The application fee to acquire a Grant of Probate is proposed to increase to a flat fee of £273 for all applicants; for any estate worth more than £5,000. Whilst this is an increase from the current fee of £155 for Solicitors and £215 for individuals, this is far less than the proposed hike of 2016 where a tiered charge system was proposed which would have resulted in some paying as much as £20,000 for estates worth more than £2,000,000.
There was a huge response to the 2016 proposal (which was later scrapped); with the increase in fee varying from a 249% increase to as much as a 2691% increase from the flat fee. Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) strongly opposed this proposition, due to the fact this fee increase would have been completely disproportionate to the probate Court service, and it would have effectively been a new tax on recently bereaved families.
Anyone who has made an application for a Grant of Probate, particularly where an estate is taxable, will have found the service is exceptionally slow at the moment. The gov.uk website claim it will take approximately eight weeks but some applications are taking 4-6 months to come back with little or no communication to executors when there are errors or missing information; which is only discovered when the executor makes contact.
The online service has been a huge stumbling block in the process, with errors being reported repeatedly.
The Government claim the HM Courts and Tribunals Service are operating at a loss with an £85 million deficit yearly and the increase of fees will mean there is a lesser deficit; supporting the tax payer, who will not have to make up for this shortfall.
One would hope that the fee increase will support a better system and more expedient, but only time will tell the difference this will make.
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