Probate Estate DIY vs Solicitor Calculator (UK, 2025/26)

A single-property estate under £500,000, with an experienced executor and no disputes, is a textbook DIY case. Typical saving vs a 2.5% solicitor fee is £10,000+ on a £500k estate.

IHT400 is 30+ pages across main form and schedules. Mistakes mean HMRC interest charges and executor liability. If IHT is due, the solicitor fee is usually a fraction of the potential cost of errors.

Wait at least 2 months after placing S27 Trustee Act 1925 notices in the London Gazette and a local newspaper, ideally 6 months from the grant, before paying beneficiaries their full share.

Percentage fees (2.5% of the estate) can be £2,000–£5,000 more than fixed fees on larger estates. Law firms will quote fixed fees if you ask — especially for predictable workloads.

A halfway option: do the day-to-day admin yourself, pay a solicitor £400–£900 to review the final application and IHT forms before submission. Captures most of the saving with much less risk.

Yes. If you are named as an executor in the will (or an entitled next-of-kin for intestacy), you can apply for a Grant of Probate directly through gov.uk. The application fee is £300 (for estates over £5,000), plus £1.50 per additional certified copy of the grant. For straightforward estates (single property, no IHT, experienced executor, no disputes), DIY probate is well-supported and saves £2,000–£10,000 in solicitor fees. For complex estates, the risk of executor personal liability makes a solicitor worth the cost.

The probate application fee in England and Wales is £300 for estates valued above £5,000 (introduced May 2024). Estates at or below £5,000 pay nothing. Additional copies of the grant (one for each asset-holder — banks, registrars, HMRC) cost £1.50 each. You typically need 4–8 copies; budget an extra £10–£20 on top of the £300. Scotland has separate confirmation fees and Northern Ireland has separate probate fees; this calculator is for England and Wales.

A solicitor is strongly recommended when: the estate has IHT liability (above the combined nil-rate bands); there are foreign assets; there are business or farm assets (which can attract Business Property Relief or Agricultural Property Relief, both of which require careful documentation); trusts are involved; the will is contested or there’s a risk of a 1975 Inheritance Act claim; there were large lifetime gifts within the last 7 years that may still count for IHT; or the executor has no experience and no support. The complexity score in this calculator flags when DIY crosses that line.

Solicitors typically charge either a percentage of the estate (1–5%, with 2.5% being typical) or a fixed fee (£1,500 for estates under £100k, £3,500 for £100k–£500k, £7,500 for £500k+). For a £500,000 estate, expect around £7,000–£12,500. Banks offering in-house probate (via their private client arms) often charge more — sometimes 4–5% of the estate. Always get a fixed-fee quote if possible and compare at least two firms. STEP-registered practitioners (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) carry an extra quality mark.

The nil-rate band is £325,000 — the amount every estate can pass on before Inheritance Tax applies (40% above the band). The residence nil-rate band adds a further £175,000, but only if the main residence passes to direct descendants (children, grandchildren, step-children, adopted children). Combined, an individual can pass on £500,000 IHT-free; a married couple can pass on up to £1 million because the unused portion transfers to the surviving spouse. Both allowances are frozen through April 2030.

Yes. If an executor distributes the estate to beneficiaries and later a creditor comes forward with a valid unpaid debt, or HMRC finds underpaid tax, the executor is <strong>personally</strong> liable for the shortfall if the estate has already been distributed. The two key protections are (a) placing statutory advertisements under Section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 (included in the calculator) which limit liability after 2 months, and (b) carrying out a chancery / bankruptcy search on beneficiaries. For complex estates, a solicitor’s professional indemnity insurance is one of the main reasons to hire them.

HMRC retired IHT205 in January 2022 for deaths on or after 1 January 2022. You no longer need to submit a paper IHT form for "excepted estates" (estates under £325k, or under £3m passing to spouse/charity, etc.) — you just confirm the values on the probate application itself. For non-excepted estates (IHT due, foreign assets, trusts, gifts) you must submit the full IHT400 with schedules. IHT400 is complex — roughly 30 pages of forms across the main form and relevant schedules — and is the single strongest argument for a solicitor when IHT applies.

For a straightforward estate, expect 6–12 months end-to-end. HMRC processing of IHT400 takes 8–20 weeks. The probate application itself is currently taking 10–16 weeks at HMCTS once HMRC clears the IHT side. Collecting in assets, paying liabilities and distributing to beneficiaries takes a further 1–3 months. Solicitors typically work the same external timelines — they don’t get faster probate service — but they can speed up the documentation preparation. Don’t distribute to beneficiaries until after the statutory 6-month creditor period closes.

IHT must be paid before probate is granted, which creates a chicken-and-egg problem — you need probate to access the deceased’s accounts, but you need to pay IHT to get probate. The Direct Payment Scheme (form IHT423) lets banks and building societies pay IHT directly from the deceased’s accounts to HMRC before probate is granted. Most UK high-street banks participate. For IHT on property (where cash isn’t immediately available) you can opt to pay in 10 annual instalments.

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