Legal News | 13.01.22

Probate fees to increase from January 2022

Probate fees will increase to a single, flat rate of £273 for all applicants, regardless of the size of the estate, or whether by solicitor or lay applicant from 26th January 2022.
A grant of representation is a document issued by the probate registry, which gives personal representatives legal authority to administer the estate of a person who has died. For estates where there is a Will the document is called a Grant or Probate, where there is no valid Will this document is called a Grant of Letters of Administration.
The court fee for a grant is currently £155 for an application by a professional, and £215 for a personal application.

An Order published in December 2021 amends the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/3120), increasing the fee payable on the application for a grant to £273 for all applicants and, accordingly, also deletes the personal application fee.

Estates of less than £5,000 will continue not to attract a fee.

Increases to probate fees were proposed in 2016 and again in 2019, with the proposals being shelved by the government on both occasions. Those proposals were considerably more drastic, involving sliding scales of fees of up to £20,000, depending on the value of the estate.

The current proposals are justified by the government on the basis that the probate service is currently operating at a loss, it is anticipated that the increased fee will enable the service to cover the loss.

Statistics suggest that from around 270,000 applications for Grants every year that are eligible for a fee, approximately 60% of applications are from probate professionals, with the remaining 40% from individuals.

If you have been appointed as an executor or are acting as a personal representative and would like some more information or assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Private Client Team at Wansbroughs. Please get in touch with your usual contact or email wealth@wansbroughs.com.