What is probate and why is it needed?
Probate is the legal process of administering a deceased person's estate in England and Wales. The Grant of Probate (where there is a Will) or Letters of Administration (where there is no Will) is a court document that gives the executor or administrator the legal authority to deal with the estate — collecting assets, paying debts, and distributing what remains to beneficiaries.
Not all estates require this legal authority. Whether you need probate depends primarily on what assets the deceased held and how those assets were owned.
When is probate required?
Probate is almost always required if the estate includes:
- Property or land owned solely in the deceased's name, or as tenants in common
- Bank or building society accounts above a threshold (usually £5,000–£50,000, but varies by institution)
- Shares, investments or ISAs held in the deceased's sole name
- A life insurance policy not written in trust
- Debts that need to be legally enforced or resolved
When probate is NOT required
Many assets pass outside of probate automatically. These include:
- Jointly-owned property held as joint tenants — this passes automatically to the surviving owner
- Joint bank accounts — funds pass to the surviving account holder
- Life insurance policies written in trust — paid directly to named beneficiaries
- Pensions — usually paid to nominated beneficiaries at the pension provider's discretion
- Assets held in a trust
- Very small estates where each institution holding assets is willing to release funds without a Grant
The role of individual financial institutions
Each bank, building society or financial institution sets its own threshold for releasing funds without a Grant of Probate. Some will release amounts up to £50,000 without a Grant; others require one for any amount. You will need to contact each institution individually to ask for their current limit.
If the estate has multiple accounts across several institutions, you are likely to need a Grant even if no single account exceeds any individual threshold, simply because not all institutions will release without one.
Intestacy: when there is no Will
If the deceased died without a valid Will — known as dying intestate — the estate is distributed according to the Intestacy Rules in England and Wales. These rules follow a strict hierarchy: the surviving spouse or civil partner comes first, then children, then other relatives.
In intestacy cases, the administrator (typically the next of kin) applies for Letters of Administration rather than a Grant of Probate. The process is similar but there is no Will to rely on, and disagreements over who should act as administrator can arise, making early specialist advice valuable.