How long does probate take: a realistic timeline

The first weeks

The death has to be registered within five days in England and Wales, and the registrar issues the death certificate and the certificate for burial or cremation. The Tell Us Once service passes the death to most government departments in one go, which saves the executor a round of separate letters.

The executor's first job is to find the will and confirm they are named in it. Where a solicitor holds it, they will release it to the executors on sight of the death certificate. Where there is no will, the estate passes under the intestacy rules and the person entitled to deal with it is worked out differently, which is covered in what happens if you die without a will.

Nothing about the timetable is fixed at this point. What the first month does decide is how much information the executor has: which bank accounts exist, whether there is a mortgage, what the pension scheme will pay, and whether anybody has been left out who might be expected to complain. An executor who gathers that early shortens everything that follows.

Valuing the estate

Before anything can be applied for, the estate has to be valued at the date of death. Each bank and building society is written to for a date of death balance. Shares are valued at the closing price on the day. A property is valued by an estate agent or, where tax turns on the figure, by a surveyor. Personal possessions are listed at what they would fetch, which for most estates is a modest figure.

Gifts made in the seven years before death have to be identified too, because they affect the tax calculation even though they are no longer in the estate. Our guide to gifts and the seven year rule explains how they are counted.

This stage takes between four and twelve weeks in most estates, and it is driven by how quickly institutions reply and how organised the deceased's papers were. It cannot be skipped: the figures go into the tax account and the probate application, and an executor who guesses will be correcting the guess later.

The inheritance tax account

Two routes exist. An excepted estate is one that meets the conditions on gov.uk: the value is below the inheritance tax threshold, or is £650,000 or less where a late spouse's unused threshold is being transferred, or everything passes to a spouse, civil partner or charity and the estate is under £3 million. For an excepted estate there is no separate account to file; the values are declared in the probate application itself. Our guide to inheritance tax thresholds sets out what the threshold currently is.

Every other estate has to submit form IHT400 to HMRC before probate can be applied for. Gov.uk states that the account must be filed within one year of the death, and that any tax must be paid by the end of the sixth month after the death, after which interest runs. Tax on land and certain other assets can be paid in yearly instalments, which matters where the estate is mostly a house.

Then there is a wait that families rarely know about. HMRC sends a unique code confirming that enough tax has been paid, and gov.uk says this usually arrives within 20 working days of HMRC receiving the IHT400 or the payment, whichever is later. The probate application cannot be submitted without that code. So an estate with tax to pay adds a month to the timetable at this point even when everything is in order.

The probate application

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 and asks people to apply online where they can. 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, and an executor needs one for every institution that will ask for it.

Gov.uk's current statement on timing, checked the same day, is that you will usually get probate within 12 weeks of submitting the application, and that it can take longer if further information is needed. An application is stopped where a document is missing, a signature is wrong, or the will has a defect such as an unexplained mark or a missing attestation clause, and a stopped application sits until the point is resolved.

What the grant does is explained in probate explained. For the timeline, the point is that the 12 weeks is the middle of the process and neither the start nor the end of it.

The two-month creditor notice

Once the grant is in hand, an executor can place a notice under section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 in the London Gazette and, where the estate includes land, in a newspaper circulating in that district. The notice gives creditors a period, which the Act says must be not less than two months, to come forward.

An executor who has advertised and waited is protected against personal liability for a debt they did not know about. One who has not advertised and distributes the estate can be pursued personally by a creditor who turns up afterwards. Most professional executors advertise as soon as the grant arrives, and some do it before, since the two months can run alongside the wait for the grant.

The six months after the grant

Section 4 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 says a claim for reasonable provision from the estate cannot be made more than six months after the grant is first taken out, except with the court's permission. A spouse, a former spouse who has not remarried, a cohabitant of two years, a child or anybody the deceased was maintaining can bring one.

That is why executors wait. An executor who pays out the estate in month two and faces a successful claim in month five can be ordered to make up the shortfall personally. Where the family is straightforward and nobody has been left out, many executors take a view and distribute earlier. Where a child from a first marriage has been given nothing, or a partner was never married to the deceased, waiting the six months is the only safe course. Our guide to how executors pay beneficiaries covers interim distributions and the reserve that is held back.

Selling property and clearing tax

A house cannot be sold until the grant is issued, because the buyer's solicitor needs it to prove the executors' title. It can be marketed before then, and a sale agreed subject to the grant, but exchange has to wait. From the grant, a sale takes as long as any sale takes, which in a normal market is three to five months from an offer to completion, and longer where the chain is slow or a survey raises a problem.

Where the property sells for more than the date of death value, the estate has a capital gain, and where it sells for less within four years the inheritance tax can be recalculated on the lower figure. Both need an executor to keep the sale figures and the dates.

The final tax step is clearance. Once the administration is otherwise complete, the executors ask HMRC to confirm that no further inheritance tax is due. Where the original account contained estimates, an enquiry can follow, and an executor who has already distributed everything is exposed if the figure goes up. The income tax and capital gains tax of the administration period also have to be settled, and a beneficiary receives a statement showing the tax paid on their share.

What makes an estate take a year or more

A property that has to be sold is the most common reason, because the sale cannot start until the grant and the estate cannot close until the sale completes. Two properties, or a property abroad, double it.

An HMRC enquiry into the tax account is the second. Private company shares, agricultural land and any asset whose value is a matter of opinion draw more questions than cash, and the correspondence runs at HMRC's pace. Business owners' estates are particularly exposed, and our guide to inheritance tax for business owners explains why.

A beneficiary who cannot be found, a beneficiary abroad, a beneficiary under 18 or a dispute between beneficiaries each add months. A claim under the 1975 Act, or a challenge to the will itself, stops distribution until it is resolved and can run for two years or more.

The executor's year, the conventional period for completing an administration, is a guide and carries no penalty when it is passed. What a beneficiary can expect is regular information about where the estate has reached, and an executor who goes quiet is the usual source of complaint.

Three estates, three timelines

A simple estate. A widow leaves a bank account, some premium bonds and personal possessions worth well under the threshold to her two children, with one of them as executor. The estate is excepted, so no IHT400 is needed. Valuations take a month, the online application goes in, the grant arrives within the 12 weeks gov.uk currently quotes, and the accounts are closed and the money paid out within a fortnight of that. Four to five months from death to distribution is realistic, and an executor who chooses to wait the six months from the grant makes it eight or nine.

A typical estate. A married man leaves a house held jointly with his wife, savings and a share portfolio, with a will leaving everything to her and, on her death, to the children. The spouse exemption means no tax, and the estate is excepted, but the portfolio has to be valued and transferred and the will has to be proved. Six to nine months is usual. On the second death, with the house now to be sold and the threshold worked out with the transferred allowances, nine to fifteen months is more typical.

A complex estate. A company owner dies leaving shares in a trading company, a rental property, a house and a will that includes a trust for a second spouse and children from a first marriage. The IHT400 needs share and property valuations and a claim for business relief, HMRC raises questions, the rental property is sold, and the trust is set up and registered. Eighteen months to two years is realistic, and a 1975 Act claim from anybody left out would add to it.

Frequently asked questions

How long does probate take in 2026?

Gov.uk currently says you will usually get the grant within 12 weeks of submitting the application, checked on 22 September 2026, and that it can take longer where further information is needed. That covers only the application stage. Valuing the estate before it, the wait for HMRC's code where tax is due, and the creditor notice and six-month claim window after it mean a simple estate takes four to nine months from death to distribution and a complex one a year or more.

What is the probate fee?

The application fee on gov.uk on 22 September 2026 is £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, and there is no fee where the estate is £5,000 or less. Extra copies of the grant cost £2 each when ordered with the application and £16 each afterwards. The fee is an expense of the estate, so an executor who pays it personally is entitled to be repaid from estate funds before anything is distributed.

Why do executors wait six months after the grant?

Because section 4 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 gives a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, child or dependant six months from the grant to claim reasonable provision from the estate, and the court can extend that. An executor who distributes inside the window and then faces a successful claim can be ordered to make up the shortfall personally. Where nobody has been left out, many executors take a view and pay earlier; where somebody has, waiting is the safe course.

Can the estate be paid out before probate?

Only what does not need the grant. Jointly held accounts and property held as joint tenants pass to the survivor on production of the death certificate, and some institutions release modest balances without a grant, each setting its own limit. Everything else waits. Funeral costs can usually be paid directly from the deceased's bank account on sight of the invoice, and inheritance tax can be paid from the deceased's accounts direct to HMRC before the grant.

Do I have to wait for HMRC before applying for probate?

Where inheritance tax is due or the estate is not excepted, yes. Form IHT400 goes to HMRC first, and gov.uk says HMRC's unique code confirming the tax position usually arrives within 20 working days of the form or the payment being received, whichever is later. The probate application cannot be submitted without the code. For an excepted estate with no tax to pay there is no separate account and no wait; the values are declared in the probate application.

What slows probate down the most?

A property that has to be sold, because the sale cannot start until the grant and the estate cannot close until completion. After that, an HMRC enquiry into the tax account, which is most likely where the estate includes private company shares, land or anything whose value is a matter of opinion. A missing beneficiary, a beneficiary under 18, a dispute between beneficiaries or a claim against the estate each add months, and a contested will can add years.

Sources & further reading

• GOV.UK: applying for probate — fees
• GOV.UK: applying for probate — apply for probate
• GOV.UK: if Inheritance Tax is due or full details are needed
• GOV.UK: check what type of estate it is
• GOV.UK: paying Inheritance Tax
• Trustee Act 1925, section 27
• Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, section 4
• GOV.UK: register the death

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).