Apply for probate in England and Wales

Table of Contents

Apply for Probate: The Process.

You can apply for probate yourself or use a professional firm such as us – we are half the cost of many. Either way, you may find our free video and downloadable guides on how to go apply for probate helpful.

In order to apply for probate there are five essential steps (we’ll go through each step further down the page):

Fill in the application.
Fill in the appropriate Inheritance Tax form (Nil Rate Band Transferable and or IHT400).
Pay any Inheritance Tax.
Send off your application to the relevant (normally) Harlow.
You used to have to swear an oath at the Probate Registry that all the information you have provided is true and complete. Now it is just a Statement of Truth and no need to visit a solicitor. However, if you are wrong, careless or deceitful – watch out, the penalties are severe, and they may well come out of the executor’s own pocket.

Apply for probate in more detail.

1. The application form

You can either:

Fill in the probate application online for yourself. But be aware that if HMRC are involved, their form will need to go in first, and they will supply you with a reference number when it is approved which needs to go on the Probate Application before it is sent off.
Call the Probate and Inheritance Tax “helpline” – 0117 930 2430 (24×7 and forms only) or 0300 123 1072 where you may get to speak to a human (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm). They might help a bit but no legal advice (and you have to get through first!)
Call in professional help to make sure everything is done properly. We can recommend either “add on” help or professionals who will take over everything, as you wish. There are a few other options listed on the add-on page, so please check it out and always ask me for at least a comparative probate quote so you know you are not paying twice as much as you need too – which is surprisingly common.

2. The Inheritance Tax Form.

Before you can fill in the IHT form you have to be sure that you are fully aware of:

Everything the deceased owned at the time of their death, including their share of joint assets.
Everything the deceased has given away in the last seven years (sometimes the last 14 years) unless it falls within the IHT exemptions. This includes anything which may have been sold under market value to a connected person, or (for example) giving away one of a pair of vases reduces the value of the estate as they are worth far more as a pair.
Any trusts the deceased set up or had an interest in the same time frame. Many savings and investments are in trust, so check carefully.

You must complete an Inheritance Tax form – even if you think no tax is owed.For low-value estates where you are absolutely certain that there is no possibility of Inheritance Tax being payable, this may be fairly easy. But be sure you are right in your assumptions and have proper valuations of anything which could be valuable. On recent deaths, the IHT205 form is no longer required in the estate is an excepted estate*.

3. Pay Inheritance Tax or agree on a payment plan with the Tax-man.

Get confirmation from HMRC to send off with:

4. Send off your application for the Grant or Letters of Administration..

Your application pack needs to include:

Your completed probate application form – the PA1.
The completed IHT form and confirmation of payment from the Taxman.
An official death certificate.
The original will and 2 photocopies.
The originals of any codicils and two copies of each (codicils are changes to a Last Will and testament.)
The probate application fee (the application fee is nil if the valuation of the estate is less than £5,000.)

Always apply for extra copies of the grant of probate – they are just £1.50 each and will make it much easier to collect in the assets of the estate. Sending one copy of the grant of probate to ten organisations one after another and waiting for each, in turn, to send it back – if they remember can be incredibly slow and frustrating (trade secret!)

5. Swear an oath at the Registry. No longer needed.

You used to have to swear an oath – a ‘promise’ that the information you have given is true and complete to the best of your knowledge. See penalties above!Now just wait for the Grant to arrive, but keep an eye open for questions – the case will be stopped until they are answered. Chase up at the earliest permitted time just to ensure you are not the cause of the probate delays.

*What is an Excepted Estate?

It is one where it is not necessary to submit a “full account” to the Taxman, generally the IHT 400 and its’ many, many additional pages (potentially up to almost 1oo pages at the last count). There are broadly three types of excepted estate:

Low value – the gross value of the estate and relevant lifetime transfers do not exceed the nil rate band.
Exempt – the aggregate of the gross value and relevant chargeable transfers does not exceed the threshold set out below and passes to spouse, civil partner or charity.
Non-domiciled or deemed domiciled in the UK and after consideration of the type of assets has a gross value no more than £150,000 or those not deemed domiciled or domiciled outside of the UK.

To discover if an estate is an excepted estate, you must identify when the person died and then apply the following:Death on or after 1^st January 2022 and the estate:

is valued below the inheritance tax threshold;
is worth £650,000 or less and any unused threshold is being transferred from a spouse or civil partner who died first;
is worth less than £3 million and the deceased left everything to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a qualifying charity; or
the deceased was living permanently outside the UK when they died, and the value of their relevant UK assets is under £150,000.

The person died after 1^st September 2006 and on or before 31^st December 2021 and the estate qualifies as an excepted estate if it:

is valued, including non-exempt lifetime transfers below the inheritance tax threshold at the time they died;
is worth less than £1 million and the deceased left everything to a surviving spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a qualifying charity; or
the deceased was living permanently outside the UK when they died, and the value of their UK assets is under £150,000.