How to Complete and Submit Form PA1P: Sections, Fees, and Posting

To complete Form PA1P, you gather the original will and any codicils, the death certificate, and your inheritance tax paperwork; fill in the sections covering the applicants, the deceased, the will and executors, the family, and the estate values; sign the statement of truth; and post the pack with the £300 fee to the Newcastle District Probate Registry. The form is the paper route to a Grant of Probate in England and Wales when the deceased left a valid will, and it is used by executors (or, where no executor can act, by beneficiaries) who prefer post over the online service or whose circumstances the online service cannot handle.¹

What To Have Ready Before You Start

The form itself is short. The preparation behind it is where the work sits.

The original will and any codicils. Photocopies are not accepted, and the registry keeps the original permanently once the grant issues. If the will is held by a solicitor, a bank, or the national probate registry in Newcastle, request it with the death certificate and proof you are the executor.²
The official death certificate. Not the interim one a coroner may issue. The form asks for the deceased’s name, date of birth, and date of death exactly as they appear on it.
Identity details for every applying executor. Full name, address, phone number, and email. If your name appears differently in the will than on your ID, you will note that on the form.
Inheritance tax reporting completed. What you file with HMRC depends on the type of estate, and the probate application cannot proceed until this is sorted.

Getting the Inheritance Tax Step Right

For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, the old IHT205 short form no longer applies. You check whether the estate counts as an “excepted estate” using the GOV.UK guidance. If it does, you report the estate’s value as part of the probate application itself without a separate HMRC form.³⁴¹

HMRC no longer returns a stamped IHT421 probate summary to you. HMRC sends the IHT421 directly to HMCTS Probate and confirms this to you in writing or by a note on the tax calculation.⁵ Timing matters here. If you post the PA1P before HMRC has sent the IHT421, your application will stall, so HMCTS advises waiting at least 21 days after submitting inheritance tax information before posting the probate pack.⁶

Working Through the Form

Download the PA1P from GOV.UK or request a printed copy through your local court.⁷ The form runs in lettered and numbered sections.

Section A: The Applicants

Your title, full name including middle names, address, phone numbers, and email. There is space for up to four applicants, and every executor who is applying must be listed. If your current legal name differs from the name used in the will (because of marriage, divorce, or a deed poll), tick the box provided and explain the difference.⁸

Section 2: The Person Who Died

Enter the deceased’s forenames, surname, and permanent address exactly as on the death certificate, with date of birth and date of death. If the deceased held assets under any other name, list every variant; banks and the Land Registry will check the grant against their records. Further questions cover domicile, marital status, foreign assets, settled land, and any adoption within the family.⁸

Section 3: The Will, Codicils, and Other Executors

Record the date of the will and the details of any codicils. The form asks whether any wills were made outside England and Wales, whether the deceased married or entered a civil partnership after the will was signed (which can partially or fully revoke it), and whether any beneficiary is under 18.

This section is also where you account for every executor named in the will who is not applying with you. The reason codes are:

Power reserved. The executor steps aside for now but keeps the right to apply later. You must notify them in writing before you submit, and confirm at question 3.7 that you have done so.⁸
Renunciation. The executor gives up the right permanently and signs a separate PA15, which you include with your application.
Deceased executor. If a named executor has died, note it and provide the relevant details.

Questions 3.8 and 3.9 ask about the physical condition of the will: staple holes, tears, stains, or loose pages. The registry looks at damage carefully to guard against fraud. If anything looks unusual, explain it in the space provided. Leaving these questions blank when there is visible damage is a common cause of delays.

Section 4: Relatives of the Deceased

Whether the deceased left a surviving spouse or civil partner, how many children survived them, and whether any children predeceased them leaving their own children. The information helps the registry confirm who may have a legal interest in the estate, particularly where the will does not account for everyone in the family.

Sections 5 and 6: Attorneys and Foreign Domicile

Section 5 is for applicants acting as an attorney on behalf of an executor, for example under a Lasting Power of Attorney where the executor has lost mental capacity. Section 6 covers deaths where the deceased was permanently resident outside England and Wales but held assets here. Most straightforward applications leave both blank.

Section 7: Inheritance Tax Figures

This is where the tax work feeds in. For excepted estates, enter the gross and net values directly. For non-excepted estates where you filed IHT400, enter the unique probate code HMRC provided. The figures must match HMRC’s records. A mismatch triggers an inquiry and delays the grant.⁸

Signing the Statement of Truth

The PA1P ends with a statement of truth that every applying executor must sign. It replaced the old executor’s oath and carries the same legal weight. The declaration includes an explicit warning that criminal proceedings for fraud may be brought against anyone found to have been deliberately untruthful or dishonest, and contempt of court proceedings are also possible. In practice, the estate values, the will details, and the information about other executors need to be accurate. Honest mistakes can be corrected; deliberate undervaluation or concealment of assets crosses into criminal territory.

Posting the Application

Send the completed PA1P, the original will and any codicils, the death certificate, and any PA15 renunciation forms to:

Newcastle District Probate Registry
2nd Floor, Kings Court
Earl Grey Way
North Shields
NE29 6AR⁹

The registry will not return the original will.⁹ Use tracked or recorded delivery. A lost original is not easily undone.

Fees and Copies

The application fee is £300 for estates valued over £5,000. There is no fee if the estate is £5,000 or less.¹⁰ Extra sealed copies of the grant cost £16 each and should be ordered at the time of application.¹¹ Order one copy for each bank, insurer, or landholding you need to deal with, so you can contact several organisations in parallel rather than waiting on a single copy to come back from each.

What Happens After You Apply

The registry typically issues the grant within 12 weeks of receiving a complete application, though longer is possible if more information is needed from you.¹² The Grant of Probate arrives by post with any sealed copies you ordered. It is your authority to close accounts, sell property, pay debts, and distribute the estate.

Mistakes That Stall PA1P Applications

HMCTS has identified recurring problems that hold applications up:⁶

Posting too early. If the PA1P arrives before HMRC has sent the IHT421 to the registry, your application sits in a queue. Allow at least 21 days after your IHT submission.
Executors unaccounted for. Every executor named in the will must be addressed on the form, with the right supporting document where one has died, renounced, or had power reserved. Leaving an executor unmentioned is the fastest route to a returned application.
Unexplained damage to the will. Staple holes with no staple, tears, water marks, or detached pages all raise fraud concerns. The registry will pause the application until you explain what happened.
Missing documents. No death certificate, a missing codicil, or an absent PA15 all stop the process.

Each of these can add weeks. Checking the pack against this list before you post is worth the ten minutes.

When the Online Service May Suit You Better

GOV.UK offers an online probate application that asks for the same information but walks you through it screen by screen, which reduces blank fields and inconsistent figures. You still post the original will and death certificate to Newcastle after submitting online.¹ Fees are identical. For a straightforward estate with a single executor and a clean will, the online service is generally faster. The PA1P paper form remains the route when the online service cannot handle your situation, such as applying as an attorney or dealing with foreign domicile questions the digital service does not yet support.

1
GOV.UK. Applying for Probate
2
GOV.UK. Applying for Probate – If There’s a Will
3
GOV.UK. Report an Excepted Estate for Inheritance Tax
4
GOV.UK. Inheritance Tax Thresholds and Interest Rates
5
GOV.UK. Inheritance Tax Probate Summary IHT421
6
Inside HMCTS Blog. Working Together to Avoid Delays to Probate Applications
7
GOV.UK. Apply for Probate by Post if There Is a Will – Form PA1P
8
GOV.UK. PA1P Probate Application – With a Will (01.24)
9
GOV.UK. Apply for Probate on Paper as a Practitioner
10
GOV.UK. Applying for Probate – Fees
11
The Gazette. How Much Are Probate Fees?
12
GOV.UK. Applying for Probate – After You’ve Applied