England & Wales probate records
Find a will or grant of probate
Once probate is granted, a will becomes a public document that anyone can order. You can do it yourself on GOV.UK for £16, and we show you exactly how. Or, at a difficult time, we run the whole search for £29 all-in. Will-search firms charge £65 or more for the same public records.
Finding a will: the facts
- Official cost£16 per probate record from GOV.UK (includes the will, where one was proved)
- No grant yet?£4 standing search: documents sent automatically if probate is granted within 6 months
- CoverageEngland & Wales, all records back to 1858
- TimingNew records appear online around 14 days after the grant is issued; postal responses within 4 weeks
- The catchRecords are filed under the year the grant was issued, not the year of death, and exact-name matching misses maiden names and spelling variants. Empty results are often wrong results.
Your three options, honestly compared
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself on GOV.UK | £16 | The official route. You search, interpret the results, and order. Guide below. Watch for the grant-year trap and name variations. |
| Our managed search | £29 all-in | We search name variations and multiple index years, place the official order within 1 working day, lodge a standing search if no grant exists yet, and send the documents with a plain-English explanation. Government fees included. |
| Will-search firms | £65 to £300+ | Useful mainly for pre-probate situations: registered-will database searches and solicitor-network enquiries to hunt for an unknown will. If probate has been granted, the record they retrieve is the same £16 public document. |
Let us handle it: £29, everything included
Built for executors, family members and anyone who simply does not want another form this month. We start within 1 working day. If no record exists yet, we lodge the official standing search instead and stay on it for 6 months, no extra charge.
How to do it yourself for £16
- Go to the official service. Search at gov.uk/search-will-probate using the surname and year. This is the only official source; ignore lookalike sites.
- Search the grant year, not just the death year. Records are indexed by the year the grant was issued. Probate takes 12 to 16 weeks, so check the death year and the following year at minimum.
- Try name variations. Maiden names, middle names used as first names, and spelling differences all cause false "no result" outcomes.
- Order the record for £16. The copy includes the grant and the will where one was proved. New records appear online around 14 days after the grant is issued.
- Nothing found and the death was recent? Lodge a £4 standing search (form PA1S) so the documents come to you automatically if a grant is issued in the next 6 months.
- Nothing found and it has been over a year? Probate may simply never have been needed: jointly-held property and accounts below bank thresholds pass without it.
Scotland uses a different system called Confirmation (search via ScotlandsPeople), and Northern Ireland records are held by its Probate Office. This service covers England and Wales.
What the £29 actually buys
A search done properly
Name variations, maiden names, multiple index years, and the judgement to interpret an empty result correctly rather than assume there is no will.
The official order placed for you
Within 1 working day, with the £16 fee (or £4 standing search) included in the price.
Six months of monitoring
When no grant exists yet, so a late grant still reaches you without anyone having to remember to re-check.
Documents explained in plain English
What the grant means, what the will does and does not tell you, and what usually makes sense to do next.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out if someone left a will?+
If probate has been granted in England or Wales, the will becomes a public document. You can search the government probate records at gov.uk/search-will-probate and order a copy of the grant and the will for £16. If probate has not been granted yet, no public record exists: you can lodge a £4 standing search, which sends you the documents automatically if probate is granted in the next 6 months. If probate is never needed (common for small estates or jointly-owned assets), the will may never become public, and the executor or the solicitor who drafted it holds it.
How much does it cost to get a copy of a will in the UK?+
The official fee is £16 per probate record ordered from GOV.UK, and that includes the will where one was proved. Commercial will-search firms charge from £65 to over £300 for search services. Our managed service costs £29 all-in, which includes the government fee, name-variation searching, ordering, monitoring, and a plain-English explanation of the documents.
Why did my search on GOV.UK find nothing?+
Four common reasons: 1) Probate has not been granted yet. Applications currently take 12 to 16 weeks, and new records appear online around 14 days after the grant is issued, so recent deaths often show nothing for months. 2) Records are filed under the year the grant was issued, not the year of death, so searching only the death year misses grants issued the following year. 3) The name on the record differs from the one you searched: middle names, maiden names, or spelling variations. 4) Probate was never needed for the estate, which is common when assets were jointly owned or below bank thresholds.
What is a standing search?+
A standing search is an official request lodged with the Probate Registry for £4. If a grant of probate is issued for the person within the next 6 months, copies of the documents are sent to you automatically. It can be extended after 6 months. It is the correct tool when someone has died recently and probate has not yet been granted. Most people have never heard of it, and will-search firms rarely mention it.
Does this cover Scotland and Northern Ireland?+
The GOV.UK probate record service covers England and Wales only. In Scotland, the equivalent process is called Confirmation: records are searchable via ScotlandsPeople. In Northern Ireland, probate records are held by the Probate Office of the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. Our £29 managed service covers England and Wales searches.
What if the person died decades ago?+
England and Wales probate records go back to 1858, and all of them can be searched and ordered at the same £16 fee. Family historians use this service to obtain ancestors' wills. Our managed service covers historic searches too, and they are often the trickiest to get right because names, spellings and index years drift.
What do I receive and how long does it take?+
You receive the grant of probate (or letters of administration) and the will, where one was proved. We run the search and place the official order within 1 working day of your payment. HMCTS then supplies the documents: new records typically become available around 14 days after the grant is issued, and postal responses arrive within 4 weeks. We send everything to your email with a plain-English note explaining what the documents mean and sensible next steps.