How to Avoid Probate in the UK
Probate in England and Wales can take 12–18 months, cost thousands in legal fees, and make your estate a matter of public record. With the right planning, many assets can pass directly to your beneficiaries without going through probate at all.
Why People Want to Avoid Probate
Time
Probate applications currently take 4–8 months to process at HMCTS. The full estate administration — selling property, collecting assets, paying creditors — typically takes 12–18 months. Beneficiaries wait.
Cost
HMCTS probate fee: £300. Solicitor fees for estate administration: 1–2% of the estate value (£3,000–£20,000+ on a typical family estate). Court applications, accountancy, and asset tracing add more.
Public record
Once granted, your grant of probate and your will become public documents accessible to anyone via the Probate Registry. Every estate value, every bequest, every executor is disclosed.
None of these are inevitable — with deliberate estate planning, the assets that matter most can be structured to pass without a grant.
5 Strategies to Avoid or Minimise Probate
Joint Ownership (Right of Survivorship)
Best for: family home, joint bank accounts, joint investments
When property or accounts are owned as joint tenants, the surviving owner automatically inherits the deceased’s share by right of survivorship — no probate required, no will needed for that asset. This is the most common way couples pass the family home without probate.
The key distinction is between joint tenancy (right of survivorship applies — passes automatically) and tenants in common(each owner has a defined share that forms part of their estate and requires probate). Married couples typically hold property as joint tenants; business partners often hold as tenants in common.
Lifetime Trusts
Best for: property portfolios, significant cash assets, protecting inheritance for children
Assets transferred into a lifetime trust (also called an inter vivos trust) are owned by the trust — not by you personally. When you die, the trust assets pass directly to the beneficiaries according to the trust deed, without forming part of your probate estate.
Common examples: a property protection trust (holding your share of the family home), a life insurance policy written in trust, a bare trust for children. Trusts also offer control — you can specify conditions, hold assets for minor children until they reach 18 or 21, and protect assets from a beneficiary’s divorce or bankruptcy.
Beneficiary Nominations (Pensions & Life Insurance)
Best for: pension pots, death in service, life insurance policies
Pension potsdo not form part of your estate and do not go through probate. The pension trustees pay out to your nominated beneficiaries (or exercise their discretion) based on the expression of wishes form you complete during your lifetime. The same applies to death-in-service benefit, which is held in the employer’s discretionary trust.
Life insurance policies written in trust also pass outside the estate. The policy proceeds are paid to the trustees, who distribute to the beneficiaries named in the trust deed — without waiting for probate, and without forming part of the taxable estate. Policies not written in trust are paid to the estate and go through probate.
Small Estate Planning
Best for: keeping bank balances at manageable levels, simplifying modest estates
Most high street banks will release funds without a grant of probate up to £25,000–£50,000per institution. If the total estate assets held by any single institution are kept below that institution’s threshold — or if the overall estate is small — probate may not be required at all.
For a modest estate (say, £60,000 in a single bank account, a car, and household contents), spreading funds across two banks may mean no institution requires a grant. However, there is no statutory small estate exemption from probate in England and Wales — whether you need probate depends on the policy of each institution that holds assets, not on a legal threshold.
| Institution type | Typical threshold (without grant) |
|---|---|
| High street bank (e.g., Lloyds, Barclays) | £25,000–£50,000 |
| Building society | £25,000–£35,000 |
| Premium Bonds (NS&I) | £5,000 |
| Stocks and shares ISA (most platforms) | £25,000–£50,000 |
| Investment bonds | Varies — often requires grant above £5,000 |
Lifetime Gifting
Best for: reducing the overall estate, passing wealth while alive
Giving assets away during your lifetime reduces what is in your estate at death — both for probate purposes and for IHT. Gifts that are more than 7 years before death are completely outside the estate for IHT (potentially exempt transfers). Gifts within 7 years may still be subject to IHT on a sliding scale (taper relief after 3 years).
Annual exempt gifts (£3,000 per year, carried forward one year) are immediately outside the estate. Gifts from surplus income (normal expenditure out of income) are also immediately exempt with no 7-year rule if they meet the conditions.
Even With Probate-Avoidance Planning, You Still Need a Will
Avoiding probate does not eliminate the need for a will. You need a will for:
- →Assets that do form part of your probate estate (property held as tenants in common, sole-name bank accounts above the small estate threshold, investments)
- →Appointing guardians for minor children — this can only be done in a will
- →Specifying funeral wishes and any specific bequests of personal items
- →Ensuring that if probate is required, the right executors are named and the estate is distributed as you wish
The goal is not to eliminate probate at all costs — it is to ensure the right assets pass efficiently and the overall estate plan is coherent. A will and a probate-avoidance strategy work together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you avoid probate entirely in England and Wales?
It is possible to structure your estate so that most or all assets pass without a grant of probate — but it requires deliberate planning during your lifetime. The main strategies are: holding property and accounts jointly (survivorship passes the asset automatically), placing assets in a lifetime trust (the trust owns the asset, not you), ensuring pensions and life insurance have nominated beneficiaries (these pass outside the estate), keeping bank balances below the bank's small estate threshold (many banks release up to £50,000 without probate), and making lifetime gifts that reduce the estate below the probate threshold. In practice, most estates of any size will still require probate for at least some assets, so the realistic goal for most people is minimising the assets that go through probate rather than eliminating it entirely.
What assets always avoid probate regardless of planning?
Certain assets pass outside the estate and outside probate regardless of whether you have a will: (1) assets held as joint tenants with right of survivorship (property, joint bank accounts) — pass automatically to the surviving owner; (2) pension pots and death-in-service benefits held in a discretionary trust — trustees decide who receives the benefit based on your expression of wishes; (3) life insurance policies written in trust — the policy proceeds are paid to the trust, not the estate; (4) ISA accounts that pass via inherited ISA allowance or named beneficiary rules (depending on provider); (5) assets held in a lifetime trust — the trust is a separate legal entity, so the trustee-settlor's death does not trigger probate for trust assets.
Does a will help you avoid probate?
No — a will does not help you avoid probate. In fact, a will is usually the document that triggers the probate process, because the executors named in the will need to obtain a grant of probate from HMCTS to prove their authority to administer the estate. What a will does is tell the probate court who should receive your assets and who should administer the estate. To avoid probate, you need to ensure assets either: (a) do not form part of your probate estate at all (held jointly, in trust, or with nominated beneficiaries); or (b) fall below the threshold at which banks and other institutions require a grant.
What is the small estate threshold for avoiding probate?
There is no single legal threshold in England and Wales — each institution sets its own limit. Most high street banks will release funds without a grant of probate up to approximately £25,000–£50,000 (some as high as £75,000). Shares and investment accounts may also have informal thresholds, often around £25,000–£30,000, above which they require sight of a grant. The HMCTS probate registry does not impose a minimum value for requiring a grant — it is the institutions holding the assets that decide. If the total estate across all institutions requiring a grant exceeds roughly £5,000–£10,000, you will likely need to apply for probate even if the overall estate is modest. HMCTS probate fees are £300 (2026) for estates over £5,000.
Can I put my house in trust to avoid probate?
Yes — property held in a properly constituted lifetime trust does not form part of your estate for probate purposes, and can pass to beneficiaries on your death without a grant of probate. However, this is legally complex and has significant tax implications: (1) the transfer into trust is an immediately chargeable lifetime transfer for IHT if into a discretionary trust, or a potentially exempt transfer into most other trusts; (2) if you continue to live in the property for free, HMRC may treat it as a gift with reservation of benefit — meaning it remains in your estate for IHT anyway; (3) CGT principal private residence relief may be affected; (4) the trust itself has ongoing tax reporting obligations. The 'put your house in trust to avoid care home fees and IHT' scheme marketed by some will-writing companies has specific risks and HMRC scrutiny. Always take independent legal and tax advice before transferring your home into trust.
A Will Is the Foundation — Build Your Full Plan From £19.97
Probate avoidance starts with a clear will. The WillSafe kit guides you through writing a legally valid will for England and Wales — complete with executor appointments, guardianship, and trusts for minor children.