Do I need probate? A full report on when it is actually required

Why do people think probate is always needed?

Three reasons, and all of them are understandable.

First, the word is used loosely. People say 'going through probate' to mean the whole job of settling an estate, which is really estate administration. That job happens whether or not a grant is involved.

Second, the industry that sells probate services has no reason to lead with 'you may not need us'. A firm quoting a percentage of the estate is quoting for the whole administration, not for the one court form.

Third, the first organisation a family calls is often the one with the strictest threshold, and hearing 'we need the grant' once tends to settle the question in people's minds for every other asset too.

How many estates actually need a grant?

We are not going to give you a national percentage, because there isn't a reliable published one. The Ministry of Justice no longer publishes grant volumes alongside death registrations in a form that supports a clean comparison, and the figures quoted around the internet, usually somewhere between a third and a half of deaths, are traceable to nobody in particular.

What can be said with confidence, from the published rules rather than from an estimate, is that a large share of estates contain nothing that forces a grant: a jointly owned home, a joint current account, a modest sole-name savings balance under the bank's limit, and a pension paying a spouse's benefit directly. None of those need probate. Whether yours is one of them is a question about your six or seven assets, and that is answerable in ten minutes.

The assets that never need probate

Check these off your list first, because they come out of the question entirely.

• Property held as joint tenants: passes to the surviving owner by survivorship, outside the estate
• Joint bank and savings accounts: normally pass to the surviving account holder
• Life insurance written in trust: pays the named beneficiary directly
• Most death in service and pension lump sums: paid at the scheme's discretion, outside the estate
• Premium Bonds and NS&I holdings below their own threshold, currently handled by their bereavement process
• Personal possessions, a car, furniture: no registry involved, so nothing to prove authority to

The assets that usually do need probate

If any of these are in the estate, expect to need a grant.

• A property in the deceased's sole name, or a share held as tenants in common, that has to be sold or transferred
• Sole-name bank or building society balances above that provider's published limit
• Shares held directly with a registrar, and most sole-name investment and stocks and shares ISA accounts
• National Savings holdings above the threshold
• Anything where the estate is contested, or where the beneficiaries do not agree

The bank threshold is the hinge

For most estates without property, a lot depends on how each bank releases funds. There is no legal figure. Some banks publish a limit for releasing funds without a grant; others confirm their requirements after you notify them. Limits can depend on the account, whether there is a will and the circumstances, and you may still need identification and a closure form. A bank's limit does not decide whether probate is needed for the rest of the estate.

Two details catch people out. The limit is usually applied across everything held in sole name at that institution, not per account. And the bank will normally still release money for the funeral bill and for inheritance tax, even above the limit, paid directly to the funeral director or HMRC rather than to you.

How to get a straight answer for your estate

Work through it in this order and you will know within an afternoon.

• List every asset and mark each one sole name or joint
• For the property, order the title register from HM Land Registry for £3 and look for a Form A restriction, which means tenants in common
• For each bank, check its published limit and total up what was held there in sole name
• Ask any provider that publishes no limit what it needs, in writing
• If nothing is left on the list, you do not need a grant, whatever else anyone has told you

What it costs if you do need it

The court fee in England and Wales is £526 for an estate over £5,000, and nothing at or below that. Official copies of the grant are £2 each ordered with the application and £16 each afterwards. In Scotland, confirmation is free at or below £50,000, £351 between £50,000 and £250,000, and £705 above that, rising in April 2027. Northern Ireland fees rose 5 per cent on 1 April 2026.

Doing it yourself costs the court fee and copies, about £550 all in. A fixed-fee grant-only service typically runs £400 to £1,500 plus VAT on top. Full administration by a solicitor is £3,000 to £10,000 on a £300,000 estate on an hourly rate, or 1 to 5 per cent of the estate where a percentage is charged, which is rarely the cheaper option.

Where the figures come from

Court fees: GOV.UK, Applying for probate: fees, gov.uk/applying-for-probate/fees. Scottish confirmation fees: Sheriff Court Fees Order 2026. Northern Ireland: Court of Judicature (Non-Contentious Probate) Fees (Amendment) Order (NI) 2026. Bank limits: each provider's own published bereavement pages, checked across 34 UK banks and building societies. Professional fee ranges are typical UK market prices quoted by probate firms, not a published tariff. All checked 23 September 2026.