Do I Need a Grant of Probate?

So do you need a grant of probate? Well, if you are an Executor of a Will or a Representative of a deceased person (if there is no Will), you will need to establish whether a Grant of Probate is required for the estate.

Usually, a Grant of Probate is required from a government department known as the “Probate Registry” if any of the following apply to a deceased person:

They own property in their sole name or as a “Tenant in Common” with another person; and/or

They have significant savings (approximately £25,000 plus) in one bank account/Personal Equity Plan (PEP)/Individual Savings Account (ISA) or Premium Bond holding; and/or

They hold more than approximately £10,000 in one shareholding,

If any of the above apply, then the Executors or the Representatives must obtain permission from a government department known as the Probate Registry before the estate can be distributed to the beneficiaries of the Will or the beneficiaries by law if there is no Will.

This permission is known as a “Grant of Probate”.

It is a myth that you must use a solicitor firm to obtain a Grant of Probate, as this is an extremely expensive and mainly unnecessary route to take. It is not uncommon to pay over £6,000 to a solicitor to obtain a Grant of Probate, and so-called “legal services” firms often charge even more than this. To justify such high fees, it is commonplace for a lot of solicitor and legal services firms to take 9 months or longer to complete the process on behalf of an Executor or Representative so that the expensive fee they have charged appears more justifiable.

However, provided an estate is not extremely complex and the application for Grant of Probate is completed properly, the process rarely takes longer than 3 months to complete. If Executors or Representatives pay less to obtain a Grant of Probate more quickly, then there is more money which remains within the estate for distribution to its beneficiaries, and those beneficiaries receive their inheritance much sooner.

Some Executors or Representatives are confident enough to apply for Grant of Probate directly to the Probate Registry. However, if Executors or Representatives are not confident to apply to the Probate Registry directly, they need not spend more than a maximum of £1,000 to obtain the same outcome, merely by carrying out some worthwhile research and using a guidance service which is priced much more fairly.

For further details, please visit our Probate page without fear of consultation fees or obligation.