caveat is usually the first step in a dispute about who should get the grant, or whether the will put forward is valid. It tells the Probate Registry not to issue a grant, which buys time to investigate before the estate is distributed. GOV.UK is direct about the cost of that: "Entering a caveat can lead to legal action and legal costs. You should try to come to an agreement with the person applying for probate first."
This guide explains exactly how to enter a caveat, the process after it is entered, the Warning Notice procedure, renewal, and when a caveat should and should not be used.
This is the procedure in England and Wales, under the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. Scotland has confirmation rather than probate, and Northern Ireland has its own probate rules, so neither uses this procedure — for those jurisdictions start with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and nidirect respectively. The application described here requires a home address in England or Wales.
Once a caveat is entered:
A caveat does not prevent the executor from continuing to manage urgent matters relating to the estate (such as paying care bills or maintaining a property) — it only prevents the formal legal authority of the grant from being obtained.
There are two methods:
Apply through the HMCTS caveats service at apply-for-probate.service.gov.uk/caveats, which is also available in Welsh. You will need an email address. The fee is £4, paid by card.
Complete form PA8A and post it with a cheque for £4 payable to "HM Courts and Tribunals Service" to:
Leeds District Probate Registry, York House, 31 York Place, Leeds LS1 2BA.
GOV.UK lists the details you will need:
A caveat lasts six months from the date it is entered. Under rule 44 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, an application to extend it must be made within the last month of that six-month period — not merely at some point before it expires. An extension runs for a further six months from the date the caveat was due to expire, and further extensions are applied for the same way. GOV.UK publishes £4 as the fee to enter a caveat; it does not publish a separate figure for extending one, so none is quoted here.
A caveat is a different instrument from a standing search, and the two do opposite jobs: a caveat prevents a grant issuing, while a standing search asks to be sent a copy of any grant that does issue (see our guide on standing searches in probate). A standing search is the right tool where you only want to know whether a grant has been taken out; it does nothing to stop one.
Anyone with a contrary interest in the estate — usually the executor named in the will — can issue a warning against the caveat. Rule 44 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 sets out what follows:
Entering an appearance is the point at which a caveat stops being a holding step and becomes litigation, with the costs exposure that carries. It requires a contrary interest in the estate, which is what the warning asks the caveator to set out.
A caveat is aimed at the grant, not at the size of an inheritance. The situations it is used for are:
A caveat entered without a genuine interest in the estate — to delay or pressure an executor — can result in a costs order against the caveator.
For the overall contentious probate process, see our introduction to contentious probate and the grounds for contesting a will. For capacity challenges, see our guide on lack of testamentary capacity. For undue influence claims, see our undue influence guide. For time limits, see our guide on time limits for contesting a will. For Inheritance Act claims, see our Inheritance Act 1975 guide. For the non-contentious probate process, see our guide to applying for probate and our complete UK probate guide. For estate administration once probate is granted, see our estate administration checklist.