Northern Ireland's Fixed-Fee Probate Service
Without a £2,000+ solicitor’s bill, without second-guessing the court forms, and without losing more sleep over whether you’re doing it right.
Dealing with a loved one's estate is difficult enough. The last thing you need is unfamiliar court forms, conflicting advice, and a solicitor's bill that takes thousands from the inheritance.
The Probate Pass™ was designed to take that weight off your shoulders — quietly, properly, and at a fraction of the usual cost.
Created with the assistance of J.J. Taylor & Co. Solicitors, a Northern Ireland firm with long experience in probate. Operated as a separate service for straightforward estates.
What's Included
Combined value: £1,800+ — yours for £395
The 30-minute guided tool that collects your estate details and generates the official NI court forms. Step-by-step walkthroughs, online submission instructions, and everything you need to apply for the Grant of Probate yourself.
Week-by-week timeline from death certificate to final distribution. Checklists for each stage. The 12 letters every executor needs — pre-written and ready to send.
Pre-built spreadsheet to log every account, investment, and property. Letter templates for every major NI/UK bank. Pension and life-insurance claim templates.
Email and letter templates to keep beneficiaries informed. Distribution statement template. Scripts for difficult conversations: contested wills, missing items, delays.
An optional consultation with J.J. Taylor & Co. Solicitors — instructed separately under their own engagement. For when you're stuck or need peace of mind.
NI probate rules and court forms change. Every update to the system, at no extra cost. You'll always have the latest version.
If you'd rather hand the case to a solicitor, instruct J.J. Taylor & Co. directly and your £395 is credited against their fee.
Combined value: £1,800+
Your price: £395
Your Protection
We've structured this so the risk sits with us, not with you.
If you follow the system and the Probate Office rejects your application, we refund every penny.
If you change your mind within 30 days — for any reason at all — we refund you in full. No questions.
If your case turns out to be too complex, instruct J.J. Taylor & Co. directly and your £395 is credited against their fee.
Side by Side
Worth Knowing
Let us be clear: solicitors do vital work, and there are many situations where their involvement is absolutely necessary — contested wills, complex trusts, foreign assets, estates with business interests, or any case involving a dispute. We would never suggest otherwise.
When a solicitor charges £2,000–£5,000 for probate, that figure reflects genuine workload: meetings, correspondence, file management, compliance checks, professional indemnity insurance, office overheads, and the regulatory obligations that come with being a regulated firm. It is not an exorbitant mark-up — it is the cost of providing a professional, insured, and accountable service.
What we offer is simply an alternative for straightforward estates — the kind where the work is mainly about collecting the right information, completing the correct forms, and submitting the application properly. In those cases, many executors can handle the process themselves with the right guidance, and that is where Probate Direct comes in.
If at any point your case turns out to be more complex than expected, we will tell you — and your £395 is credited against J.J. Taylor & Co.'s fee if you choose to instruct them.
Before You Pay
Not every estate requires a Grant of Probate. If the deceased did not own property (or the property passes automatically to a surviving joint owner), and the total value held across banks and financial institutions is relatively low, those institutions may release the funds without a Grant.
This is done through what is called an Executor's Small Estates Indemnity. Each bank or building society sets its own threshold — typically for balances under £50,000, though this varies by institution. Some will release funds up to £25,000 without a Grant; others may go higher.
Our advice: before paying for our service, write to each bank and financial institution where the deceased held accounts. Ask whether they require a Grant of Probate to release the funds, or whether they will accept an Executor's Indemnity. If every institution confirms they do not need a Grant, you may not need our service at all — and we would rather you knew that upfront than pay for something unnecessary.
If even one institution requires a Grant, or if there is property to transfer, then probate is needed and we can help.
Already paid and it turns out you don't need probate? Our 30-day money-back guarantee means you can get a full refund if you haven't submitted your application to the court.
A Fair Question
It is a reasonable question. AI tools like ChatGPT are powerful, and you might wonder whether you could simply feed in the details of the estate and have it produce the forms for you. Here is why that approach carries real risk:
AI does not know what it does not know
ChatGPT will confidently produce a form that looks correct but may contain errors in how assets are categorised, how jointly-held property is treated, or how the estate value is calculated for court fee purposes. It will not flag what it has missed — because it does not know the Northern Ireland probate rules in the way a purpose-built system does.
Forms change, and AI may use outdated versions
The NIPF7 form, court fee structure, and IHT thresholds are updated periodically. AI models are trained on historical data and may produce forms based on outdated requirements — which the Probate Office will reject.
No accountability if something goes wrong
If ChatGPT produces an incorrect IHT205 or miscalculates the estate value, there is no one to turn to. With Probate Direct, our system was built with solicitor input, is kept up to date, and comes with a money-back guarantee if your application is rejected.
You still need to know what to ask
Probate involves dozens of specific questions — about jointly-held assets, nominated pensions, gifts made in the last seven years, debts secured against property, and more. If you do not know to ask the right questions, AI cannot give you the right answers. Our system asks them for you, in the right order, with guidance at every step.
Probate Direct uses AI properly — behind the scenes
We have used AI to leverage probate expertise from solicitors and build a system that asks the right questions, applies the correct rules, and generates accurate documents. The difference is that our AI is constrained, tested, and backed by professional oversight — not a general-purpose chatbot guessing at legal forms.
What Our Clients Say
“All the staff very professional and helpful in everything, highly recommend.”
Susan
“Found them to be extremely courteous, informative and very well priced.”
Mark
We at J.J. Taylor & Co. Solicitors, a Northern Ireland firm with long experience in probate, assisted in creating The Probate Pass™ because not every estate needs a full solicitor-led probate service.
In many straightforward cases, the work is mainly about collecting the right information, preparing the correct forms, and submitting the application properly. Families were often paying thousands of pounds for that process.
The Probate Pass™ gives executors a lower-cost way to deal with a simple Northern Ireland probate application themselves, with clear guidance and properly prepared documents.
Where a case is more complicated, solicitor advice is still the right answer. But where the estate is straightforward, this gives families a sensible alternative.
Questions
Worth Knowing
Inheritance tax returns must be filed within 12 months of death. Penalties apply regardless of whether you have the Grant.
The longer the estate sits, the harder it becomes to retrieve statements and release funds.
Every month of delay means insurance, maintenance, and rates on a vacant property — all from the estate.
Every week is another week of beneficiaries asking when things will be resolved. Start now and give them a real timeline.
Complete your application in 30 minutes. Triple guaranteed. £395 fixed fee.
Reimbursable from the estate • Solicitor access if you need it