Individuals involved in law proceedings will face increased court fees, from 1 May 2024 – a development that may affect decisions on managing legal disputes.
The scheduled changes include higher costs for various applications, including those on wills and probate. Since November 2023, it has been confirmed by the Ministry of Justice that most court fees will be increased by 10%. It has now been decided that the standard Probate Fee is set to increase from £273 to £300.
The reason for the fee increase has been stated as an “intention to recover the cost to HMCTS (Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service) of providing its services from those users who are able to afford a fee,” and to contribute toward improving service delivery1. The additional income generated from the increased probate fee will be used to hire more staff, thereby increasing the number of Grants processed.
It is noted that these improvements will relate to recruitment of more staff in order to increase the number of Grants that will be processed.
The increase is an extra £27 following the last Probate Fee rise that occurred from 26 January 2022.
Here’s how the fee increase affects Probate Applications:
- Only Probate Applications with estates of over £5,000 will be subject to Probate Fees.
- These fees are usually recoverable from the estate following a Grant of Probate.
