Probate is the legal process of handling the estate of someone who has passed away.
If you believe you are entitled to manage the estate of a deceased individual, you may need to apply for probate.
Who is the service for?
You may be eligible to use this free service if you:
Don't have regular access to a device or the internet
Don't feel confident completing online forms
How to check probate is needed:
Contact the financial organisations the person who died used (for example, their bank and mortgage company) to find out if you’ll need probate to get access to their assets. Every organisation has its own rules.
You may not need probate if the person who died:
Only had savings
Owned shares or money with others - this automatically passes to the surviving owners unless they have agreed otherwise
Owned land or property as ‘joint tenants’ with others - this automatically passes to the surviving owners.
Can I apply for probate?
Only certain people can apply for probate.
Who can apply depends on whether or not there’s a will. If there’s a will, executors named in it can apply. In the instance there’s not a will, the closest living relative can apply.
Value the estate and work out the Inheritance Tax:
You must estimate the value of the estate to find out if there’s Inheritance Tax to pay before you can apply for probate.
Fees:
For the latest information on what fees there are when applying for probate, visit the Gov.uk website.
If you need help paying the fee:
You may be able to get help with fees if you get benefits or are on a low income.
When applying for probate online the full fee needs to be paid.
Refunds are paid later if applications for help with fees (which need to be emailed or posted) are successful.
Please be aware this service does not provide legal advice or technical support for issues encountered when filling in an online form (such as error messages and frozen pages).
