Proposed probate fees of up to £20,000 would be an “inheritance tax by the back door”, MPs have argued.
The Joint Select Committee for Statutory Instruments drew attention to the potential ultra vires nature of the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2017, in a report on 31 March. Currently it costs £215 for an individual, and £155 for a solicitor, to apply for probate.
Rebecca Fisher, partner at Russell-Cooke, said: “The main point from this report is that the Joint Select Committee believe that the Lord Chancellor may be acting beyond her powers and that even if not acting beyond her powers, it is a very unexpected use of her powers.
“The Committee were concerned that the Lord Chancellor was acting beyond the enabling powers because she would, to all intents and purposes, be imposing a tax rather than a prescribed probate fee. This is because the fee is directly linked to the value of the estate rather than any work involved by the courts and the fee is being used to fund the court service as a whole.
“Any form of taxation requires the consent of Parliament.”
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