The government has announced a significant increase in probate costs as part of a wider rise in court and tribunal fees.

The new fees largely mirror inflation rises and come into force on 13 July, subject to parliamentary approval.

But around 27 fees are increasing by around a third: the probate application fee is an outlier as it goes up by 75%, from £300 to £526. 

The Ministry of Justice said this jump ‘recovers the cost of an ever-improving service, and the new cost accounts for rising inflation as well as investment in delivering an efficient and modern service’.

The increase will partly be offset by the creation of a separate, reduced fee for when someone requests copies of probate documents concurrently with their probate application, so that, instead of £16, the fee will be only £2.

Ian Bond, a solicitor specialising in wills, trust and probate and a member of the Law Society’s wills and equity committee, said the increase comes at a time when the probate service backlog is increasing and the service levels on complex matters are regressing.

‘I can imagine many probate practitioners will not be happy with the new fees,’ he added. ‘Paying more to get less. We knew this was coming but that is still a shock.’

Heather Parker, head of private client at Nottingham firm Actons Solicitors, said delays remain a big issue which have not been addressed by previous fee increases.

She said: ‘Over recent years we’ve seen these fees more than double all in the name of better systems, better efficiency, better user experience.

‘In reality though we are still seeing families wait months at a time, during what is already a period of grief and stress for their application to go through the system and it is hard to justify the increase in costs to clients when there is no discernible improvement in the service being provided.’

Practitioners predict there may be a rush a probate applications before the new fee is charged from 13 July.

The MoJ said the overall purpose of the fee changes is to strengthen cost recovery, improve consistency in how and where fees are charged, and maintain fair access to justice for all. Some 170 fees will increase by 2.6% in line with inflation.

The full list of revised fees can be found here.