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Simplifying Probate in Scotland

Probate can be a time-consuming and stressful process to do on your own.
But it also can be costly and frustrating to hand over to a solicitor.

My Probate Partner is the middle-ground solution

Giving you the best experience between doing probate on your own and hiring a lawyer to do it for you.

We empower you to keep control of the process by providing you with the support needed to reduce the stress and time investment - all for a fraction of the cost of using a lawyer.

The traditional way to do probate

For a long time, the only way to do probate was to use a lawyer. Most lawyers charge high fees for their services, don’t prioritise communication with you, and carry large caseloads which can result in a lot of delays.

The bulk of their fees is for doing legwork, which includes tasks such as filling in forms and communicating with third parties, like banks. In other words, you pay a hefty fee to carry out a lot of tasks that don’t require legal expertise.

A new way to do Probate in Scotland

Our company exists to provide an alternative, cost-effective way to do probate that allows you to stay in control of the process, without needing to spend ages learning about how it works. Not only does that allow you to decide on the pace you want to move at, but you can save thousands of pounds in the process by avoiding having to use a lawyer.

We combine the advantages of doing it yourself (DIY) with giving you expert support along the way. It’s the best of both worlds.

Our Founder, Mike Davis

Mike is a qualified Law Accountant, specialising in probate work. He spent years assessing thousands of lawyers’ case files, developing a deep knowledge of how this process works and the various ways it plays out in the real world. After seeing how poor a service people were being offered, often for outrageous fees, he knew he had to create a better way.

"I am committed to providing a first-class service to help you to a successful outcome at a fair price, and without delay - exactly how it should be!"

- Mike Davis, Probate Champion

Listen to Mike talking about Scottish Probate on the Today's Wills and Probate Podcast

Our founder, Mike Davis

Mike is a qualified Law Accountant, specialising in probate work. He spent years pouring over and assessing thousands of lawyers’ case files, developing a deep knowledge of how this process works and the various ways it plays out in the real world. After seeing how poor a service people were being offered, often for outrageous fees, he knew he had to create a better way.

"I am committed to providing a first-class service to help you to a successful outcome at a fair price, and without delay - exactly how it should be!"

- Mike Davis

Our Senior Case Manager, Alison Bruce

Alison is an experienced Paralegal specialising in dealing with people's estates since the year 2000, from small estates through to complex tax paying ones. She gives the go ahead on all our customer applications.

Alison previously worked in delivering legal education with Scottish Qualifications Authority, and still works as an Assessor on the Modern Apprenticeship in Paralegal Practice. Furthermore, Alison was Joint President of the Scottish Paralegal Association from 2008 to 2013 and was heavily involved in the development of the Law Society of Scotland Accredited Paralegal Scheme.

Our Conveyancing Consultant, Samantha Thomson

Samantha is a lawyer with over 18 years experience dealing with estates and selling properties (conveyancing) in Scotland. Samantha ensures we always get the descriptions of properties correct so there aren't problems when it is time to sell or transfer a property.

(The Sheriff Court employees are not trained conveyancers and may not spot errors in property descriptions, which could result in needing to go back through the court process again.)

Our Case Manager, Sharon Milligan

Sharon worked in law firms in Scotland for over 11 years, training to become a Paralegal who specialises in dealing with people's estates and working directly with clients for around 8 years.

Sharon will often be your main point of contact either by phone or email for queries related to the probate process.

Our Customer Support Agent, Lorraine McGill

Lorraine has been working in law firms in Scotland as a Legal Assistant or Secretary to a Senior Partner for over 26 years across a wide variety of private client work, including dealing with people's estates.

Lorraine will usually be the first one to process your forms and find out if any information is missing. It's also likely you'll speak to her on the phone if you call in.

As well as the superb team above, for more unusual situations we consult with the 'two Roberts', one Robert is a retired Will expert with over 40 years experience, and the other Robert is a retired Sheriff Court clerk with more than 35 years experience, including processing forms in the Sheriff Court.

Getting through the probate process

When using a lawyer, the probate process can be costly and take a very long time. Usually, you’ll have to pay for every hour of their time, which could be as high as £300 per hour, plus VAT. It is not uncommon for a lawyer to take longer than a year to finalise matters, and for it to cost many thousands of pounds - sometimes as high as 3% or 4% of the estate value.

When doing the probate process completely on your own, it can be even more daunting, as the Sheriff Court process is not set up to help you succeed. People who try to do it themselves often become overwhelmed and give up when they run into unexpected challenges or suffer repeated rejections from the court with no explanation whatsoever.

The best of both worlds

Our services work for around 90% of cases and are designed to help you navigate all the challenges and pitfalls of going through the probate process in Scotland. We can give you very similar value in terms of knowledge and experience, for a fraction of the cost of a lawyer. We will help you get your Grant of Confirmation approved the first time, and support you to deal with all the other aspects of closing down someone’s financial and legal affairs.

Getting through the probate process

The best of both worlds

When you might need a lawyer...

You’ll need to use a full lawyer service if there is no Will and the estate is worth more than £250,000, except when there is a surviving spouse that inherits the entire estate.

Find out more about dealing with an estate without a Will →

A full lawyer service may also be a better choice for you if:

There are very complicated or fractured family relationships
Anyone is challenging the validity of the Will (which is usually only possible if there is a question over mental capacity, or coercion)
The person that died benefitted from any kind of trust, or contributed financially to a trust for someone else’s benefit
There is uncertainty over where the person that died lived for tax purposes (their ‘domicile’)
The estate is bankrupt (owes more in debt than it has in assets)

Find out how to keep lawyers’ costs to a minimum →

Success Guaranteed

All our checked forms are accepted by the Sheriff Court, over 97% on the first attempt.
There are no extra charges by us or the court if you fall into the 3% who receive a rejection.

Occasionally things can appear simple at the start but turn out to be quite complex. This is rare, but if it happens to you, and you want or need to switch to a lawyer service, we’ll refund our fee so you can continue with a lawyer.

What our customers say…

“After two failed attempts of trying to obtain confirmation, I reached out to My Probate Partner. I received my confirmation immediately after using My Probate Partner's service. I highly recommend it.”

George M.

“I was horrified to find out that solicitors would take between 2.5 & 5% of my late husband's estate for probate, thankfully I found Mike at My Probate Partner. The forms themselves weren’t difficult but there is no way I would have ever got them correct without the easy to follow guidance and checking by Mike.”

Jenni A.

“Initially consulted my family solicitor who gave me the wrong information and couldn’t quote me a price for the work and after attempting to apply to the court myself and have the application returned, Mike made the whole process very straightforward. Granted confirmation within two weeks.”

Lorraine B.