Grant of probate or letters of administration: which one you need
The document that lets somebody deal with a dead person's estate comes in three forms, and which one applies depends on whether there is a will and who it names. This sets out the three, who can apply for each, and when none is needed.
By Robert Festenstein, Head of Legal
Updated 22 September 2026
8 min read
The short version
- A grant of probate goes to the executors named in a valid will; letters of administration with will annexed go to somebody else where there is a will but no executor able to act; letters of administration go to the next of kin where there is no will.
- Rule 20 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 sets the order of entitlement where there is a will, and rule 22 sets it where there is not.
- An executor's authority comes from the will and starts at the death, while an administrator has no authority until the grant is issued.
- No grant is needed for assets held jointly, for property held as joint tenants, or for balances an institution is willing to release on its own terms.
- The application fee is £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000 and nothing at or below that, checked on gov.uk on 22 September 2026.
- An executor who does not want to act can renounce on form PA15 or have power reserved, and up to four executors can be named on one application.
The three grants
A grant of representation is the court's confirmation that a named person has authority to collect a dead person's assets, pay the debts and distribute what is left. Banks, the Land Registry, share registrars and buyers of property all rely on it. There are three kinds, and the difference lies in who is applying and why.
A grant of probate is issued to the executor or executors named in a valid will. The will has already appointed them, and the grant proves that appointment to the world.
Letters of administration with will annexed are issued where there is a valid will but nobody named in it as executor is able or willing to take the grant. The executors may have died, be unable to act, or have renounced; the will may name nobody at all. The person who receives the grant is called an administrator, and the will is attached to the grant and still governs who inherits.
Letters of administration are issued where there is no valid will. The estate passes under the intestacy rules, and the person entitled to apply is worked out from the family tree. Our guide to dying without a will covers who inherits; this one covers who deals with it.
The practical work under each grant is the same. What differs is who is entitled to it and when their authority begins.
Who applies when there is a will
Rule 20 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 sets the order of priority where the deceased left a will. The executor comes first. After the executor, the order runs: a residuary beneficiary who holds the residue on trust for somebody else; any other residuary beneficiary, including a person entitled to any part of the residue the will did not dispose of; the personal representative of a residuary beneficiary who has since died; any other beneficiary or a creditor of the deceased; and the personal representative of such a beneficiary or creditor.
The rule prefers a person with a vested interest over one whose interest is contingent, and it lets the registrar depart from the strict order in some circumstances. For a family, the practical reading is that if the executors cannot act, the person who inherits the residue is next in line, and the grant they receive is letters of administration with will annexed.
Gov.uk says that up to four executors can be named on one application. Where the will names more, the rest have power reserved, which is explained below.
Who applies when there is no will
Rule 22 sets the order where there is no will. It follows the intestacy rules, since the person entitled to inherit is generally the person entitled to administer. The surviving spouse or civil partner comes first, then the children of the deceased and the issue of any child who has died, then the parents, then brothers and sisters of the whole blood and their issue, then brothers and sisters of the half blood and their issue, then grandparents, then uncles and aunts of the whole blood and their issue, then uncles and aunts of the half blood and their issue.
Where nobody in those classes exists, the Treasury Solicitor is entitled to the grant if the Crown is claiming the estate as ownerless property, and a creditor can apply after that. The rule also says a separated spouse still counts as a spouse: gov.uk confirms that the husband, wife or civil partner is entitled even if the couple were living apart, and that means a long-separated but undivorced spouse is ahead of the children.
A partner who was never married to the deceased is nowhere in rule 22. That person can neither inherit under the intestacy rules nor apply for the grant, and their only route to anything is a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
When no grant is needed
Gov.uk lists the situations in which probate may not be needed: the deceased only had savings, or owned shares or money jointly with others, or owned land or property as joint tenants. Joint assets pass to the survivor by survivorship on production of the death certificate, and the grant has nothing to do with them.
The savings point needs care. Each bank and building society sets its own limit below which it will release a balance on a death certificate, a copy of the will and an indemnity signed by the person collecting it, and the limits vary widely between institutions. An estate with £30,000 spread across three banks may need no grant at all or may need one for the largest account, and the only way to know is to ask each institution what its threshold is.
Property held in the deceased's sole name always needs a grant, because the Land Registry will not transfer it without one. Property held as tenants in common needs a grant for the deceased's share. Shares held in the deceased's sole name above the registrar's small estate limit need one. A pension or life policy written in trust or with a nominated beneficiary passes outside the estate and needs none.
What can be done before the grant
This is the difference between the three grants that matters most in practice, and it turns on where the authority comes from.
An executor's authority comes from the will, and it starts at the moment of death. The grant confirms an authority that already exists. So an executor can, before the grant, arrange the funeral, secure the property, insure it, notify institutions, instruct agents to value assets, and enter into contracts on behalf of the estate. What the executor cannot do before the grant is get anybody to hand over the assets, because the institutions will not act without seeing it.
An administrator has no authority at all until the grant is issued. The law treats the estate as vesting in the Public Trustee in the meantime, and anything an administrator does before the grant is done without authority, though the grant when it arrives will generally validate acts that were for the benefit of the estate. The practical consequence is that in an intestacy nobody can bind the estate for the first few months, and a family that wants to agree a sale of the house, for instance, should be careful about signing anything before the letters of administration arrive.
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Applying online or by post
The application is made online through the HM Courts and Tribunals Service portal, or by post on form PA1P where there is a will and PA1A where there is not. Gov.uk says paper applications take longer to process and asks applicants to use the online route where they can. In each case the applicant confirms the value of the estate, the inheritance tax position and their entitlement to the grant, and where there is a will the original is sent in.
The fee, checked on gov.uk today, 22 September 2026, is £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, and there is no fee at £5,000 or below. Extra copies of the grant cost £2 each if ordered with the application and £16 each afterwards. Gov.uk currently says the grant usually arrives within 12 weeks of the application, and the timeline around that figure is set out in how long probate takes.
Where inheritance tax is due, form IHT400 goes to HMRC before the probate application, and the application cannot be submitted until HMRC's code confirming the tax position has arrived. Where the estate is excepted there is no separate account; the figures go into the probate application itself.
Renouncing and reserving power
Nobody is obliged to act as executor. Gov.uk explains the two ways of stepping back.
Renunciation is permanent. The executor signs form PA15, and from then on is treated as if they had never been appointed. It is only available to an executor who has not started to deal with the estate; one who has begun collecting assets or paying debts has accepted the office and cannot then renounce. Renouncing as executor does not affect anything left to that person under the will.
Power reserved is the halfway house. Where a will names more than one executor, one of them can choose not to apply now while keeping the right to apply later, and gov.uk says they must be told in writing that the other executor is applying. It suits a family where one executor lives abroad or is elderly and the other is doing the work, since the grant issues to the acting executor alone and the other can step in if needed.
An executor who has lost capacity, or is a minor, cannot take the grant, and the application is made by the others with the position explained. Where every executor has died or renounced, the grant becomes letters of administration with will annexed and the rule 20 order decides who applies. Our guide to choosing executors covers how to avoid that at the drafting stage.
Where applications go wrong
The will itself is the usual problem. A will with a mark, a staple hole or a paperclip impression prompts a question about whether something was attached to it. A will without a proper attestation clause needs an affidavit from a witness. A will that has been altered after signing raises the question of whether the alteration was properly executed. Each of these stops the application until it is answered, and an executor who reads the will carefully before applying can often deal with the point in advance.
The second problem is the applicant. A person who applies out of the rule 20 or rule 22 order without explaining why the people ahead of them are not applying, and without their renunciations or the evidence of their death, will have the application stopped. A child who applies where a separated spouse is still alive is the most common example.
The third is the tax position. An applicant who declares an estate as excepted when it is not, or who applies before HMRC's code has arrived, will be sent back. Where the values are close to the threshold, or a late spouse's allowance is being claimed, it is worth checking which route applies before the application goes in.
Scotland has a different system. The equivalent document there is confirmation, issued by the sheriff court, and the order of entitlement and the forms are different.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between probate and letters of administration?
Both are grants of representation that let somebody deal with a dead person's estate. A grant of probate goes to the executor named in a valid will. Letters of administration go to the next of kin where there is no will, in the order set by rule 22 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. Letters of administration with will annexed are the third kind, issued where there is a will but no executor able to act. The work under each is the same.
Who can apply for letters of administration?
The person highest in the order set out in rule 22 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. The surviving spouse or civil partner comes first, even if the couple had separated, then children, then parents, then brothers and sisters, then more distant relatives. A partner who was never married to the deceased is not in the list at all. Where somebody lower down applies, they have to show why those above them are not doing so.
Do I always need a grant of probate?
No. Assets held jointly, and property held as joint tenants, pass to the survivor on the death certificate. Each bank sets its own limit below which it will release a balance without a grant, and the limits vary, so ask each one. Property in the deceased's sole name always needs a grant because the Land Registry will not transfer it otherwise, and shares in the sole name usually do above the registrar's limit.
Can an executor act before probate is granted?
In part. An executor's authority comes from the will and begins at the death, so they can arrange the funeral, secure and insure the property, notify institutions, obtain valuations and enter into contracts for the estate. They cannot get the assets released, because institutions will not act without the grant. An administrator in an intestacy has no authority until letters of administration are issued, so nobody can bind the estate before then.
How do I give up being an executor?
If you have not started dealing with the estate, sign form PA15 to renounce, which is permanent and treats you as never having been appointed. If there is another executor and you would prefer to stay in reserve, have power reserved instead: the other executor applies alone, you are told in writing, and you keep the right to apply later. Renouncing does not affect anything you are left in the will.
How much does it cost to apply?
The application fee on gov.uk on 22 September 2026 is £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, and nothing where it is £5,000 or less. Extra copies of the grant cost £2 each with the application and £16 each afterwards, and one is needed for each institution. The fee is an estate expense and is repaid to whoever paid it before anything is distributed. A solicitor's charge for preparing the application is separate.
What happens if the executor has died?
If the will named more than one and another is alive and willing, that executor applies. If none survives, the grant becomes letters of administration with will annexed and rule 20 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules decides who applies, which is normally the person who inherits the residue. The will still governs who inherits. If the sole executor had already taken the grant and then died, their own executor may be able to continue the administration under the chain of representation.
Sources & further reading
This article is general information, not legal advice. The law changes and depends on your circumstances — always take advice on your specific situation before acting. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. AD Solicitors Limited is a recognised body regulated by the SRA (no. 8011228).
A solicitor with more than two decades' experience in commercial law, dispute resolution, insolvency and judicial review. Robert acts for businesses, directors and individuals, and leads the firm.
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