Personal representatives will struggle to fund the proposed increase in probate court fees, says Joyce Bradbeer
Government proposals to make probate fees “fairer” by moving from a flat to a banded fee approach, proportionate to, and rising with, the value of the estate, are out for consultation and provoking debate. The new regime will also increase the value of the estate below which no fee is payable from £5,000 to £50,000.
I believe the banded fee approach is particularly unfair as the work at the probate registry to issue the grant is the same whether the value of the estate is £500,000 or £2m. The government consultation paper actually admits that the money raised from probate registry fees already covers their costs. This can only therefore be seen as a tax on the wealthy designed to fund HM Courts & Tribunals Service in general. How are these fees to be raised in a world where it is already increasingly difficult for personal representatives to fund the funeral costs and inheritance tax due on the application
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