The probate process
How to Apply for Probate in England and Wales: a Step-by-Step Guide
Applying for Probate in England and Wales involves a defined sequence of steps. Understanding the full process before you begin helps you plan what information you need and in what order.
Step 1: Register the death
Register with the local registrar within five days. Order several certified copies of the death certificate. Ask about the Tell Us Once service to notify government agencies simultaneously.
Step 2: Locate the Will
Search thoroughly for the original Will. Check the deceased’s home, their solicitor, their bank, and the National Will Register. If no Will is found, the estate is treated as intestate.
Step 3: Value the estate
Contact every bank, building society, investment platform, pension provider, and insurer for date-of-death valuations. Arrange a property valuation. Identify all outstanding debts. The net estate value determines whether IHT may be due.
Step 4: Complete the HMRC Inheritance Tax return, if needed
If the estate is not an excepted estate, the IHT400 must be sent to HMRC before the Probate application. Do not assume an estate is excepted just because no Inheritance Tax is due. Once HMRC processes the IHT400, they send a unique Probate code, by letter, or by email if you chose to receive it that way, and the code is entered on the Probate application. Most estates are excepted estates and need no Inheritance Tax forms at all. YouCanDoProbate works out whether the estate is excepted, and completes the IHT400 and all supplementary schedules automatically where they are needed.
Step 5: Submit the Probate application
Use form PA1P (with a Will) or PA1A (without a Will), submitted with the original Will, death certificate, and the £526 application fee. Order additional official copies of the Grant at £2 each.
Step 6: Receive the Grant and administer the estate
Present the Grant to financial institutions. Place a Statutory Notice for Creditors in The Gazette. Obtain HMRC tax clearance. Pay all debts and expenses. Distribute the estate to Beneficiaries. Draw up estate accounts.
The easy and affordable way to apply for probate
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I was terrified about tackling Probate on my own, but the Bereavement Association recommended YouCanDoProbate. First I phoned up for some advice and without even buying the programme, got first rate advice. It was easy to use, the information was clear and written in plain English, no legal jargon. Whenever I phoned the helpline I was greeted by a friendly voice, no call centre, and the information and reassurance was excellent. I could not recommended this enough.
This saved so much time and cost. They answered all my questions and I was able to submit all the forms myself. Great service. I would reccomend this to anyone rather than using a solicitor.
YouCanDoProbate helped me out so much. I was really struggling with all the questions & forms before I found it. It makes everything SO much easier and guides you through the process with all the information you need and you can ask questions. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is trying to do Probate themselves.
Fantastic programme and support. I spoke to Adam a few times and he was extremely helpful. Applying for probate can be challenging despite having reasonable knowledge of the process. I did the probate for my late mother and once I had the codes from HMRC got the probate within 10 days. Best to do the probate process online rather than sending the paper forms. All you have to submit to the probate office is the original will. I would recommend this company highly as all the solicitors would do is to supply them with the relevant paperwork and charge a large sum for doing what I did in 2 hours.
An excellent service. The team are happy to talk you through the options before you commit and make sure that the software will work for your circumstances. Once you get started it is easy to use and save your work. Very good and recommended.
A very professional company and service, so easy to use from start to finish, but always available to answer any questions quickly, no matter how trivial, saved so much money compared to traditional solicitor. Highly recommend.
Very easy to follow . Help available if required. Certainly a savings compared to solicitors fees.
I can truly recommend YouCanDoProbate for an Estate that falls below the IHT threshold. The portal is excellent and easy to use and walks you through the process brilliantly. The support is also excellent with special mention for Tom. Many thanks to all
I was so happy I found YouCanDoProbate. I did not even know where to start with this process but as soon as you register with them on line (and pay the fee) it guides you through step by step. You then just print off the the forms and send them off. It made a complicated system really simple for us.
Very prompt, efficient and friendly. Certainly helped me in difficult times. Very straight forward and the step by step forms were a great help.
YouCanDoProbate saved me over £2000 (maybe £2500). Their fee of £399 bought me access to an online process that took me step by step through what would otherwise have been a very daunting task – as I suspect it would be for most people. The objective is to obtain a Grant of Probate and however many copies you require. The fee also includes advisors on the end of a telephone should clarification or advice be required – and when one was not immediately available they called me back very quickly. I called them 3 or 4 times and each time the advisor was patient, thorough, very knowledgeable and extremely helpful – each time stressing that if I had further questions I should not hesitate to call them again. The online process (which comes with a comprehensive online guide for each section needed to be completed) called for a lot of information to be entered; mostly regarding the banks, building societies, funeral expenses and much more but if it is not immediately to hand, the process allows you to step out as may times as you like and all the information already entered is retained. It can seem daunting at first but the more I stuck at it, the easier it seemed to get. The end result of the online process is a PA1P Probate Application form which is 90% auto-filled based on the information I entered as I stepped through the online process. Depending on circumstances, other forms may also need to be generated. Once I printed out the form and checked it over, it was simply a case of sending it to HM Courts and Tribunal Service along with a death certificate and the original will (in my case) along with a cheque for £300 plus a £1.50 fee for each Grant of Probate copy required. I believe that had I gone through a solictor to apply for a Grant of Probate, I was probably going to have to pay around £3,000 so YouCanDoProbate saved me a lot of money. I could not recommend them highly enough.
I found the platform very helpful. I was especially impressed with the help desk capability – very timely and helpful.
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