Aligning the fees for grants of probate to cost recovery

This consultation proposes to align the fees for professional and non-professional applicants of probate into a single fee of £273. This fee reflects the costs to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) of providing the service and would not generate a profit for the government.

The objectives of this proposal are:

• to remove the unjustified discrepancy between professional and non-professional applicants for probate. This would bring the fee structure into alignment with HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money, where all users should pay the same fee for the same service.
• to ensure that the fee recovers the cost to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) of delivering the service.
• to protect access to justice by ensuring that courts and tribunals are adequately resourced, while reducing the overall taxpayer subsidy for HMCTS.

This consultation was edited on 2 August 2021 to clarify the consultation’s closing date.