Is £325,000 the probate threshold?

Last reviewed 18 August 2026

Two quite different figures are forever muddled in people’s minds, and the confusion costs both worry and money. Let us separate them plainly.

Two different things

£325,000 is the inheritance-tax nil-rate band — the slice of an estate below which no inheritance tax is charged. It decides whether tax is due, not whether probate is needed. There is, in fact, no single statutory probate threshold in England and Wales at all.

What actually decides probate

Whether you need a grant depends on what the estate contains and on each institution’s own rules: sole-name property, and balances above each bank’s threshold, generally require probate; jointly held assets generally do not. So an estate can need probate well below £325,000, or avoid it well above.

Sources. GOV.UK, Inheritance Tax thresholds; GOV.UK, Applying for probate (no statutory probate threshold).