UK probate fee to rise to £526 from July 2026
The Ministry of Justice will raise the grant of probate fee from £300 to £526 on 13 July 2026, a rise of about 75%, alongside wider court fee changes.
On 19 June 2026, the Ministry of Justice confirmed a set of changes to the fees charged across HM Courts and Tribunals Service in England and Wales, among them a sharp rise in the cost of applying for a grant of probate. From 13 July 2026, and subject to parliamentary approval, the probate application fee will increase from £300 to £526, a rise of roughly 75%.
What is changing
The probate fee is a flat charge, paid when an executor or administrator applies for the grant required to deal with a deceased person’s estate. According to the Ministry of Justice, the £226 increase reflects rising inflation and investment in the service rather than the size of the estate, so the same figure applies whether the estate is modest or substantial.
The probate change does not sit on its own. The Ministry said 170 court and tribunal fees will rise by 2.6 per cent, in line with 2024/25 inflation, and that 27 will rise by an average of 34 per cent to reflect accumulated inflation, also from 13 July. One charge is moving the other way: the fee for copies of probate documents requested at the same time as the application falls from £16 to £2.
The rationale
The Ministry of Justice said the increases are meant to recover the cost of the service and keep pace with inflation, while funding what it described as a more efficient and modern system. It added that the changes maintain fair access to justice, and that the Help with Fees remission scheme remains open to applicants who cannot afford a court or tribunal fee.
The timing has drawn comment from the profession. The Law Society Gazette reported that the rise lands while the probate service is still working through delays, a point echoed by several private client firms responding to the announcement.
What it means for estates
In absolute terms the higher fee is small set against a large or complex estate. Private client practitioners, including Kingsley Napley, note that the more practical issue is one of timing: the fee is payable upfront, at the point of application, and the grant itself is what unlocks the estate’s assets. Executors can therefore face the higher charge before they can draw on the estate to meet it, although the cost is ultimately recoverable.
For a family office administering several estates, or trustees acting across more than one jurisdiction, the increase reads less as a material number and more as another step in the rising cost of UK estate administration. It is a reminder to factor court and registry charges, alongside professional fees, into succession planning rather than treating them as incidental.
Sources: Court and tribunal fees: updates from July 2026 — GOV.UK; Probate application fees set for massive increase — Law Society Gazette; Probate fees set to rise by 75% — Kingsley Napley.
