Skip to main content
MON - SAT
9am - 6pm
User Login
When did you purchase access to your YouCanDoProbate account?
On or after 1st March 2025
On or before 28th February 2025
Don’t have an account? Sign up here
Wills and intestacy

What is a Will, and Why Does it Matter for Probate?

A Will is a legal document in which a person sets out their wishes for how their estate should be managed and distributed after their death. It names the Executor(s) responsible for carrying out those wishes and identifies who should receive what.

What makes a Will valid?

  • It must be in writing
  • It must be signed by the person making the Will in the presence of two independent witnesses, both present at the same time
  • Both witnesses must sign in the presence of the testator

The witnesses must be independent. A Beneficiary (or their spouse or civil partner) cannot validly witness the Will without risking their gift.

Why does it matter for Probate?

With a valid Will, an Executor applies for a Grant of Probate and distributes the estate in accordance with the Will’s instructions. Without a valid Will, the estate is intestate, a relative applies for Letters of Administration, and the estate is distributed according to the Rules of Intestacy, which may not reflect the deceased’s wishes.

Finding the original Will

The original Will (not a copy) must be submitted to the Probate Registry. Check the deceased’s home, contact their solicitor, search the National Will Register (Certainty.co.uk), and check whether the Will was deposited with the Probate Service. YouCanDoProbate handles Probate both with and without a Will.

Ready to begin?

The easy and affordable way to apply for probate

Register today and work through your application at your own pace, with unlimited UK-based expert support whenever you need it.
Try it risk-free · 14 Day Money Back Guarantee
Call 0800 689 1447 · Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm
Got a question while you are reading?
Our team of experts are on hand to help. Call us, or Request a Callback. No obligation. Just honest answers.
Trustpilot five star rating
The experience and the ease plus the…

The experience and the ease plus the excellent help from Tom and his team

William Grice
Trustpilot five star rating
Easy to use. Great service and a saving of £2000!

I HIGHLY recommend the platform for anyone wanting to save solicitors fees and who wants to apply themselves. £325 gives you an easy to use platform that asks questions that are easy to understand. It is intuitive to use and red flags you if there is anything missing. Support is 1st class, sent an email question on a Sunday afternoon and had a reply 2 hours later! YCDP cuts out large parts of the probate forms that do not apply to your own application….My application was straightforward and the actual time i took on the YCDP platform was probably 30 mins. Quotes from solicitors were £2k to £3k JUST to fill out the forms, bear in mind that you have to provide the solicitors with all the details. Brilliant service – Easy to use.

Mike Adkins
Trustpilot five star rating
We followed all the instructions on how to complete the form and would recommend this site to anyone.

We followed all the instructions on how to fill in the appropriate spaces. As it was done at the weekend there was no one to speak to but on Monday when I got in a bit of a muddle Tom talked me through what I had to do. It all worked out fine in the end & I would recommend them to anyone who wanted to tackle Probate themselves.

PATRICIA KENNARD
Trustpilot five star rating
Posted the completed Probate form and received the Grant of Probate letter 4 working days later…amazing service.

This was the first Probate I’d applied for. Initially, I assumed I’d have no choice but to go via a solicitor who would have asked me to gather all the information required yet charge thousands of pounds for the service. After carrying out further research online, I came across the YouCanDoProbate website, read their Trustpilot reviews and made some other sensible checks. I phoned them and had an initial conversation with Tom who was friendly and knowledgeable and asked several questions about the estate (it was over the individual IHT threshold but would be using the Transferable Nil Rate Band of a pre-deceased spouse) and he confirmed the platform would be able to deal with this. I was a little nervous initially about whether this was the right way forward but decided to go for it, signed up and paid the £499 fee which gave me access to the platform via my usual web browser so no special software needed. From then on, it was a relatively straightforward administrative task of putting in the information required. I loved that it saved all the information so that if I was interrupted or had to stop, I could just go back to it later and pick up where I’d left off. It went through the estate details very logically – personal info of all those involved – the deceased, pre-deceased spouse, executors, beneficiaries then assets, liabilities, expenses, gifts etc. After filling in all the required information, the platform then generated the Estate Summary (in my case showing there was no inheritance tax to pay and confirming that I didn’t have to fill in a separate form to send to HMRC). It had autofilled all the relevant information I’d input in the previous sections and made all the calculations for me with a detailed breakdown as to how the figures were arrived at. When I needed help and a bit of reassurance on 4 occasions via support ticket email, requesting a callback for a specific time or calling directly, Adam and Tom answered my queries quickly and knowledgeably and I was fully reassured that the forms had been completed correctly. Once I was satisfied with the Estate Summary details, I was able to move on and the system generated the autofilled Probate form which I could download and print off for review before signing. If anything needed to be amended, it was possible to go back and do so throughout the entire process before completing one stage and moving on to another. While I chose to complete the forms over the course of several days, I think it would be possible to complete the whole process in a few hours if there were no interruptions. On Thurs 28th May, I posted off the PA1P probate form with all the other relevant documents required including the probate fee postal orders (so no time waiting for a cheque to clear). I used the 1st class Royal Mail tracked service which was delivered the next day. I received an acknowledgement of receipt email on Mon 1 June with a reference number, another email on Tues 2 June confirming that Probate had been approved and, finally, on Thurs 4 June, I received the Grant of Probate letter in the post, 4 working days after sending off the application. I was expecting to have to wait 3 or 4 months for a response and am truly amazed at the speed of the turnaround. I cannot thank YouCanDoProbate enough. It is an amazing service, worth every penny of the £499 cost and I highly recommend it.

JA
Trustpilot five star rating
Very straightforward and intuitive…

Very straightforward and intuitive system with excellent support. A most cost effective solution. We obtained probate within 12 weeks!

Phillip Plato
Trustpilot five star rating
VERY SIMPLE TO FOLLOW

VERY SIMPLE TO FOLLOW

Tom Fuller
Trustpilot five star rating
A compass for navigating a difficult journey

Probate is a tricky (and potentially expensive) area for most people to navigate. YouCanDoProbate really does make it possible for anyone who is moderately computer literate to successfully put in an application themselves. The website is arguably the best of its kind that I have ever used. I needed to have four phone consultations to reassure me on various points. The calls were prompt, unrushed, and with someone who really knew what they were talking about. Brilliant.

David Moseley
Trustpilot five star rating
Excellent Service

i recently used you can do probate and found the whole process quite straight forward , its a lot cheaper than engaging probate solicitors and the advice and support you can do probate offer is very good , if you need to book a call for advice you get it same day normally within the hour of booking it

Stephen Knight
Trustpilot five star rating
YouCanDoProbate.

YouCanDoProbate were very helpful when things needed explaining a little more, The questionnaire needed a bit of research to get the information needed but overall things went smoothly.

Maxi
Trustpilot five star rating
This saved so much time and cost

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.

Ben Gale
Trustpilot five star rating
Highly recommend this company

Highly recommend this company. The intuitive software is easy to use and the friendly and professional telephone support is excellent. On the advise of the team I posted off my documents as I had considered using the government online form assuming it may be quicker! However Probate was granted in 15 days from when I posted my documents. Thank you to all the team at You Can Do Probate for making a stressful and emotional task much easier to navigate without the need of expensive solicitors! Nb The only improvement that I feel would be beneficial is the function to print the breakdown of all the values and calculations

SJ
Trustpilot five star rating
Great experience, such a straightforward process!

At such a difficult time we found the whole process so straight forward. From my initial call to explain how the platform works I cannot fault ‘YouCanDoProbate’. From start to finish the platform was so easy to use, the online and telephone support was excellent. Theres no need to rush and complete in a day as the platform saves your progress so it can be completed as and when you’re ready. In comparison with a solicitor the fees are very competitive! Once completed we received probate forms back within 2 weeks. Thanks again!!

Maureen Nixon
AFFORDABLE FIXED PRICE
Forms filled in for you
No expertise needed
Unlimited UK support
Save money, time and stress with YouCanDoProbate
One time payment

£499

including VAT
Additional costs: The probate registry fee of £526 (for all estates over £5,000) and any additional official copies at £2 each. (Payable directly to HM Courts and Tribunals Service by cheque or postal order, enclosed with your application forms).
Get started in 3 simple steps
STEP 1
CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW
STEP 2
REGISTER AND PAY
STEP 3
LOGIN AND BEGIN
Trustpilot
14 Day Money Back Guarantee
14 Day Money
Back Guarantee
T&Cs apply.
We're here to help
Call 0800 689 1447
Monday to Saturday; 9am - 6pm

Trusted & Secure

ISO 27001 certifiedSSL secure256-bit encryptionTwo-factor authenticationAWS Partner NetworkStripePayPalApple PayGoogle Pay
More about YouCanDoProbate

See how it works

See exactly how straightforward this is, from your first question to your completed forms.

Why choose us

Thousands saved, weeks not months, and you stay in control throughout.

Our story

We have been where you are. That is why YouCanDoProbate exists.
© YouCanDoProbate • YouCanDoProbate is a trading name of Kabing Ltd.
YouCanDoProbate is an online platform providing legal forms and information. YouCanDoProbate is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Our online probate and inheritance tax service is an online platform providing probate and inheritance tax forms and information to allow you to complete inheritance tax returns and apply for probate yourself. Our telephone, email and livechat support provides guidance only, we do not provide bespoke advice, including estate planning or tax advice and it is not a substitute for a lawyer’s advice about complex estate planning or tax issues.
© Kabing Ltd | All Rights Reserved. Company number 12125399.

Request a Callback

We’ll call you back as soon as possible during working hours. Our friendly, UK based experts are here to help. Prefer to talk now? Call 0800 689 1447, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
Existing user? We kindly ask you to get in touch with us using the support channels within the platform