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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly find out if probate is needed.

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

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ita professional

What the alternative costsA solicitor is the alternative for a case-specific decision; no comparable price is provided in the supplied sources.

If this goes wrong: you distribute or deal with estate assets without completing a required probate process, causing delay, disputes or personal financial exposure.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Confirm the estate's jurisdiction by opening the relevant GOV.UK or official government probate guidance for England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
    2. Gather the will and any codicils, death certificate details, property ownership information, recent statements, investment records, pension and insurance paperwork, debts and details of any trusts or substantial gifts.
    3. Make a list of every asset and debt, including the organisation holding it, whose name it is in, whether it is joint, and its approximate description without pasting unnecessary account numbers or identity details.
    4. Paste the list and the prompt into a chatbot, asking it to identify missing facts, possible probate issues and precise questions for each bank, insurer, investment provider or other asset holder.
    5. Contact each organisation using its current bereavement or estates process and record whether it requires a grant before releasing or transferring the asset.
    6. Compare the chatbot's general explanation with the relevant GOV.UK or official guidance and the written responses from the organisations, then ask a solicitor to decide the position if ownership, trusts, the will, disputed debts or an organisation's requirements are unclear.

    Prompt

    I need help assessing whether probate may be needed for an estate in [England and Wales / Scotland / Northern Ireland]. This is not professional advice. Do not make a definite legal decision and do not invent facts. First list the facts and documents that are missing. Then organise the information below into: the deceased person's will and any codicils, whether there is a surviving joint owner, property ownership, bank and building society accounts, investments, pensions, insurance, debts, gifts, trusts, and the organisations holding each asset. Explain which facts may affect whether a grant is needed, what I should ask each organisation, and which points I must check on the relevant GOV.UK or official government guidance. Separate general information from issues that need a solicitor. Do not tell me to avoid probate merely because an asset is jointly held or appears straightforward. Do not estimate tax, fees or deadlines. Information: [paste the facts and documents, removing unnecessary personal data].

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

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot know about assets, joint ownership or informal arrangements that you have not found or disclosed.
  • AI cannot determine how a particular bank, insurer or investment provider will apply its own release process.
  • AI cannot resolve conflicting wills, disputed ownership, trusts or uncertainty about the deceased person's intentions.
  • AI cannot take responsibility for distributing the estate or for the consequences of deciding that probate is unnecessary.

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 ChatGPT tell me whether probate is needed?
It can organise the estate's facts, explain general factors and draft questions for asset holders. It cannot safely make the final decision where the ownership, will, trusts or provider requirements are unclear, and this is not professional advice.
Do I always need probate when someone dies?
No. Whether a grant is needed depends on the estate, the way assets are owned and what each organisation requires. Check the relevant official guidance and obtain a solicitor's view if the estate is not straightforward.
Can the bank tell me if probate is needed?
The bank can tell you what it requires before releasing or transferring the account it holds. Ask every organisation separately because one provider's process does not establish the legal position for the whole estate.
Should I ask a solicitor if I am unsure about probate?
Yes, particularly where there is a property, a dispute, a trust, more than one will, uncertain ownership or significant debts. A solicitor can give case-specific legal advice and take over when the official probate process or estate administration requires it.

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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