Dawn Joughin: New probate fee proposals - more harm than good?

In April 2017, the government abandoned its controversial plan to hike probate fees, through which the Ministry of Justice had been projected to raise an additional £300m a year to fund the courts and tribunals service. A new sliding scale schedule was planned, with fees starting at £300 while, for estates worth more than £2m, the fee was set to be £20,000. Widespread opposition, however, caused the plan to be shelved. Probate fee plans are back though … with revisions - less than last year's plan, but still a huge increase nonetheless. A sliding scale based on the value of the estate wi...