Consultation outcome

Aligning the fees for grants of probate to cost recovery

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to England and Wales

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Consultation response

Consultation response (print version)

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Ffioedd Llysoedd a Thribiwnlysoedd

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Equalities statement

Impact assessment

Detail of outcome

This document is the consultation response for the consultation paper.

It will cover:

  • an overview of this consultation
  • a detailed response to the specific questions raised in the responses
  • the next steps following this consultation

Original consultation

Summary

This consultation seeks views on whether to align the fees for grants of probate into a single fee that is set at cost recovery.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

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.

Documents

Consultation document

Impact assessment

Equality statement

Updates to this page

Published 8 July 2021
Last updated 2 August 2021 + show all updates
  1. Updated to clarify the consultation’s closing date.

  2. First published.

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