PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly apply for probate.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

15 minutesto a draft.

1 hourto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsNo priced alternative is provided in the available tool data.

If this goes wrong, you can submit incomplete or incorrect estate information and face delay, extra work or a dispute over the estate.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the GOV.UK probate guidance for the jurisdiction where the deceased lived, and note the official application route and document requirements.
    2. Gather the will, death certificate, codicils, details of every executor, estate asset and debt records, inheritance tax correspondence and any previous probate or court documents.
    3. Remove unnecessary personal identifiers from copies, then paste the relevant text and your factual list into the prompt, stating which facts are confirmed and which are uncertain.
    4. Ask the chatbot to produce the checklist, draft answers and missing-information list specified in the prompt, and keep the output separate from the official application.
    5. Compare every drafted fact, date and figure against the original documents and mark any answer that you cannot prove from those documents.
    6. Use the chatbot's solicitor question list to identify issues such as a missing will, an executor who cannot act, disputed beneficiaries, overseas assets or uncertainty about inheritance tax.
    7. Complete the official GOV.UK application yourself only after checking the answers against the current form and guidance, or send the documents and questions to a probate solicitor if any issue is disputed, unusual or unclear.

    Prompt

    Help me prepare to apply for probate in [England and Wales or Northern Ireland]. This is not professional advice. Use only the facts and documents I provide, and do not invent figures, dates, assets, debts, beneficiaries, executor details or legal conclusions. First identify which facts are missing and whether any issue appears unsuitable for a do-it-yourself application. Then produce: 1) a document and information checklist; 2) a plain-English list of the questions I need to answer for the official probate application; 3) a draft answer for each question, marking every answer as CONFIRMED, MISSING or NEEDS PROFESSIONAL ADVICE; 4) a list of figures I need to verify against the estate records; and 5) a short list of questions to ask a probate solicitor. Use current GOV.UK probate guidance where available, link to the relevant GOV.UK pages, and clearly separate official requirements from your own explanation. Do not tell me that I have probate authority, that inheritance tax is or is not due, or that an application is safe to submit unless the official source and my facts clearly support that conclusion. The information I have is: [paste facts here]. The documents I have are: [list or paste documents here].

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

What caps this at PARTLY: legal accountability, judgement under ambiguity and verification cost.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output1
Inputs1
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta1
Total5 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can AI fill in a probate application for me?
AI can organise your documents and draft possible answers, but you must check the facts and complete the official application yourself. It cannot take responsibility for the submission or decide complicated probate and inheritance tax issues.
Can I apply for probate without a solicitor?
You may be able to handle a straightforward estate using the official GOV.UK process. Use a probate solicitor if the will is disputed, an executor cannot act, beneficiaries disagree, the estate is insolvent or the tax position is unclear.
What documents do I need to apply for probate?
The documents depend on the jurisdiction and circumstances, but you should start by gathering the will and codicils, death certificate, executor details, estate asset and debt records, and any inheritance tax correspondence. Check the current GOV.UK checklist because AI can omit a document or rely on outdated guidance.
Is it safe to use ChatGPT for probate?
It is suitable for sorting information and preparing questions, not for making unverified legal decisions or submitting an unchecked application. This is not professional advice, and a serious or disputed estate needs a probate solicitor.

Nearby answers

All Wills & estates rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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