The time it takes to issues grants of probate is largely unchanged according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The latest Quarterly Family Court Statistics show probate grants took on average five weeks to be issued after the application was submitted between the months of January to March 2026, similar to the equivalent quarter in 2025. The number of probate applications was 65,254, an increase of 1% over the same period.
Letters of administration with a will took around 20 weeks, and those without a will 11 weeks.
In the first quarter of 2026 there were 65,254 applications for probate grants, with 62,261 issued in the same period. Of the total, 93% of applications and 94% of grants were made digitally, compared to 93% of each in the same quarter in 2025.
There were 81,069 applications made for grants of representation in January to March 2026, of which 65,254 (80%) were for probate grants, with 93% made digitally. Probate grants also made up the majority (81%) of all grants issued. In January to March 2026, 54% of the grants issued were applied for by legal professionals and 46% were personal applications. For the 62,261 probate grants issued in the same period, 94% were issued digitally.
The move to digital continues to have a positive impact on speed. For grants applied for digitally, which were not stopped for reasons including disputes or error (70% of total probate grants issued) the time from application submission to grant issued was approximately two weeks – less than a week from document receipt to grant issue.
The Probate Registry continues to work through open cases and has been making positive progress. A report from the MoJ found the digitalisation of the probate registry has helped speed up the process, with open cases decreasing 5% from 25,103 in December 2024 to 23,932. Of the open caseload at the end of December 2025, 78% (30,659) had been open for less than six months.
The latest figures show there are now 42,490 total open probate cases at the end of March 2026, with 56% being workable caseload. This is up from 35,740 at the end of March 2025, a rise of 19%. The majority of the open caseload is for probate grants (61%), compared to letters of administration (30%) and letters of administration with a will annexed (9%).
Open cases for probate only increased by 10%, up to 25,744 from 23,439 in March 2025. Of the open caseload at the end of March 2026, 32,949 (78%) had been open for less than six months.
