When is probate needed in England and Wales after a death?
Do I Need Probate?
Your Simple Guide to When Probate Is Needed in the UK
If you’re asking, “Do I need probate?”, you’re not alone. Every year, thousands of people are faced with this question after someone dies. And the answer? It depends – but this guide will help you figure it out.
🗺️ Note: This guide covers England and Wales. Rules are different in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
🧾 What Is Probate?
Probate is the legal permission to deal with someone’s estate after they die. That includes their money, property and possessions. If there’s a Will, the executor applies. If not, a family member can apply to be the administrator.
❓ When Is Probate Required in the UK?
You’ll usually need probate if:
- The person owned a house, flat or land in their name only or as tenants in common.
- There are savings or investments over a certain amount.
- The bank or other company asks for probate before releasing money.
🧠 Important: If one company wants probate, you’ll need to cover everything in the estate in your application.
💬 When Might You Not Need Probate?
You might not need probate if:
- Everything was owned jointly, like a house held as joint tenants.
- The estate is very small – usually under £5,000.
- All money is in trusts, or pensions pass directly to named beneficiaries
TIP: If there is enough money in the deceased’s savings to pay for the funeral, they MAY agree (by arrangement in advance) to pay the funeral director direct, saving scrabbling around for a sizeable bill at a difficult time.
🏦 Bank Probate Limits – How Much Is Too Much?
Each bank or building society has its own limit. If the account is under the limit, they might release the money without probate. Over the limit, they’ll almost always insist on a Grant of Probate.
Here’s a recent list of amounts over which probate will normally be insisted on – bear in mind if two banks are in the same ownership group, they may add the amount in each account together:
| Bank / Institution | Probate Limit |
|---|---|
| Atom Bank | £15,000 |
| Aviva | £50,000 |
| AXA | £10,000 |
| Bank of Ireland | £10,000 |
| Bank of Scotland | £25,000 |
| Barclays | £50,000 |
| Birmingham Midshires | £25,000 |
| Britannia | £30,000 |
| Cheltenham & Gloucester | £25,000 |
| Co-op Bank | £30,000 |
| Danske Bank | £25,000 (gross estate) |
| First Direct | £20,000 |
| Halifax | £50,000 |
| HSBC | Case-by-case |
| Lloyds TSB | £50,000 |
| Metro Bank | TBC |
| Monzo | £5,000 |
| M&S Money | £15,000 |
| Nationwide | £5,000–£30,000 |
| NatWest | £25,000 |
| NS&I (Premium Bonds) | £5,000–£15,000 |
| Post Office | £10,000 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | £25,000 |
| Sainsbury’s Bank | £20,000 |
| Santander | £50,000 |
| Skipton Building Society | £15,000 |
| Starling | £7,500 |
| Tandem | TBC |
| Tesco Bank | £25,000 |
| Woolwich | £15,000 |
| Yorkshire Building Society | £30,000 |
🏠 Do I Need Probate to Sell a House?
Yes – unless:
- You were joint tenants with the person who died, and the home passes to you automatically.
If the home was in their name only or owned as tenants in common, probate will usually be needed.
More Questions Answered
- Do I need probate if there’s a Will?
✅ the Will doesn’t avoid probate, it just helps decide who applies. It won’t always be required. - Do I need probate if I’m the only beneficiary?
✅ Possibly – it depends on the assets and who holds them. - Do I need probate if I have power of attorney?
❌ No – Power of Attorney ends when the person dies. You’ll need to apply for probate separately if you are the next of kin. - Do I need probate to deal with shares or insurance?
✅ Almost always – unless shares were jointly held or insurance was in trust. Watch out for US shares as they have to go through an addition process there.
🧠 Final Thoughts
Knowing when probate is needed in the UK saves you time, stress and money. And if you’re still unsure, don’t worry – you’re not alone.
We can find friendly, affordable help and guidance if you need it.
Learn about the Duties of Executors here.
What Is an Excepted Estate?
The eminent lawyer, Lesley Kind, explains the changes to excepted estates for deaths after 1st January 2022 far better than I can, and also draws attention to the possible difficulties that changes will make on subsequent sales of assets and the difficulty establishing base cost, which did not previously exist. Note that the period during which HMRC can call in an estate for review has been doubled from 5 weeks to 10 weeks. For earlier deaths, read on:
The estate will generally be an excepted estate if any of these apply:
- The total value is less than the Nil Rate Band of IHT (£325,000 at present) but you do need to be very careful that you have included everything which should be included which can (for example) include gifts made up to 14 years before (usually only 7). If in doubt, you need advice as the penalties for getting it wrong are severe.
- The estate is exempt – everything (or everything over and above the Inheritance Tax threshold) was left to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a ‘qualifying’ charity (and the estate is valued at under £1 million)
- The deceased person was a ‘foreign domiciliary’ – they lived permanently abroad and died abroad and the value of their UK assets was less than £150,000.
An estate will also be an excepted estate if both of the following apply:
- The estate is less than double the IHT nil rate band (£650,000 in 2013-28 tax years.)
- All the unused IHT nil rate band from a deceased spouse or civil partner is transferable to the deceased as the first spouse/ civil partner to die had left everything to the person who has now died.
- If it is an excepted estate. then form IHT205 will usually be the correct form, plus form IHT217 if you’re transferring an unused Inheritance Tax threshold from a late spouse or civil partner to the deceased.
An estate will NOT qualify as an Excepted Estate if:
- The estate is valued at more than the nil rate band.
- If an estate worth more than £1 million is left to a spouse, civil partner or ‘qualifying’ charity.
- The estate is worth more than double the nil rate band when all the unused nil rate band has been transferred from a deceased spouse or civil partner.
- A nil rate band transfer is needed from a late spouse or civil partner to avoid paying IHT and the full nil rate band isn’t available – even if it is not needed.
- The deceased had a permanent home outside the UK when they died but formerly had a permanent home within the United Kingdom.
- Trusts: the deceased had assets in a trust worth over £150,000 or had more than one trust.
- There we assets worth more than £100,000 outside the United Kingdom.
- Gifts were made within 7 years before they died of over £150,000 after taking off the tax-free allowances.
- Gifts into trusts were made.
- The deceased benefited from a gift they had made, such as their house or car (this is called a ‘gift with reservation of benefit’.)
- Life insurance paid out to a third party other than spouse / civil partner and they had also bought an annuity.
- They had a personal pension from which they had not taken their full retirement benefits, and when they were terminally ill or in poor health they changed the death benefits payable on it to increase the value of the lump sum
- They owned – or were the beneficiary of – an ‘Alternatively Secured Pension’ or unsecured pension.
- They elected that property that they had given away should be part of their estate for Inheritance Tax, and not pay a ‘pre-owned asset’ charge
- They were ‘deemed domiciled’ in the UK – this usually applies if the deceased wasn’t born in the UK but had lived here for the last 17 years, or was born in the UK but died within three years of emigrating.
In any of these cases, the estate is not an excepted estate and you must fill in a full Inheritance Tax account (form IHT400). Definitely, a reason to seek our help in finding economical professional help – 03 300 102 300! The last time I checked, an IHT400 could be 96 pages long. Not for the faint-hearted!
Questions: When is probate needed?
Will National Savings insist on a grant of probate to cash in premium bonds?
As stated above, National Savings are particularly cautious about allowing deceased savers’ bonds or other savings to be released. See above
Do I need to get probate if there are no assets?
Do I need a grant of probate if I am the sole beneficiary?
It makes no difference if you are sole beneficiary, you may still require probate.
When don’t I need probate?
When all of the asset holders are willing to release everything to you – usually only the case for small estates, but it is perfectly possible for a large estate not to need a Grant, but may still have to complete Inheritance Tax forms or face the possibility of substantial penalties if you are later proved wrong. The most usual case is where everything is held in joint names as “Joint Tenants” that is each may in effect appear to own all of the asset in question. Confusingly “Tenants in Common” means that each co-owner only owns part of the asset, which means it is more likely that a grant will be required – it definitely will be if the asset is a house or land of any type.
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