Probate fees - open letter

Remember A Charity, the Institute of Fundraising, the Institute of Legacy Management and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations have today written a joint letter to the Ministry of Justice to express our concerns about plans to increase probate fees. We have proposed a different approach that could result in a positive and welcome opportunity to promote and encourage charitable gifts in Wills. The Non-Contentious Probate (Fees) Order 2018 was voted on by a delegated legislation committee of MPs and passed the vote by nine votes to eight last month. The measure, which has yet been passed into law, was initially planned to come into effect from 1 April 2019. The current proposal is to abolish the £215 flat-rate probate fee and replace it with fee bands, in which estates valued at less than £50,000 would be exempt from fees and estates worth more than £50,000 would pay between £250 and £6,000.”