How long probate takes right now
In April to June 2026, a grant of probate in England and Wales took about 5 weeks on average from the online application to the grant being issued, similar to the same quarter in 2025. Applications that the Probate Service stopped, for example because of an error or a question about the will, took 14 weeks on average.
Last checked 14 October 2026 by Naomi Jackson, Alenity
Key figures
Probate grants took about 5 weeks on average to be issued after application in April to June 2026.
Source: Ministry of Justice
Stopped applications took 14 weeks on average, compared with 2 weeks for applications that were not stopped.
Source: Ministry of Justice
Letters of administration took 10 weeks without a will and 22 weeks with a will.
Source: Ministry of Justice
There were 61,941 probate applications and 57,698 probate grants issued. 44% of grants issued were personal applications.
Source: Ministry of Justice
47,003 probate cases were open at the end of June 2026, up from 39,357 a year earlier.
Source: Ministry of Justice
Average time to grant, April to June 2026
| Type of application | Average time from application |
|---|---|
| Probate (there is a will and an executor applies) | 5 weeks |
| Letters of administration without a will | 10 weeks |
| Letters of administration with a will | 22 weeks |
| Probate applications that were stopped | 14 weeks |
| Probate applications that were not stopped | 2 weeks |
How we collected this
All figures come from the Ministry of Justice, Family Court Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2026 (section 14, tables 22 and 23). They are mean averages measured from application submission to grant issue. They cover England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland do not publish matching figures.
The time before you apply, such as valuing the estate and any inheritance tax steps, is not included. We update this page when each new quarterly release comes out.
Spotted something out of date? Email naomi@alenity.co.uk and we will check it against the source.
How to cite this
Alenity, "Probate Service timeliness, England and Wales", last checked 14 October 2026. https://alenity.co.uk/data/how-long-probate-takes. Free to reuse with a link back (CC BY 4.0).
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