What This Guide Covers
- Exactly what changed to probate fees on 13 July 2026
- Whether your estate is affected by the new £526 fee
- What the probate fee does and doesn't cover
- Current HMCTS waiting times and what causes delays
- A refresher on Inheritance Tax thresholds and deadlines
If you're currently dealing with a loved one's estate, there's a change you need to know about. As of 13 July 2026, the standard fee for applying for a Grant of Probate rose from £300 to £526 — a 75% increase — for any estate valued at more than £5,000. If you haven't submitted your application yet, this is one more cost to plan for during an already difficult time.
We know this news lands at a difficult moment for most families reading it. You're not just managing paperwork — you're grieving, and every new cost or delay can feel like one more obstacle stacked on top of everything else. This guide explains exactly what has changed, what it means for your application, and what you can do to keep the process moving as smoothly as possible.
What Actually Changed
Court and tribunal fees across England and Wales have been rising as part of a wider government drive to recover the cost of running the justice system. Probate fees are part of that. From 13 July 2026, the flat fee to apply for a Grant of Probate — for estates worth more than £5,000 — increased from £300 to £526.
| Estate value | Fee before 13 July 2026 | Fee from 13 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| £5,000 or under | £0 | £0 |
| Over £5,000 | £300 | £526 |
It's worth being clear about what this fee does and doesn't cover. The probate fee is separate from any Inheritance Tax due, separate from solicitor or conveyancing costs, and separate from the cost of a probate valuation on the property. It is simply the government's charge for processing the application and issuing the Grant of Probate itself.
Why This Matters Beyond the Extra £226
On its own, an extra £226 is unlikely to change anyone's plans. The bigger issue is what it signals: probate costs and processing continue to move in the wrong direction for families, even as the government describes the fee rise as funding "an improving service." Specialist probate solicitors have been vocal that, in practice, the backlog at the Probate Registry is not shrinking, and service levels for more complex estates are, if anything, getting worse.
That matters because the fee increase doesn't happen in isolation — it lands on top of waiting times that are already a source of real stress for executors. Simple, clean online applications can move relatively quickly, but a significant proportion of applicants — particularly where there's a property, multiple assets, or any complication in the estate — are still facing waits stretching well beyond six months from application to grant.
What Causes the Longest Delays
If you want to avoid your application becoming one of the slower ones, the most common causes of delay are worth knowing in advance.
Errors on the Application
Even small mistakes — a mismatched name, an incorrect date, a missing signature — can cause an online application to be "stopped," typically adding three to four weeks while it's corrected and resubmitted.
Outstanding Inheritance Tax Forms
If Inheritance Tax is due, or even if the estate simply needs to report to HMRC, you must wait at least 20 working days after submitting the IHT account before you can apply for probate. Get this stage wrong and it can add months, not weeks.
Complex or Contested Estates
Multiple properties, overseas assets, digital assets, or any dispute over the validity of the will can extend the process from months into, in some cases, years.
Critical deadline: Inheritance Tax must still be paid within six months of the date of death — even if probate has not been granted and even if the property has not sold. This deadline has not changed and continues to catch families out.
A Quick Refresher: Inheritance Tax Thresholds
Because IHT and probate are so closely linked, it's worth restating the current position clearly. The nil-rate band remains £325,000 per person, and the residence nil-rate band (available when a main home passes to children or grandchildren) is £175,000 — together allowing an individual to pass on up to £500,000 tax-free, or £1 million for a married couple or civil partners using both allowances. Both bands are frozen until April 2031. Anything above the available allowance is taxed at 40%, reducing to 36% if at least 10% of the net estate goes to charity.
These thresholds and the fee change above are confirmed on GOV.UK and cross-checked against solicitor reporting — but every estate is different, so please verify your specific position with your solicitor before relying on it.
What This Means If You're an Executor Right Now
Practically, three things are worth doing if you're at the start of this process: get your application right the first time, since an avoidable error that adds three or four weeks is now more costly in every sense; get the Inheritance Tax position resolved early, because the 20-working-day rule after submitting IHT paperwork is one of the most common reasons a straightforward estate takes longer than it should; and get advice before you assume you know your position, since the interaction between probate fees, IHT thresholds and how you choose to sell any property in the estate can meaningfully affect what beneficiaries ultimately receive.
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