A justified Probate fee rise?

Probate fees are increasing from 26th January to £273, a rise of 26% for non-professional users. Although this is a much better alternative to the proposed ‘death tax’ which would have seen families paying a sliding-scale fee of up to £6,000, it comes at a time when bereaved families are being asked to wait 6-9 weeks to obtain probate.

Since before the pandemic when the Probate Registry began to centralise its systems, (and in the process losing competent qualified employees and replacing them with teams of inexpert trainees), grants of probate have taken in some cases 6 months to arrive. They have been stopped for spurious reasons, communication between HMRC and the Court failing miserably.

If this fee increase is to be justified, vital improvements are needed to the process so that bereaved families are not enduring further stress and anxiety at what is already a difficult time for them.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced that all users of the probate service will pay a single, flat rate fee of £273 from 26 January. The current fees are £155 for professional users and £215 for non-professional users.

https://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/private-client-news/probate-fee-rise-must-reflect-changes-to-the-service/6002152.article