If someone close to you has died and you are named as executor, one question usually comes before all the others: how long does probate take? Figures published by the Ministry of Justice on 24 September give a clearer answer than we have had in years, and they also show exactly where the delays come from.

How long probate is taking right now

In the Family Court Statistics Quarterly for April to June 2026, grants of probate were issued in around five weeks on average from the date the application was submitted. That is similar to the same quarter in 2025.

Two other figures in that release matter just as much. Where there was a will but none of the named executors could apply, letters of administration with a will took around 22 weeks. Where there was no will at all, letters of administration took around 10 weeks. So the route you are on makes a real difference, and a valid will naming executors who are able and willing to act is the quickest way through.

The service is now almost entirely digital. Of the 61,941 probate applications made in that quarter, 92 per cent were submitted online.

The difference a stop makes

This is the figure that should shape how you approach your application. Probate grants that were stopped during April to June 2026 took 14 weeks on average to be issued. Those that were not stopped took two weeks.

A stop is not a rejection. The Ministry of Justice describes it as something that can happen when there is a dispute about who can apply for probate, where there are issues with a will, or where an error is identified and further information is requested. The application then waits until the registry has what it needs.

Two weeks against fourteen, and often for something as ordinary as a document that was not sent. Of everything on the probate timetable, this is the part most within your control.

The grant is the middle of the job, not the end

Now the important caveat, and the one our own probate team would want us to put in bold. The clock those figures measure starts when the application is submitted and stops when the grant is issued. There is a great deal of work either side of it.

Before you can apply at all, the death has to be registered, the organisations the person dealt with have to be notified, and every asset and debt has to be tracked down and valued. Property and land usually need an estate agent or chartered surveyor, and you can get a professional valuation for anything worth over £1,500. Where there is inheritance tax to pay, you need a reference number from HMRC at least three weeks before you can pay it, the tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death if you want to avoid interest, and form IHT400 has to reach HMRC within twelve months. Most of that sits before the application is even submitted.

After the grant arrives you are in what is formally called the administration period, which runs from the date of death until everything has been passed on to the beneficiaries. During it you may have to settle debts, sell property or shares, pay income tax on things like rental income or interest, pay capital gains tax on gains from selling assets, report the estate’s value, income and tax position to HMRC, and only then distribute what is left. If the value of the estate changes, HMRC has to be told, and in any event once the values are final or eighteen months after the death, whichever comes sooner.

So a five week grant is not an estate settled in five weeks. The grant is the permission slip. The administration around it is the actual work, and GOV.UK itself suggests taking professional advice where an estate has a lot of assets or involves something like a trust.

How to give your application the best chance

• Apply online if you can. GOV.UK is direct about this: paper applications take longer to process.
• Send the original will and the official death certificate. Photocopies are not accepted.
• Wait for your HMRC code. If the estate is not an excepted estate, you must send full details of the assets, debts, gifts, reliefs and exemptions to HMRC on form IHT400 before you apply, and start paying any inheritance tax due. HMRC then sends a unique code confirming you have paid enough tax, usually within 20 working days of receiving the form or the payment, whichever is later. You need that code in hand before you can apply. Note that it is the code that matters, not simply the passing of 20 working days.
• Get the estate valued either way. Even where there is no tax to pay, you need an estimated value of the estate as part of the application.
• Check who is eligible to apply. Where there is a will, the executors named in it apply. Where there is not, it falls to the closest living relative.
• Budget for the fee. The application fee is £526 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, and there is no fee where it is £5,000 or less. Extra copies of the probate document cost £2 each if you order them when you submit, and £16 each afterwards, so work out how many organisations you need to write to before you apply. Help with fees is available if you are on a low income or certain benefits.

You may not need probate at all

Not every estate needs a grant, and there is no set estate value in England and Wales below which probate is automatically unnecessary. That is a common misunderstanding. Every bank, insurer and mortgage lender sets its own rules, so the practical first step is to ask each organisation the person dealt with. You may not need probate if the person who died only had savings, or if they held shares or money with others, or owned land or property as joint tenants, because those pass automatically to the surviving owners.

One word of caution while you wait. GOV.UK is blunt on the point: you should not make financial plans or put property on the market until you have got probate.

A note on where the person lived

Everything above is the position in England and Wales. Scotland has a separate process, called confirmation, and Northern Ireland has its own rules again. If the person who died lived in or held assets in either, the forms, the timescales and the terminology are all different.

Where it helps to have someone in your corner

Most of what turns a two week wait into a fourteen week one is administrative rather than legal, and the same is true of the months either side of the grant. Getting the right documents, in the right order, first time, is most of the job. That is a good part of what our estate administration and probate service exists to do, particularly when you are handling all of it while grieving.

If probate is in front of you and you would rather talk it through with a human being first, book a free consultation. We will tell you honestly what is involved, and whether you need us at all.

This article is general information about the law and practice in England and Wales as at September 2026. It is not legal or financial advice, and rules, fees and timescales can change. Please take advice on your own circumstances before acting.