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What does this estate actually need?

Almost everything about probate follows from two facts: whether there was a will, and whether HM Revenue and Customs needs full details of the estate. Between them they decide which forms you complete, what it costs, and how long it takes.

We are building a free checker that works that out for your estate, with your figures, and shows the rule and the source behind every answer. It is not finished yet. Until it is, this page sets out the four answers it can give, so you can find yourself among them, and says what we will charge if you decide to use us. This site covers probate in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different processes.

The four answers

Every estate is in exactly one of these. Nobody is in two.

  1. You do not need probate at all

    Everything was held jointly and passes to the survivor, or the accounts are small enough that each organisation will release the money on its own authority.

    Nothing to buy, from us or anyone. Roughly two in five deaths need no grant, and the organisations holding the money set their own limits, so ask them first.

    How to check whether you need probate

  2. You need probate, and the estate is excepted

    A grant is needed, but HMRC does not want full details: you certify the estate values on the probate application itself and send nothing separate to HMRC first.

    This is what CalmProbate is being built for first. £199 when it exists.

    What makes an estate excepted

  3. You need probate and full Inheritance Tax details

    HMRC needs the whole picture, so an IHT400 and whichever schedules apply must go in first. This is not the same as owing tax: several things require a full account even when nothing is payable.

    £449 when it exists, and it will come later than the first. Nothing that touches a tax account will be sold before a probate specialist has reviewed it.

    IHT205 or IHT400: which one applies

  4. This estate needs a professional

    Trusts, business or agricultural relief, gifts the person carried on benefiting from, foreign domicile, or anybody in dispute.

    We will say so plainly and explain why, rather than guess. Refusing is both the more accurate answer and the lawful one.

    Why we refuse some estates

What it will cost

There is one product. What it costs depends on what the estate turns out to need, and that is something we work out and explain rather than something you have to pick.

Nothing is for sale yet, so there is nothing to pay and no card to enter. The prices are here because you deserve to know them before you spend any time on us.

Excepted estate

£199

When this applies: the estate is an excepted estate, so HMRC does not need full details and you certify the values on the probate application itself.

What it covers: your PA1P or PA1A completed from the figures you enter, with a checklist of what to send with it.

Not available yet. This is the part being built now, and it is the nearer of the two. We will not name a date we cannot keep.

Estate needing full Inheritance Tax details

£449

When this applies: HMRC needs full details of the estate, so an IHT400 and its schedules are required as well as the probate application.

What it covers: everything above, plus the IHT400 and whichever schedules the estate actually needs.

Not available yet, and it will be the later of the two. Nothing that touches Inheritance Tax will be sold until a probate specialist has reviewed it, because a wrong figure in a tax account carries a penalty. That review is arranged before this is built, not after.

Whatever you use, and even if you use nothing, you pay the court application fee to HMCTS yourself. It is a government fee and it never passes through us. As at 2026-09-17, that fee is £526 where the estate is over £5,000, and nothing at or below it.

Source: GOV.UK — Applying for probate: Fees, checked 2026-09-17.

Why we are telling you the price before it exists

Because you would want to know, and because finding out at the end of an hour's work would be a waste of your time. It also tells us something we genuinely cannot find out any other way: whether the thing we are building is worth what it costs to build. If nobody leaves an address at these prices, that is worth knowing before we spend months on the harder half.

The price is not fixed forever, and we would rather say so than pretend. If it changes, it changes for people who buy after it changes; nobody gets asked for more than they were shown.

We'll tell you when it's ready

The tool is still being built, so there is nothing to sign up to yet. If you would like to hear when it is finished, email us and we will keep your address for that one purpose and nothing else.

When it is ready it will be £199 where HMRC does not need full details of the estate, and £449 where it does and an IHT400 is needed too. One product: which price applies is a fact about the estate, not something you pick. There is nothing to pay now and no card to enter.

Email hello@calmprobate.co.uk

We cannot tell you a launch date yet, because we do not know one. We would rather say that than invent one.

Questions

What will CalmProbate cost?
There is one product and the price depends on what the estate needs. For an excepted estate, where HMRC does not need full details, it is £199. Where full Inheritance Tax details are needed, so an IHT400 and its schedules are required too, it is £449. You never choose between them: which one applies is a fact about the estate.
Can I buy it now?
No. Nothing is for sale yet, there is nothing to pay and there is no card to enter. The prices are published so you can decide now whether this will be any use to you, rather than finding out at the end. You can leave an email address and we will write to you once, when it is ready.
Do I have to pay a deposit to join the list?
No, and we will not ask for one. Taking money for something that does not exist yet would be the wrong thing to do to someone who has just been bereaved, whatever the small print said. An email address is all we ask for, and only if you want to be told.
How do I know which of these applies to my estate?
Today, by reading: the guides set out the rules, the thresholds and the sources, and the excepted-estate guide covers the test in detail. The free checker being built will do it for your estate specifically, with your figures, and show the rule and the source behind the answer.
What if the estate turns out to be too complicated?
Then we will say so rather than guess. Estates involving trusts, business or agricultural relief, gifts the person continued to benefit from, foreign domicile or a dispute need a professional, and we would rather point you to one than quietly do a worse job of it.
Is the court fee included in that price?
No, and no software can include it. The probate application fee is £526 where the estate is over £5,000 and you pay it directly to HM Courts and Tribunals Service. It is a government fee that never passes through us, and you would pay it whether you used us, a solicitor, or nothing at all.

The guides are free, complete, and available now. They cover the whole process, including the parts we will never charge for.