By Lauren Smart

PRIVATE CLIENT EXECUTIVE (GCILEx)

 

After campaigns by the Law Society and other organisations it has recently been announced that the UK government have scrapped the plans to change the probate fees to a sliding scale.

The proposal was that the fees which are currently £155 for solicitors or £215 for individuals were to be moved to a new tiered structure with the largest estates, those over £2 million pounds, paying £6,000 to obtain a grant of representation.   This had been dubbed “a tax on grief” by the Law Society president  Simon Davis.

The Ministry of Justice have now made a U turn on the fees and will instead review the probate fees as part of an annual assessment of fees charged for all proceedings within the Civil and Family Courts.   To this the Law Society have said “In its review of court fees government should bear in mind that it is a false economy to impose charges that go beyond cost recovery. Equal access to justice is a fundamental part of the rule of law.”

However, for the time being the fees will remain £155 for solicitors and £215 for personal applications.