If you are asking how much probate costs when you do it yourself, here is the short answer: the probate application fee in England and Wales is currently £300 for estates valued over £5,000. That is the only mandatory government cost. Everything else depends on the choices you make and the complexity of the estate.
I know that is not what you usually hear. Most people assume probate means thousands of pounds in solicitor fees and months of confusion. For many families, it simply does not have to be that way.
My name is Jane Morris-Rowlinson. I am a qualified probate solicitor with 23 years of experience. I also wrote our newly launched DIY Probate Portal, because, after years of watching families hand over enormous sums for straightforward estates, I wanted to give people a genuinely better option.
In this guide, I am going to break down every cost involved in DIY probate in 2026, compare your options side by side, and help you understand whether doing probate yourself is right for your situation. I will also be honest about the time and effort involved, because that is a real cost too, even if it does not appear on any invoice.
If you are not sure whether probate is needed at all in your situation, our Probate Checker will give you a clear answer in under a minute, and it is completely free.
Let us start with the fixed, unavoidable cost that applies to every probate application in England and Wales.
The probate application fee is £300 for estates valued over £5,000. This is paid to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) when you submit your application for a Grant of Probate. You can verify this on the official gov.uk probate fees page.
For estates valued at £5,000 or under, there is no application fee at all.
There is one additional cost that most guides forget to mention: sealed copies of the Grant of Probate. Once probate is granted, you will need to send official copies to banks, building societies, the Land Registry, pension providers, investment platforms, and any other organisation holding assets. Each sealed copy costs £16. This changed in November 2025 from the original cost of £1.50. (I know, it’s a huge increase).
For a typical estate with a property, a few bank accounts, and perhaps a pension or ISA, you will usually need somewhere between 6 and 10 copies. That works out to approximately £96 to £160.
So in total, the unavoidable government costs of a DIY probate application are roughly:
That is it. That is the baseline cost of doing probate yourself, before you factor in any guidance, professional probate support, or additional valuation fees.
The £300 application fee is clear enough. What catches many executors off guard are the additional costs that can arise depending on the estate. None of these are inevitable, but you should know they exist before you start.
If the estate exceeds the inheritance tax (IHT) nil-rate band, currently £325,000 (or up to £500,000 with the residence nil-rate band for direct descendants inheriting a main property), inheritance tax at 40% on the amount above that threshold will be due. Crucially, HMRC requires IHT to be paid, or for a payment arrangement to be in place, before the Grant of Probate is issued.
This is not a cost of probate itself, but it is a cost that falls during the probate process and can come as a significant shock if families have not planned for it. You can check the current thresholds and allowances on the HMRC inheritance tax page.
To complete the IHT forms and the probate application accurately, you need to know the value of the estate’s assets at the date of death.
For most straightforward estates, valuation costs are minimal or zero.
If the estate includes a property that is being transferred to a beneficiary or sold, Land Registry fees will apply. These vary depending on the property value and the nature of the transaction. You can calculate the exact fee using the Land Registry fee calculator.
I want to be completely honest with you about this, because most guides gloss over it.
Doing probate yourself takes time. For a straightforward estate, you should realistically expect to spend somewhere between 20 and 40 hours spread across the process, which typically runs from 6 to 12 months. For more complex estates, it can be considerably more.
That time involves gathering paperwork, contacting organisations, completing forms, chasing responses from banks (which can be painfully slow), calculating asset values, and keeping beneficiaries updated. It is not rocket science, but it does require patience, organisation, and a willingness to follow a process carefully.
If you want a realistic picture of the full timeline, our guide How Long Does Probate Take in 2026 covers every stage in detail.
The time cost is real, and it is worth weighing honestly. But it is also worth noting that using a solicitor does not necessarily save you time as executor. You will still be the person gathering information, signing documents, and communicating with beneficiaries. A solicitor handles the legal paperwork; you still carry most of the coordination.
To understand whether DIY probate makes sense for you, it helps to know what the alternative actually costs.
There are two very different types of solicitor involvement in probate, and many families do not realise they are signing up for the more expensive one.
Some solicitors will handle just the application for the Grant of Probate on your behalf, with you administering the estate yourself once the Grant is issued. This is sometimes called an “extracted Grant” service. Costs for this typically range from £1,000 to £2,000 plus VAT depending on the firm and the complexity of the IHT position.
This is where a solicitor handles everything, from valuing the estate and completing IHT forms through to collecting assets, paying debts, and distributing the estate to beneficiaries. This is the service most people assume they need, and it is the most expensive by far.
Solicitors typically charge for full administration in one of two ways:
That percentage model is worth sitting with for a moment. On an estate worth £350,000, which is not unusual given current property values in many parts of England and Wales, a solicitor charging 2% for full administration would charge £7,000 plus VAT. At 3%, that rises to £10,500 plus VAT.
For the same estate, the government probate application fee is £300.
I am not suggesting solicitors do not earn their fees in complex cases. They absolutely can. But for a straightforward estate with a valid will, UK assets, and no disputes, the gap between what you pay and what you actually need is, in my experience, often enormous.
If you want to understand the full process before deciding, our guide How to Do Probate Yourself in the UK covers every stage in plain English.
This is where I want to give you a genuinely honest comparison. You have several options when it comes to doing probate yourself, and they are not all equal.
| Option | Your Cost | What You Get | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
Entirely self-guided (gov.uk guidance only) | – £300 | Application fee + HMRC guidance notes | Confident executors with simple estates and plenty of time |
Free online guides and articles | – £300 | Application fee + general information of varying quality | Those happy to research independently and piece it together |
DIY probate books or PDF packs | – £322 to £342 | Application fee + a static guide or template pack | Budget-conscious, prefer reading at their own pace |
Other paid DIY probate services | – £799 | Application fee + online platform, typically £499 or more | Those wanting structure but without specialist support built in |
Online Wills and Probate DIY Probate Portal | – £339.00 | Application fee + step-by-step portal, progress tracking, letter templates, checklists, downloadable resources, built by a probate solicitor. Lifetime access for £39.99 | Anyone who wants to do it properly, confidently, and without paying solicitor fees |
Solicitor: Grant only | – £1312 to £2312+ | Application fee + solicitor handles the Grant application | Those who want the application handled professionally |
Solicitor: Full administration | – 1% to 5% of estate | Everything handled for you | Genuinely complex or disputed estates |
A few things worth noting about that table.
The “entirely self-guided” option is free in the sense that you pay nothing beyond the government fee. But the guidance on gov.uk, while accurate, is written in legal language and does not tell you what to do first, or second, or in which order the many moving parts need to fit together. I have spoken to executors who spent months going around in circles because nobody told them the sequence mattered.
The other paid DIY services that exist at the £499 price point tend to offer a static guide or template pack rather than an interactive, structured experience. There is nothing wrong with them, but they are not designed by accountants and they do not adapt as your situation develops.
Our DIY Probate Portal was built by me, a practising probate solicitor, specifically to give you the structure and confidence of professional guidance at a fraction of the cost. At £39.99 for lifetime access, it is the same price as a decent dinner for two.
I want to say something that might feel uncomfortable, but I think it is important. The consequences of making mistakes in probate are not just inconvenient. They can be serious.
Probate Registry can reject your application if forms are incomplete or incorrectly completed. Resubmitting adds weeks or months to an already lengthy process, and the people waiting for their inheritance feel every one of those extra days.
HMRC charges interest on late inheritance tax payments. If IHT is due and you do not pay it, or arrange a payment plan, before the Grant is issued, interest begins to accrue. The current rate is published on the HMRC late payment interest page.
Executors can be held personally liable for distributing assets incorrectly. If debts or creditors emerge after distribution that you were not aware of, it can fall to the executor personally to resolve the shortfall.
Missing assets or failing to notify the right organisations can create problems that take years to untangle.
None of this is meant to frighten you. The vast majority of straightforward estates go through probate without any of these issues arising. But it is the reason I always say: the goal is not just to do probate yourself. It is to do it correctly, in the right order, with the right forms.
That is exactly the gap the DIY Probate Portal was designed to fill.
The biggest challenge with DIY probate is not really the cost. It is knowing what to do, in what order, and feeling confident you have not missed anything.
That is what I built the DIY Probate Portal to solve.
When you sign up, you get immediate access to a secure online platform that walks you through the entire probate process stage by stage. Not a PDF. Not a list of links. A structured, interactive experience with:
And it costs £39.99 for lifetime access. Not a monthly subscription. Not a fee per form. One payment, and the portal is yours for as long as you need it.
I should also mention something that genuinely made me smile when I heard it. One of our customers bought the portal before anyone in her family had passed away. She told us she wanted to be prepared because of the lifetime access, and she did not want to be learning from scratch in the middle of grief. I think that is one of the wisest things I have heard in a long time.
DIY probate is suitable for many estates, but not every estate. Here is a straightforward checklist to help you decide.
DIY probate is likely suitable if:
You may benefit from professional support if:
If you are unsure which category you fall into, our free Probate Checker is a good starting point. And if you want to understand what the process looks like from start to finish before you commit to anything, our guide Do You Need Probate if There is a Will? covers the basics clearly.
The probate application fee in England and Wales is £300 for estates valued over £5,000. Estates valued at £5,000 or under are exempt from the fee. You will also need sealed copies of the Grant of Probate at £16 each. Most executors order between 6 and 10 copies. The full, up-to-date fee schedule is published on the gov.uk website.
Yes. In England and Wales, you are entirely entitled to apply for probate yourself. It is called a personal application and Probate Registry processes thousands of them every year. For a straightforward estate with a valid will and no disputes, many executors manage the entire process without any professional involvement.
For a Grant-only service, solicitors typically charge £1,000 to £2,000 plus VAT. For full estate administration, costs range from a fixed fee of £2,500 to £5,000 plus VAT, or 1% to 5% of the gross estate value. On an estate worth £400,000, a 2% charge would amount to £8,000 plus VAT.
The cheapest way to obtain probate is to apply yourself as a personal applicant. The mandatory cost is the £300 application fee plus £16 per sealed copy. With appropriate guidance, this is entirely achievable for most straightforward estates.
Yes. Where inheritance tax is due, HMRC requires it to be paid, or for a formal payment arrangement to be in place, before the Grant of Probate will be issued. This can create a challenging situation where assets are frozen until probate is granted, but IHT must be paid before probate is granted. Many banks and National Savings will release funds directly to HMRC for this purpose before probate, which can help.
For a straightforward estate, the full process typically takes between 6 and 12 months from start to finish. The probate application itself, once submitted, currently takes around 8 to 16 weeks to be processed. Most of the time is spent in the preparation before application and the administration after the Grant is received. Our guide How Long Does Probate Take in 2026 covers every stage and what typically causes delays.
For a straightforward estate, probate is a structured administrative process rather than a legally complex one. The challenge is not usually any individual task but knowing the correct sequence of steps and making sure nothing is missed. With the right guidance and a clear process to follow, the majority of executors can manage it themselves.
Probate has a reputation for being complicated, expensive, and the exclusive territory of solicitors. In my 23 years of working in this field, I have seen that reputation cause real harm: families paying fees they did not need to pay, and executors spending years assuming they were not capable of something they were perfectly equipped to handle.
The truth is that for many families, probate is a manageable process. It takes time, care, and a willingness to follow a clear path. But it does not require a legal degree or a four-figure invoice.
If you are at the beginning of this journey and wondering where to start, I would encourage you to use our free Probate Checker, read through our guide on how to do probate yourself, and take a look at the DIY Probate Portal. It was built specifically for the person sitting where you are sitting right now.
You can do this. And we are here to help every step of the way.
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