Information regarding Interim arrangements for the Probate Service ahead of the new Fees implementation
Changes to Probate fees which come into effect in May 2017.
Details of the new fee structure are as follows;-
| Value of estate | Fee required |
| 0-£50,000 | Nil |
| £50,001-£300,000 | £300 |
| £300,001-£500,000 | £1000 |
| £500,001-£1,000,000 | £4000 |
| £1,000,001-£1,600,000 | £8000 |
| £1,600,001-£2,000,000 | £12,000 |
| £2,000,001 or more | £20,000 |
For many of you that you will already be in possession of a number of applications on behalf of your clients and we also appreciate that between now and May you will want to ensure that all of those applications and any additional ones you receive are issued before the fee changes.
As a result of this we anticipate that the demand for the service will increase in the next few months and HMCTS Probate is keen to take steps to ensure that we manage that workflow as best we can to ensure that all of your applications continue to be issued within the 7 working day KPI and that they are issued when appropriate before May. We therefore seek your assistance in this work to help us to help you.
There are some steps that we would like you to consider and that working with us we believe can help support you and us.
- Identify your current workload and where possible any anticipated applications. We intend to continue to work to issue grants within the 7 working day KPI. Between now and May we will send regular updates and if we are unable to keep to the 7 days then we will let you know.
- If you want to you can contact your local registry and arrange a time to discuss your workload and how we can best manage large volumes to ensure that they all issue on time. If you are large firm your local Probate Manager will be contacting you to consider your workflow and how best we can support your applications through the interim period.
- We understand that you will be keen to make sure the work gets through but in March and April please don’t contact the registry chasing your applications before the 7 working day. If the grant can issue it will do so in that time and if there is an error with your application you will also know within this time.
- Ensure you supply the correct number copies of the will and enclose any other supporting documents such as renunciations, powers of attorneys etc. If we can reduce the amount of cases we stop then we can focus more time on moving the work through.
We appreciate that this will be a busy time for you and for HMCTS Probate Service but we thank you in anticipation of your support.