DIY Probate vs Solicitor: Costs Compared

"Probate" is used loosely across the UK, but the systems differ, which matters once you start comparing costs.

• England and Wales, and Northern Ireland: you apply for a grant of probate (where there is a will) or letters of administration (where there is no will).
• Scotland: the equivalent is confirmation, obtained from the sheriff court. The person dealing with the estate is the executor (executor-nominate where named in a will, executor-dative where appointed by the court).

The do-it-yourself-versus-professional decision applies in all three, but the thresholds and the help available from the courts differ, as we come to below.

It is not simply a choice of two. There is a spectrum, and the middle options are often overlooked:

1. Do it yourself. You do everything and pay only the statutory fees, plus any optional creditor notices. No solicitor is required in any of the three jurisdictions.
2. Guided do-it-yourself ("probate in a box"). A low fixed fee buys help completing the forms, while you still do most of the legwork.
3. Grant-only service. A solicitor or specialist obtains the grant for you, and you administer the estate yourself.
4. Full estate administration. A firm handles the whole thing, priced by fixed fee, hourly rate, or a percentage of the estate value.
5. Bank or will-writer in-house services. Estate-administration services offered by some banks and will-writing brands.

The court application fee is the one part of this that is set by law. Everything in the next section is a commercial price that varies by firm, region, and complexity.

One thing to keep an eye on: the Ministry of Justice has consulted on changing the England and Wales fee from the flat £300 to a banded structure and raising the no-fee threshold. At the time of writing the £300 flat fee was still in force, but it is worth confirming the current figure before you apply.

Everything in this section is a market estimate as at 2026 and varies widely. Most solicitor and specialist fees have VAT at 20 per cent added, and figures are often quoted "plus VAT", so always check whether a price includes it. The single biggest driver of cost is the complexity of the estate, not its headline value.

Guided do-it-yourself ("probate in a box")

Form-completion services sit at the lower end, commonly around £179 to £400. They are aimed at confident applicants who want help with the paperwork but will still do the legwork themselves.

Grant-only services

Here a professional secures the grant and you administer the estate. Solicitor and specialist grant-only work commonly runs at roughly £795 to £1,500 plus VAT, with some firms higher; online providers can start lower (one well-known provider advertises grant-only from around £895 as a fixed fee). Always ask for a written fixed-fee quote.

Full estate administration

This is the most variable, because firms price it in three different ways:

• Fixed fee. Roughly £2,000 to £4,000 plus VAT for a straightforward estate, £4,000 to £7,000 plus VAT for a moderate one (inheritance tax forms, several assets), and £7,000 to £10,000 or more plus VAT for a complex one (a business, overseas assets, or disputes).
• Hourly rate. Commonly £200 to £400 plus VAT per hour, with the exact rate depending on the seniority of the person doing the work.
• Percentage of the estate. Commonly 1 to 5 per cent of the gross estate plus VAT. Some firms use a split rate, for example a lower percentage on the value of a property and a higher one on the rest. Percentage pricing has drawn scrutiny because it can be expensive on a high-value but simple estate; the worked example below shows why.

Bank and will-writer in-house services

Some banks and will-writing brands offer estate-administration services. The most reliable consumer guidance is that these can often work out more expensive than a solicitor or specialist firm. Various secondary sources cite higher percentage charges, but these are not confirmed against any individual provider's published tariff, so the safest approach is to get the actual quote in writing and compare it like for like. Several banks have entered and left this market or now refer customers to a panel firm, so do not assume any particular bank still offers it.

A lot of what you pay a firm for is keeping track of who has been contacted, what is outstanding, and which document went where. If you take a route where you do some of that yourself, an AfterLoss case holds the references, deadlines, and progress in one shared place.

All non-statutory figures below are market estimates for 2026, mostly "plus VAT" unless noted. Verify any figure before you rely on it.

Imagine an estate of a £300,000 house plus £100,000 of other assets, so £400,000 in total. On a percentage fee of 1 to 5 per cent of the gross estate, plus 20 per cent VAT, the total ranges considerably:

On the same estate, a fixed-fee full administration for a straightforward case might be around £2,000 to £4,000 plus VAT. The point is not that percentage pricing is wrong, but that on a high-value yet simple estate it can cost a great deal more than a fixed fee for similar work. It is a factor worth checking, not a verdict. If a firm quotes a percentage, it is reasonable to ask how that compares with a fixed-fee quote for the same estate.

You are not required to use a solicitor anywhere in the UK. In England and Wales you can apply yourself online or on paper. Citizens Advice notes that many executors and administrators act without a solicitor. In Northern Ireland the official guidance is explicit that you do not have to use one. In Scotland, where the estate is £36,000 or less, the sheriff clerk's office will advise and assist you in obtaining confirmation, at no charge for that help (the confirmation dues still apply).

Doing it yourself tends to be realistic where, broadly, all of these hold:

• There is a valid, clear will with a sole executor, or a small number of co-operative ones who agree (or, on an intestacy, a straightforward family with clear entitlement).
• The estate is smaller and less complex. In Scotland specifically, the statutory line is £36,000 or less, where the court will help.
• No inheritance tax is payable.
• There are no property complications, no missing beneficiaries, no trusts, no business or foreign assets, and the estate is solvent.
• You have the time, the confidence, and the record-keeping discipline for several months of administration.

Citizens Advice expressly suggests taking legal advice where the terms of a will are unclear, where part of the estate passes to children under 18, where money or property is left in a trust, where the deceased owned land or property abroad, where they owned a business, or where anyone is likely to dispute the will. To that list it is sensible to add: inheritance tax is payable or a full account is needed; the estate may be insolvent; there is intestacy with complicated entitlement; or there is a realistic risk of a claim by a family member who feels they were not properly provided for.

Inheritance tax is one of the clearest dividing lines, because it adds both cost and personal risk. If you are not sure whether it applies, it is worth getting a quick estimate before you decide on a route.

Scotland adds a structural reason. For large estates over £36,000, the courts are not permitted to assist applicants and strongly advise consulting a solicitor, noting that "in the event of any mistakes being made, the executor is legally responsible and the remedies for correcting errors are few and potentially expensive". Above that line there is no court helpline filling in the form for you, which is the main reason do-it-yourself is harder in Scotland.

The reason cost is not the whole story is that whoever administers the estate carries personal responsibility for getting it right. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: if you are the executor, you are responsible for doing it correctly, and you might have to pay for any mistakes, particularly with an insolvent estate. The same principle applies to an administrator where there is no will.

Three exposures come up most often:

• Distributing before debts are settled. If you pay out the estate and a creditor then comes forward, you may have to meet the debt from your own money.
• Paying an insolvent estate in the wrong order. Where the estate cannot cover its debts, there is a set legal order for paying them, and paying out of order can leave you personally liable for the higher-priority debts left unpaid. Our Debt After Death guide covers this.
• Getting inheritance tax wrong. The administrator is responsible for the tax account, so misvaluing assets or misapplying reliefs is a genuine risk. See Inheritance Tax for the thresholds and how the bands work.

How a solicitor reduces the exposure, and what you can do yourself

A regulated solicitor brings the relevant expertise and carries professional indemnity insurance, so an error is backed by cover rather than falling on you personally. If you do it yourself, you can still protect yourself. Place statutory creditor notices (in England and Wales, under section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925, a notice in The Gazette and a local newspaper gives claimants at least two months to come forward; once the period passes you are generally not liable for claims you did not know about). Keep full estate accounts of everything in and out. And be careful about timing: in England and Wales a claim under the family-provision rules must generally be made within six months of the grant, so waiting until at least six months after the grant before distributing reduces the risk of having to claw assets back.

Cost is not only money. Doing it yourself means doing the work, and the work has two stages: getting the grant, and then administering the estate.

Getting the grant (England and Wales). Online applications usually take up to around four weeks to come through, and paper applications usually within about fifteen weeks. Where inheritance tax is involved, you must wait 20 working days after submitting the account to HMRC before you can apply.

Administering the estate. Collecting assets, paying debts and tax, and distributing what is left commonly takes six to twelve months for a straightforward estate, and longer where there is inheritance tax, a property to sell, business or foreign assets, or a dispute. These are market and firm estimates rather than an official statistic, and there is no reliable figure for the number of hours involved; expect it to be spread across many months rather than concentrated.

More "yes" answers in the first group suggest doing it yourself is realistic; any "yes" in the second group points toward grant-only or full professional help. It is a prompt for thinking it through, not a scoring system.

Pointing toward doing it yourself:

• Is there a clear will (or, with no will, a straightforward family with clear entitlement)?
• Is the estate solvent, with assets clearly exceeding debts?
• Is the estate within the inheritance tax nil-rate bands, so no tax is due?
• Are the assets simple: bank accounts, a single home, no business, no foreign property, no trust?
• Do you have the time, confidence, and record-keeping discipline for several months of admin?
• In Scotland: is the estate £36,000 or less, so the sheriff clerk will help?

Pointing toward professional help:

• Is inheritance tax payable, or are there business, agricultural, or foreign assets, or a trust?
• Is there no will alongside a complicated family situation, or are any beneficiaries under 18 or untraceable?
• Is anyone likely to dispute the will or bring a family-provision claim?
• Are you uncomfortable carrying personal liability for tax or creditor errors, or might the estate be insolvent?

If the substance is clear but you want the application done right, a grant-only service is the middle path: you do the legwork, a professional secures the grant. If any significant red flag applies, full administration transfers most of the liability to an insured firm.

• How to Apply for Probate: the do-it-yourself application, step by step
• Do I Need Probate?: check whether a grant is needed first
• Letters of Administration: the route when there is no will
• Probate in Scotland: confirmation, and why do-it-yourself is harder above £36,000
• Inheritance Tax: thresholds, reliefs, and the executor's responsibility
• Debt After Death: settling debts in the correct order
• DIY Will vs Solicitor: the same decision, for writing a will

The court fees and legal points in this guide are drawn from official government, legislation, and court sources, accessed in June 2026. Professional service prices are market estimates that vary by firm, region, and complexity, so always get a written quote. Statutory fees and tax thresholds are reviewed periodically; check the linked pages for the latest position.

• GOV.UK: Applying for probate, fees
• The Court and Public Guardian Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025: the £16 copy fee, in force November 2025
• Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service: sheriff court fees, plus the small estates and large estates guidance
• Department of Justice (NI): Court fees from 1 April 2026
• Citizens Advice: dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has died
• MoneyHelper: when to use a probate specialist
• Trustee Act 1925, section 27: advertising for creditors
• Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975: family-provision claims and the six-month window
• Succession (Scotland) Act 2016, section 18: bond of caution for small intestate estates
• GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax thresholds