Grant of Probate

A Grant of Probate is a document providing an executor (who is named in the will) a legal right to administer the estate (property, money, etc.) of someone who has died. This may involve selling property, closing bank accounts, or paying debts.

In the majority of cases, you will need a Grant of Probate to deal with the assets. You may not need a Grant of probate if the estate is worth under £10,000, or all property is jointly owned.

If you are the executor of a will and want to deal with assets that are held abroad, you may need to provide certain documents. This usually includes a Grant of Probate, the death certificate, and the last will & testament.

You may be asked to get your document apostilled to prove its authenticity. Unless the document is the original physical version, and stamped, sealed, or signed by the court, it will also need to be notarised. We can notarise and apostille all of these documents for you, as well as arranging any translations or consular legalisation.

The process to notarise and apostille your Grant of Probate will depend on how it was issued.

A Grant of Probate may be provided in any of the following ways:

a. The original court document, stamped, sealed, or signed by a court, or an official of the court.
b. The original court document, not stamped, sealed, or signed by a court, or an official of the court.
c. A photocopy of your court document.
d. A printout of your electronic court document produced from the original PDF or other electronic document.

Notary.co.uk can assist you with our fast and cost-effective services and walk you through every step of the process:

1. Contact us and tell us what you need. We will ask you to complete our online Client Registration Form and explain how we will complete the identification and verification process.

2. If the document was issued in an original physical version and stamped, sealed or signed by an official of the issuing authority, it does not strictly need to be notarised. If you are using it abroad, you may get an apostille on the document directly from the FCDO.

3. If the document was issued in an original physical version but not stamped, sealed, or signed by an official of the issuing authority, it cannot be apostilled without first being notarised. We can notarise the document by checking the document is authentic and then attaching a notarial certificate to the original.

4. If the document is a photocopy of the court document, we will also need to notarise the document prior to getting an apostille. We will check the document is authentic and then attach a notarial certificate to the photocopy.

5. If the document was issued electronically, we will also need to notarise the document prior to getting an apostille. You will need to share the original PDF and we will check the document is authentic. We will then attach a notarial certificate to the printed version.

6. We will obtain the apostille by submitting the document at the FCDO on either our Premium or Standard service. If you need Embassy legalisation, we will also complete this after the apostille process.

7. When all is complete, we will email a PDF scan of your document. We will then return the document to you by your chosen method, whether by collection, post, or courier.

Notarisation will be carried out by one of our experienced notaries. They will carry out all required checks and issue a notarial certification.

To obtain an apostille, we will submit your Grant of Probate to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Legalisation Office (FCDO). There are two FCDO Legalisation Office counters – one in London (Premium Service) and one in Milton Keynes (Standard Service). We offer a Premium same-day apostille service for urgent matters and standard 3-5 working day apostille service if you are not in a rush.

If you need your Grant of Probate notarised or either legalised with an apostille or at an embassy, we’ll be able to support you with our exceptional services.