This guide is written for solicitors, trainees and law students in England and Wales.
The probate fee is £526 from 13 July 2026, a single flat rate for professional and personal applicants, with estates of £5,000 and under still exempt. HMCTS told the Probate Professional User Group in June 2026 that online applications were averaging around 4.3 weeks and paper around 16 weeks. A 12-week escalation route now exists.
Who this guide is for
Private client fee-earners quoting for estate administration, and anyone managing a client’s expectations on timescales. Public information on probate waiting times is inconsistent, with figures ranging from four weeks to more than a year depending on who is counting and what they are counting. Every figure below is dated and attributed to the Law Society, HMCTS or the Ministry of Justice, and nothing else is used.
What does probate cost in 2026?
From 13 July 2026 the application fee is £526, up from £300. The Law Society puts that at a 75% increase. The Ministry of Justice says the new figure recovers the cost of an ever-improving service and accounts for inflation as well as investment in a modern service.
Three points follow that are easy to miss in a quote:
- It is a single flat rate. The old distinction between practitioner and personal applications is gone.
- Estates worth £5,000 and under remain exempt. The MoJ has continued to waive the fee at that level.
- Copies ordered with the application now cost £2 rather than £16. The MoJ created a separate reduced fee for concurrent requests from 13 July 2026, so ordering copies upfront is materially cheaper than ordering them afterwards.
The Law Society has written to the MoJ seeking further information on the change. It has said any future increase should reflect tangible improvements to the service, and has suggested that users be offered reimbursement for probate delays.
How long does probate actually take?
HMCTS reported to the Probate Professional User Group in June 2026 that average waiting times for online applications were running at around 4.3 weeks, with paper applications averaging around 16 weeks. Caseloads had increased since March 2026, reflecting the seasonal peak in applications between January and April, with HMCTS expecting volumes to fall over the summer.
Two qualifications matter when you repeat those numbers to a client. They measure the time from a complete application to the issue of the grant, not the time from death to distribution. And they are averages across all applications, including the straightforward ones. HMCTS has acknowledged that many paper cases are delayed because additional information is required.
Reducing stopped cases is a stated HMCTS priority. It has established specialist teams for complex applications including foreign domicile and lost will cases, and reported a reduction in outstanding workable cases in those categories. It has also improved email handling, with enquiries processed within five working days, while acknowledging continuing difficulty with telephone response times.
Why do probate applications get stopped?
A stopped application is one HMCTS has paused because it needs something further. It is the largest controllable cause of delay, and reducing stopped cases is a stated HMCTS priority.
HMCTS has told professional users it is reviewing internal processes and guidance to help applicants supply the right information first time. It has also established specialist teams for complex applications, including foreign domicile and lost will cases, and reported a reduction in outstanding workable cases in those categories.
The Law Society identifies the commonest avoidable trigger. Applications must include the original will and any supporting documents, such as renunciation forms. Where originals are not sent, HMCTS will stop the application until they are.
The consequence is that a stopped case does not simply pause. Time spent waiting is added to the total rather than absorbed into it. That is why a query answered the same day, and the same query answered three weeks later, produce very different outcomes for the client.
Online and paper applications compared
| Feature | Online (MyHMCTS for professional users) | Paper |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee from 13 July 2026 | £526 | £526 |
| Copies ordered with the application | £2 each | £2 each |
| Average wait to grant (HMCTS, June 2026) | Around 4.3 weeks | Around 16 weeks |
| How queries reach you | Through the portal, visible on the case | By post |
| Main delay driver identified by HMCTS | Stopped cases awaiting information | Additional information required in many cases |
| Escalation after 12 weeks | Available | Available |
Published waiting times vary from a few weeks to more than a year depending on the source, and clients arrive quoting the worst number they have found. A dated figure attributed to HMCTS, with the distinction between time-to-grant and time-to-distribution spelled out, is worth more in a client care letter than a range. The 75% fee rise lands in every quote given from 13 July, and it is the kind of increase clients notice on a bill they did not expect.
How does inheritance tax affect the timeline?
Where inheritance tax is payable, the application cannot complete until HMRC has issued its clearance to HMCTS. That step sits outside HMCTS’s control, and outside the waiting-time figures quoted above, which measure the period from a complete application to the grant.
This is the commonest reason a client’s experience diverges from the published average. An estate can be entirely straightforward from HMCTS’s point of view and still take months, because the tax position had to be resolved before the application could proceed. Any timescale given to a client should separate the two stages rather than offering a single number that conceals one of them.
How do you escalate a delayed application?
HMCTS has introduced an escalation process for probate applications that remain unresolved after 12 weeks. There is a further route for cases that have already been queried but need additional investigation. The stated aim is to improve visibility of outstanding applications and to make sure delayed cases can be progressed.
Before escalating, check the position on the case itself. HMCTS has encouraged professional users to use existing escalation routes before submitting formal complaints, and reported a significant increase in complaints and ministerial correspondence. An escalation on a case that is stopped for information you have not yet supplied will not move it.
Confirm the current case progression contact details on the HMCTS pages at the point of use rather than relying on an address held on a precedent, since those routes have changed more than once.
Step by step: getting an application through first time
- Send the original will and any supporting documents, including renunciation forms. The Law Society advises that if originals are not sent, HMCTS will stop the application until they are.
- Deal with inheritance tax before applying. Where IHT is payable, the application cannot complete until HMRC has issued its clearance to HMCTS.
- Apply online through MyHMCTS where the estate allows it, given the difference in average waiting times.
- Order copies with the application at £2 rather than afterwards at £16.
- Diarise a 12-week review from submission, so the escalation route is used at the point it becomes available rather than months later.
- Respond to queries the day they arrive. A stopped case does not progress while it waits, and the wait is added to the total rather than absorbed.
- Record the figures you quoted and the date, so a complaint about timescales can be answered with what was actually said.
Common mistakes
Quoting an average as an estimate. The 4.3-week figure is an average across all online applications at a point in June 2026. It is not a forecast for a specific estate, and complex estates sit well above it.
Confusing time to grant with time to distribution. Every published HMCTS figure measures the former. Clients hear the latter.
Ordering copies after the grant. £16 each rather than £2, for no reason other than sequence.
Assuming the £5,000 exemption applies to the whole fee schedule. It waives the application fee. It does not waive copy fees.
Escalating before the file is clean. Escalation surfaces a case; it does not supply the information HMCTS is waiting for.
Using undated figures. Probate timescales have moved repeatedly. A figure without a date attached to it is a complaint waiting to happen.
Official sources
- Law Society, probate changes, covering the fee increase and the Society’s representations to the MoJ
- Law Society, applying for grants of probate as a legal professional
- Court and tribunal fees: updates from July 2026 on GOV.UK
Our coverage of the fee rise and escalation route is in this roundup, and the wider 13 July fee package is at Court fees rose on 13 July: what has changed.
Date last updated
4 August 2026. Waiting times are reported to the Probate Professional User Group periodically and the figures above are from June 2026. This page will be updated when HMCTS publishes revised management information.