Probate Fees Through History: The UK Data

The probate application fee in England and Wales is £300 for an estate worth more than £5,000, with no fee at or below £5,000, and it is due to rise to £526 from 13 July 2026 subject to parliamentary approval (gov.uk, applying for probate: fees, as at July 2026, subject to change; gov.uk, July 2026, subject to change).

How that single flat charge came to be is a short but eventful story. Within the last decade the government proposed replacing it with a banded fee of up to £20,000 for the largest estates, dropped the plan, then settled on a flat fee that has been increased twice. This piece sets out the verified figures at each step, drawn from gov.uk and legislation.gov.uk, alongside the latest official statistics on how many grants are issued and how long they take. It sits within our estate planning guide and alongside our explainer on What Is Probate?. Every figure carries its source and date, figures are current as at July 2026 and subject to change, and nothing here is advice on any individual situation.

The headline probate fee numbers

The probate application fee for an estate over £5,000 in England and Wales is £300, unchanged since 1 May 2024, and is set to rise to £526 from 13 July 2026 subject to parliamentary approval (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change; gov.uk, July 2026, subject to change). The flat charge replaced a plan, floated in 2017, for a fee that rose with the size of the estate to as much as £20,000, which was withdrawn in 2019 before it took effect (gov.uk, fee proposals for grants of probate, 2017 to 2019). These are official figures from named government sources, and the fee that applies to any one estate depends on when the application is made.

Key figures at a glance

The current £300 fee, the £526 fee due from 13 July 2026, and the £5,000 threshold below which nothing is payable are all published by gov.uk, while the earlier flat-fee figures come from the amending legislation (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change). The table below sets out each statistic with its source and reference period. Fee figures are for England and Wales; the volume and timing statistics are the latest quarterly official figures.

Sources: gov.uk applying for probate: fees, gov.uk court and tribunal fees updates from July 2026, Non-Contentious Probate Fees (Amendment) Order 2021, Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2024, gov.uk fee proposals for grants of probate, and Family Court Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2025. Figures as at July 2026 and subject to change.

The banded fee that was proposed and dropped

The most striking chapter never happened. In 2017 the government set out plans to replace the flat probate fee with a banded charge that rose with the value of the estate, reaching as much as £20,000 for the largest estates, while lifting the threshold below which no fee is payable from £5,000 to £50,000 (gov.uk, fee proposals for grants of probate, 2017, subject to change). Critics described it as a tax on estates in all but name, since the work of issuing a grant is broadly the same whatever an estate is worth.

A revised version followed. In November 2018 the government said the banded fee would never be more than 0.5% of the value of the estate, and that around 80% of estates would pay £750 or less (gov.uk, announcement on probate fees, 5 November 2018, subject to change). That plan was withdrawn in 2019 before it took effect, and the flat-fee approach was kept and later increased instead (gov.uk, fee proposals for grants of probate, 2017 to 2019). Had the top band been introduced, the largest estates could have paid many times the current flat fee, which is part of why the episode is still cited in debates about how probate should be funded.

A flat fee treats every grant the same. A banded fee ties the charge to the size of the estate, which is why the 2017 plan drew comparisons with a tax.

How many grants, and how long they take

Fees are only part of the picture; volume and timing matter too. In July to September 2025 there were 60,132 applications for probate grants and 59,572 grants issued, with the mean time from application to grant at approximately 5 weeks, down around 2 weeks on the same quarter a year earlier and the lowest since the series began (Family Court Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2025, published by the Ministry of Justice, subject to change). Some 93% of both applications and grants in that quarter were made digitally (MoJ, Jul–Sep 2025, subject to change).

The open caseload has also fallen. At the end of September 2025 there were 38,205 open probate cases, down 16% on the 45,467 open a year earlier, and 82% of the open caseload had been waiting less than six months (MoJ, Jul–Sep 2025, subject to change). These are official statistics for England and Wales, quoted as published, and quarterly figures can move up or down as demand and processing change.

Probate fees across the UK

The figures above are for England and Wales, where the £300 fee and £5,000 threshold apply and the £526 fee is proposed from 13 July 2026 (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change). Scotland uses a different process called confirmation rather than a grant of probate, with its own fee structure, and Northern Ireland has its own probate system and fees. Anyone dealing with an estate in Scotland or Northern Ireland can check the fee that applies there, as it will not match the England and Wales figure.

Read together, the data suggests probate charging has settled into a flat fee that is being uprated over time, after a period when a much larger, value-based fee was on the table and then dropped (gov.uk, 2017 to 2019, subject to change). The £300 fee, and the £526 due from July 2026, are the same for a £10,000 estate as for a multi-million-pound one, which keeps the charge simple but means it bears more heavily, in proportion, on smaller estates above the threshold. These are observations about published figures, not predictions, and the fee that applies to any estate depends on when the application is made and where in the UK it sits.

For anyone weighing what probate will involve, many people find it helps to look at the fee, the likely timescale and any professional costs together rather than in isolation. General reading such as our estate planning guide, our explainer on What Is Probate?, and our note on how much probate costs can frame those questions, though none is a substitute for advice on individual circumstances. Where an estate is large or complex, it can be worth discussing it with a solicitor or a qualified probate professional.

Sources and methodology

Every figure on this page comes from a named government source and has been checked against the current published position. Fee figures are for England and Wales and are quoted as published in gov.uk guidance and the amending legislation. The volume and timing statistics are the latest quarterly official statistics from the Ministry of Justice. Where figures come from different periods or definitions they are not directly comparable, and nothing has been estimated, extrapolated or rounded beyond the source.

• gov.uk, applying for probate: fees (as at July 2026): the £300 application fee where the estate is over £5,000, no fee at or below £5,000, and £16 per extra copy of the grant. gov.uk
• gov.uk, court and tribunal fees updates from July 2026: the increase in the probate application fee to £526 from 13 July 2026 subject to parliamentary approval, and the reduced £2 fee for copies ordered with the application. gov.uk
• Non-Contentious Probate Fees (Amendment) Order 2021 (in force 26 January 2022): the £273 flat fee for all applicants. legislation.gov.uk
• Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2024 (in force 1 May 2024): the increase of the probate fee from £273 to £300. legislation.gov.uk
• gov.uk, fee proposals for grants of probate (2017 to 2019): the banded fee proposal rising to up to £20,000 for the largest estates and the higher £50,000 no-fee threshold, and the withdrawal of the plan in 2019. gov.uk
• gov.uk, announcement on probate fees (5 November 2018): the revised banded structure said to be never more than 0.5% of the estate, with around 80% of estates paying £750 or less. gov.uk
• Family Court Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2025 (Ministry of Justice): 60,132 probate applications, 59,572 grants issued, mean of approximately 5 weeks to a grant, 93% digital, and the open caseload of 38,205 down 16% year on year with 82% open less than six months. gov.uk

All figures are current as at July 2026 and are subject to change. Fee figures are for England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems. Statistics are quoted as published; nothing on this page has been estimated, extrapolated or rounded beyond the source.

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