The Ministry of Justice in the UK has a consultation paper out regarding fees for probate applications.
At present, applications for grants of probate are set at £155 when a grant of probate is sought by a solicitor and £215 when the application is made by an individual. This higher fee for ‘personal’ applicants reflects some of the additional administrative work that must be done by the Probate Service when dealing with applications made by individuals. Estates that require probate but are worth less than £5,000 do not have to pay a fee.
There are an average of 270,000 applications for a grant of probate each year in England and Wales, around 38% of which are made by individuals, and around 62% by solicitors.
Table 1: Proposed fee structure Value of estate (before inheritance tax)
Proposed Fee Up to £50,000 = £0
Exceeds £50,000 but does not exceed £300,000 = £300
Exceeds £300,000 but does not exceed £500,000 = £1,000
Exceeds £500,000 but does not exceed £1m = £4,000
Exceeds £1m but does not exceed £1.6m = £8,000
Exceeds £1.6m but does not exceed £2m = £12,000
Above £2m 0.4% £20,000
