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.
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Probate fees are quoted in ways that make them very difficult to compare. A solicitor who charges 2% of the estate sounds cheaper than one who quotes £5,000 — until you do the maths on a £400,000 estate and find the percentage comes to £8,000 plus VAT. This guide cuts through the confusion: how each fee structure works, what they actually cost on a realistic estate, what hidden costs to watch for, and how to ask the right questions before committing. If you are weighing up professional help versus DIY, see our DIY vs solicitor cost comparison and our guide on probate specialists vs solicitors.
A percentage fee is calculated as a proportion of the gross estate value — the total value of all assets before debts are deducted. The typical range is 1–4%, with most probate solicitors and some probate specialists charging around 1.5–2.5%.
The key word is gross. If the deceased owed £100,000 on a mortgage on a property worth £400,000, you pay the percentage on £400,000, not on the £300,000 net equity. The work involved is not necessarily greater because the gross value is higher.
Percentage fees also do not reflect the actual complexity of the work. A straightforward £600,000 estate is not twice as much work as a straightforward £300,000 estate. You are paying a premium simply because property values in England and Wales are high — not because the administration is more complex.
Some solicitors add a “value element” on top of hourly rates — charging their hourly rate for the work done, plus a percentage uplift for the value of the estate. This is explicitly permitted by the Solicitors Act 1974 but is rarely explained to clients upfront. Ask directly whether a value element applies.
A fixed fee is a set amount agreed at the outset, regardless of how large the estate is. Reputable probate specialists and some solicitors increasingly offer fixed-fee services — typically structured as:
Fixed fees benefit the client when the estate is larger or more straightforward — the professional does a known amount of work and you pay a known amount. They benefit the professional when the estate turns out to be more complex than expected.
To make the difference concrete, here is a worked example for a straightforward estate worth £500,000 gross (a residential property worth £350,000, plus savings and investments of £150,000):
| Fee structure | Quoted fee | VAT (20%) | Disbursements | Total all-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage (2% of £500,000) | £10,000 | £2,000 | ~£800 | ~£12,800 |
| Percentage (1.5% of £500,000) | £7,500 | £1,500 | ~£800 | ~£9,800 |
| Fixed fee (full service) | £2,500 | £500 | ~£800 | ~£3,800 |
| Grant-only + DIY admin | £600 | £120 | ~£800 | ~£1,520 |
| DIY with Farra guidance | £179 | — | ~£800 | ~£979 |
Disbursements estimated as: £273 probate fee + £200 property valuation + £100 Gazette notice + £200 Land Registry fees. Actual costs vary.
The difference between a 2% percentage fee and a fixed-fee full service on this estate is approximately £9,000. For a larger estate of £750,000, that difference grows to approximately £15,000. For context on what estates typically cost to administer, see our guide to the executor timeline.
The headline fee — whether percentage or fixed — is rarely the total you pay. Hidden costs are the single biggest source of client dissatisfaction with probate services. Here is what to look for:
Professional fees are subject to VAT at 20%. A quoted fee of £5,000 becomes £6,000 before you have paid a single disbursement. Some firms quote fees exclusive of VAT; others include it. Always check. The example above uses a £500,000 estate: at 2%, the VAT alone is £2,000.
Disbursements are costs the solicitor pays on your behalf and then recharges. They are not part of the professional fee but they are part of the total cost. Common disbursements include:
A realistic disbursement total for an estate with one property is approximately £600–£1,200. Some solicitors also charge for postage, photocopying, and telephone calls as additional disbursements.
Many fixed-fee arrangements contain clauses allowing the professional to increase their fee if the matter turns out to be more complex than expected. Read the terms carefully. Typical triggers include: the estate turns out to be taxable when initially thought to be exempt; a beneficiary cannot be traced; HMRC raises queries on the IHT return; or the property sale is delayed.
Ask: “Under what circumstances could this fixed fee increase, and by how much?” A reputable firm will give you a clear answer.
Some solicitors bill on an hourly rate — typically £150–£400 per hour for solicitors, more for partners and senior practitioners at large London firms. Hourly billing can work well for genuinely complex matters where the amount of work is hard to predict at the outset — a disputed will, HMRC enquiries, missing beneficiary tracing.
For straightforward estates, hourly billing is rarely in the client's interest. It provides no incentive for efficiency, it is hard to budget for, and it means a delay outside your control (the Probate Registry taking longer than expected) costs you more money because the solicitor has to write additional chasing letters.
If a solicitor offers hourly billing only, ask for an estimate of total hours and a cap. If they will not provide a cap, consider whether a fixed-fee provider is more appropriate for your estate. For guidance on what the probate process involves and where costs arise, see our complete UK probate guide.
Since December 2018, the SRA requires all regulated solicitors and law firms to publish pricing information for probate work on their websites. The required information includes:
If a solicitor firm's website has no pricing information for probate, they are not complying with their regulatory obligations. You can still get a quote by contacting them, but the absence of transparency online is a reasonable signal about their attitude to pricing generally.
CILEX-regulated and ICAEW-regulated practitioners have similar transparency obligations.
The seven questions every executor should ask before committing to any fee arrangement:
Farra charges a flat fee of £179 to guide you through the entire probate process yourself. You pay the £273 Probate Registry fee (and any valuation or other disbursement costs) directly — there is no percentage, no VAT uplift on professional fees, and no hidden charges.
This model works for straightforward estates where the executor is willing to put in the time. If your estate has complications that genuinely need professional involvement, we are honest about that. Our guides on whether you can do probate yourself and how hard DIY probate is give you an honest picture.
Yes. Professional probate fees are VAT-able at 20%. The £273 Probate Registry fee is not subject to VAT (it is a court fee). Property valuations and other disbursements may or may not attract VAT depending on the supplier. Always confirm the VAT position on each element of the quoted cost.
For very small or very complex estates, a percentage fee can sometimes be reasonable. For a £50,000 estate, 2% is £1,000 — potentially competitive with a fixed-fee provider. For genuinely complex estates where the work involved is hard to predict, a percentage (or hourly rate) protects the professional from being undercompensated for unexpected complications. For most straightforward estates between £150,000 and £1.5m, a fixed fee is almost always cheaper.
Yes. Solicitors' probate fees are not fixed by law (unlike some other professional fees). You can negotiate, particularly on percentage fees where the estate is large but straightforward. You can also ask for a reduction if you are willing to do some of the work yourself — for example, providing a complete and verified schedule of assets rather than asking the solicitor to do that research.
The Probate Registry charges £273 to issue a grant of probate for estates above £5,000. There is no fee for estates worth £5,000 or less. This fee is paid directly to the Probate Registry and is separate from any professional fee. If a solicitor is instructed, they will typically pay this on your behalf and include it in the disbursements. See our guide to the probate threshold for 2026/27.
Only if the complexity of the estate genuinely justifies the cost. For a £800,000 estate that is otherwise entirely straightforward (one property, a few savings accounts, a simple will), paying 1.5% (£12,000 plus VAT) versus a fixed fee of £3,000 all-in is hard to justify. The size of the estate does not make the administration proportionally harder or riskier. If you are concerned about risk, our guide on whether DIY probate is risky addresses that question directly.
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