When someone dies leaving a valid will, the executor they named applies for a grant of probate. When there is no will, there is no executor to name, so someone has to step forward and ask the court for the authority instead. That authority is called letters of administration, and the person who receives it is the administrator rather than an executor.
The job is much the same: gather what the person owned, settle what they owed, and pass on what is left. The difference is that you have to prove you are the right person to do it, and you must share out the estate according to a fixed set of rules rather than anyone's written wishes. This guide explains who can apply, how the process works, what it costs, and how the rules differ in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
If you can only do one thing today
Not sure a grant is even needed? Smaller estates can sometimes be settled without one. Start with Do I Need Probate? before you apply for anything.
What letters of administration are (and what they are called)
The names differ depending on where the person lived, which is one of the first things that trips families up.
England and Wales. Every grant is a type of "grant of representation" issued through the Probate Service, part of HM Courts & Tribunals Service. There are three main types: a grant of probate (where there is a will and an executor able and willing to act); letters of administration with will annexed (where there is a will but no executor able to act); and plain letters of administration (where the person left no will at all). In everyday speech people call all of these "probate", but strictly a grant of probate goes to an executor under a will, and letters of administration go to an administrator where there is no will.
Scotland. The Scottish grant is called confirmation, and it does the same job: it gives the person dealing with the estate the legal authority to gather in the deceased's money and property. Where there is no will, the court appoints an executor-dative (compared with an executor-nominate, who is named in a will). The appointment is made by the sheriff court for the area where the person was domiciled.
Northern Ireland. The grant is called a grant of letters of administration, and where there is no will the personal representative is an administrator, as in England and Wales. Northern Ireland runs a completely separate system, though: its own legislation, its own forms, its own online portal, and its own Probate Office at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast. It is not part of the GOV.UK "Apply for probate" service used in England and Wales.
When a grant is needed at all
Not every estate needs a grant, whether or not there is a will. Whether you need one usually depends on what the person owned and how much each asset is worth.
Small payments (England and Wales). The Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965 allows certain specified assets (for example some savings held in particular government-backed schemes) to be transferred on death without a grant, up to a statutory maximum of £5,000. This is a narrow rule that applies only to the specific schemes the Act covers, not to ordinary bank accounts.
Bank and building society thresholds (UK-wide, and variable). Each bank and building society sets its own limit for releasing funds without a grant. Market commentary suggests these commonly range from a few thousand pounds up to somewhere around £20,000 to £50,000, but this varies a great deal between providers and is set at each institution's discretion, not by law. The only reliable way to know is to ask the bank directly what it will release and what paperwork it wants. Our Do I Need Probate? guide includes bank-by-bank figures.
Scotland's small estate line. In Scotland a "small estate" is one where the total value of money and property is £36,000 or less (debts are not deducted, and bank balances should include interest to the date of death). Anything above that is a "large estate". This is a procedural threshold that governs whether the sheriff clerk can help you, and it is separate from the £50,000 figure used for confirmation fees, which we come to below. It is easy to confuse the two, so it is worth keeping them apart in your mind from the start.
Who can apply: the order of priority
Because there is no will naming anyone, the law sets out who has the right to apply, in order. In broad terms the people who stand to inherit are also the people entitled to apply, so the closest relatives come first.
England & Wales
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Northern Ireland
When the first in line does not want to act
Being entitled to apply is not the same as being obliged to. In England and Wales, someone who is first in line but does not want to take it on can formally give up that right using form PA16 ("Give up probate administrator rights"). The right then passes to the next person in the order above. The form is completed, signed, and witnessed, then handed to whoever is going to apply.
If you can only do one thing today
A common mix-up: form PA15 is for an executor named in a will giving up their role. For an estate with no will, the correct form is PA16. Form version numbers change from time to time, so it is best to download the current version from the GOV.UK form page rather than relying on an old copy.
When two administrators are required
Usually one person can apply on their own. There is an important exception in England and Wales: under section 114 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, where a beneficiary is under 18 or a life interest arises (for example, where someone is entitled to income from the estate for their lifetime), the grant is usually made either to a trust corporation or to at least two individuals, rather than to a sole administrator. The court can still allow a single administrator if it thinks that sensible.
This matters most on intestacy, because it is common for minor children to inherit when there is no will. If that applies, you will usually need a second administrator to apply alongside you. The position in Scotland and Northern Ireland is governed by their own rules, so if minor beneficiaries are involved and the person lived in Scotland or Northern Ireland, check the requirement locally rather than assuming the same rule applies.
How to apply, the fees, and how long it takes
The broad shape is the same everywhere: value the estate, deal with any inheritance tax, apply for the grant, pay the fee, and then administer the estate. The forms, fees, and courts differ by jurisdiction.
England and Wales
- Value the estate so you know the inheritance tax position.
- Report to HMRC and deal with any inheritance tax due (covered below).
- Apply for the grant. Where there is no will, the paper form is PA1A ("Apply for probate by post if there is not a will"). You can apply online where the estate allows it.
- Pay the fee and send the supporting documents, including the death certificate.
- Receive the letters of administration, then start administering the estate.
Fees (as at June 2026). The application fee is £300 where the estate is valued at over £5,000, and there is no fee where it is £5,000 or less. Extra sealed copies of the grant cost £16 each; it is worth ordering several, because you will need to send a copy to each bank, registry, and provider, and they often want an original rather than a photocopy. Help with Fees may cover the application fee for those on a low income or certain benefits, but it does not cover the extra copies. These are fixed statutory fees that have been reviewed several times in recent years, so treat them as current as at the date above.
How long it takes. GOV.UK states that you will usually receive the grant within 12 weeks of submitting your application. In practice, clean online applications have often been processed considerably faster, while applications that are queried or submitted on paper can take materially longer. The 12-week figure is the safe published expectation to plan around.
Scotland
In Scotland you apply for confirmation, using the C1 inventory form, to the commissary department of the relevant sheriff court. For deaths on or after 1 January 2022 the older short inventory forms are no longer needed. Two features make the no-will route in Scotland different:
- Sheriff clerk help is limited to small estates. Where the estate is £36,000 or less, the sheriff clerk can help you prepare the inventory. Above that, the court service is not permitted to assist and recommends taking legal advice.
- An extra appointment step where there is no will. For a large estate with no will, there is an additional legal step before you can lodge the inventory: applying to be appointed executor through the dative petition procedure. Legal advice is recommended for this.
Bond of caution. Where someone is appointed executor-dative (the usual position when there is no will), they generally have to obtain a "bond of caution" (pronounced "kay-shun") before confirmation is granted. This is a form of insurance that protects the estate against the consequences of an improper application. There are exemptions: where the sheriff clerk helps with a small-estate inventory, no bond is needed, and a bond is generally not required where the whole estate passes to a surviving spouse or civil partner. As at June 2026 the requirement still applies above the small-estate limit; you may see commentary suggesting it is due to be removed, but that had not happened at the time of writing. The cost is a market estimate: typically a few hundred pounds for a modest estate, rising to over £1,000 for large or complex ones, and it can usually be reimbursed from the estate.
Confirmation fees (effective 1 April 2026). These are fixed statutory fees, banded by the value of the estate:
| Estate value | Confirmation fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £50,000 | No fee |
| £50,000.01 to £250,000 | £351 |
| Over £250,000 | £705 |
The dative petition fee is £23 (from 1 April 2026). Certificates and copies are charged separately, from around £10 each when ordered with the inventory. Remember that the £50,000 nil band for confirmation fees is a different figure from the £36,000 small-estate procedural line. Court fees in Scotland are revised roughly every April, so treat these as current as at the date shown. No official processing-time figure is published; timing varies by sheriff court and the complexity of the case, and the dative petition and the bond of caution can both add time.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland used to require a personal interview, but that changed in June 2021 when an online Probate Portal launched and the oath was replaced with a signed statement of truth. The portal handles straightforward applications; more complex intestacy cases may still go through the paper forms. Where there is no will, the form is NIPF2 ("Apply for probate if there is not a Will"), and deaths on or after 1 January 2022 also use the NIPF7 Estate Summary Form. Applications go to the NICTS Probate Office at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast.
Fees (effective 1 April 2026). These are fixed statutory fees:
| Item | Fee from 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Grant, where the assessed value is £10,000 or less | No fee |
| Grant, where the assessed value is over £10,000 | £326 |
| Personal application fee (additional, where value is over £10,000) | £81 |
| Certified or sealed copy of a document | £17 |
A point that is easy to miss: a personal applicant (one applying without a solicitor) pays both the £326 grant fee and an £81 personal-application fee where the estate is over £10,000, which comes to around £407. For probate fees in Northern Ireland, only partial help (remission) is available, not full exemption. A consultation on court fees for 2026 to 2029 was live at the time of writing, so re-check the figures before you rely on them. No official current processing-time figure is published, so it is best to contact the Probate Office. If you choose to use a solicitor for full estate administration, Northern Ireland firms commonly quote roughly £1,500 upwards, or around 1 to 5 per cent of the estate value; this is a market estimate and varies widely.
Whichever route you take, the grant is only the start. An AfterLoss case keeps the application reference, the fee receipts, and the list of who you have sent a sealed copy to in one shared place, so nothing slips while you are waiting.
What an administrator has to do, and where the personal risk lies
An administrator is legally responsible for the money, property, and possessions of the person who died, and for passing them to the right people. In outline that means valuing the estate to work out any inheritance tax, paying the debts, and distributing what is left. Because there is no will, the estate must be shared out according to the intestacy rules (set out below), not at the administrator's discretion.
The part that worries people most is personal liability, and it is worth being clear about. In England and Wales, GOV.UK's guidance is direct: do not distribute the estate's assets until the two-month notice period is up, because "if you do and the estate then cannot afford to pay a debt, you may have to pay it yourself". In other words, paying things out too soon can leave you personally on the hook. You can reduce that risk by following the protective step below and keeping careful accounts.
Advertising for creditors
A long-established way to protect yourself is to advertise for creditors, so that unknown people who are owed money have a chance to come forward before you distribute.
England & Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
What a notice costs (a market estimate). The Gazette charges a fixed fee per deceased estates notice, around £96 to £132 plus VAT depending on how it is placed, under its 2026 price list. A local newspaper notice is a commercial charge on top, commonly somewhere around £90 to £110 plus VAT, with all-in costs (both notices, plus any handling) often in the region of £300 to £400 or more. Newspaper rates vary by title and region. For more on settling what the estate owes, see Debt After Death.
Inheritance tax and the grant
Inheritance tax and the grant are linked, and the order matters. In most cases you must pay any inheritance tax due, or at least make a payment towards it, before the grant can be issued. The tax itself is due by the end of the sixth month after the person died. This can create a squeeze, because you may need access to the estate to pay the bill but cannot get that access without the grant; banks will sometimes release funds directly to HMRC to bridge this, and instalment options exist where the estate includes property. Our Inheritance Tax guide covers thresholds and reliefs in detail.
New: Inheritance tax checker
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Reporting the estate to HMRC. For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, the old IHT205 form is no longer used anywhere in the UK. For estates that qualify as "excepted" (broadly, lower-value estates, estates passing entirely to a spouse, civil partner, or charity, and certain estates of people who lived permanently abroad), the values are usually reported within the probate or confirmation application itself, with no separate HMRC form in most cases. For estates that are not excepted, the full IHT400 account goes to HMRC.
A regional difference worth knowing. In England and Wales the IHT421 probate summary is no longer used: applicants send the IHT400 to HMRC, which then returns a code and the estate values to use in the probate application. In Northern Ireland the IHT421 is still in use for grant applications. Scotland reports values within the C1 inventory. The excepted-estate thresholds can change, so check the current HMRC guidance before relying on a specific figure.
Intestacy: who actually inherits
This is where the no-will route really diverges by jurisdiction, because the rules deciding who inherits are different in each. The administrator must follow these rules; they cannot be set aside even where the family agrees something else would have been fairer. Our Intestacy Rules guide goes into this in full; the summary below shows how it shapes the administration.
England & Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Common complications
Several people equally entitled
Where several people share the same place in the order (for example, several children on an intestacy), any one or more of them may apply, up to a maximum of four. Disagreement between equally entitled people is a common source of friction. The registry deals with the application itself, not the family disagreement, so it is usually best to try to reach agreement on who will apply before lodging anything.
Disputes
Challenges to who is entitled, allegations against an administrator, or claims by family members who feel they have not been properly provided for, all fall outside the ordinary grant process and can raise the personal risk of getting things wrong. If a genuine dispute is brewing, it is usually wise to take legal advice early.
When no one will act and there are no relatives
Occasionally a person dies with no will and no traceable relatives, and the estate passes to the Crown. The body that deals with this differs across the UK.
- England and Wales: ownerless estates pass to the Crown as "bona vacantia", handled by the Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department (with separate arrangements for the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall). It cannot take on referrals where the net estate is under £500 after funeral costs and known debts.
- Scotland: the King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer deals with ownerless estates as ultimus haeres ("ultimate heir"), and the realised value is paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund.
- Northern Ireland: in default of any other taker the estate passes to the Crown under the 1955 Act, and ownerless estates are dealt with by the Crown Solicitor's Office for Northern Ireland.
Do you need a solicitor?
You are not required to use a solicitor to apply for letters of administration or confirmation. Many people handle a straightforward, solvent estate themselves and pay only the statutory fees. That said, an estate with no will is more likely to involve the kinds of complication where help is worth considering: minor beneficiaries, a bond of caution in Scotland, inheritance tax, business or foreign assets, or family disagreement about who inherits. If you are weighing it up, our companion guide DIY Probate vs Solicitor sets out the costs and trade-offs neutrally.
Next steps
- Intestacy Rules: who inherits, in full, when there is no will
- How to Apply for Probate: the step-by-step application process
- Do I Need Probate?: check whether a grant is needed first
- Probate in Scotland: the confirmation process and executor-dative route
- Inheritance Tax: thresholds, reliefs, and the tax-before-grant timing
- Debt After Death: settling what the estate owes, in the right order
- DIY Probate vs Solicitor: costs compared, neutrally
Sources
The legal points and statutory fees in this guide are drawn from official government, legislation, and court sources, accessed in June 2026. Statutory fees and tax thresholds are reviewed periodically, and any cost given as a range is a market estimate, so check the linked pages for the latest position.
- GOV.UK: Applying for probate, including the route where there is no will and the application fees
- The Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, rule 22: the order of priority to apply (England and Wales)
- Senior Courts Act 1981, section 114: when two administrators are required
- Trustee Act 1925, section 27: advertising for creditors
- Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965: the small-payments rule
- Succession (Scotland) Act 1964: Scottish intestacy, prior rights, and legal rights
- Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service: dealing with a deceased's estate, small and large estates, and confirmation fees
- Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955: Northern Ireland intestacy and statutory legacies
- nidirect: Probate and what to do if there is no will
- Department of Justice (NI): Court fees from 1 April 2026
- GOV.UK: Pay your Inheritance Tax bill and the IHT400 account