Grant of Probate Ireland

If someone dies in Ireland owning sole-name bank accounts above €25,000–€35,000 or any real property, you cannot access those assets without a Grant of Probate. The grant is the court's official confirmation that the will is valid and that you, as the named executor, have the legal authority to administer the estate. Without a will, you apply for Letters of Administration instead — a similar process with a different form.

The Application Sequence

The probate process follows a rigid order. Skipping a step or submitting forms out of sequence gets your application rejected.

Step 1: Value the estate. Gather date-of-death balance certificates from every financial institution, professional property valuations, and details of all other assets and debts.

Step 2: File Form SA.2 with Revenue. The Statement of Affairs (Probate) Form SA.2 must be filed online through Revenue's ROS or myAccount portal. It requires an exhaustive accounting of the deceased's assets, liabilities, and every beneficiary's PPSN. You also need lifetime gift histories dating back to December 1991 for each beneficiary. Once filed, Revenue generates a Notice of Acknowledgement — the Probate Office will not accept your application without it.

Step 3: Prepare and swear the application pack. Complete the S1 Probate Application Form, attach the printed Notice of Acknowledgement, the original will, and have the entire pack sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths (approximately €10–€30).

Step 4: Submit to the Probate Office. Lodge the sworn pack at the Dublin Probate Office or the relevant District Probate Registry. Personal applicants in Dublin must attend an in-person appointment.

How Long Does It Take?

Timelines vary dramatically by registry. Dublin personal applicants currently face a 10–12 week wait just to secure an appointment, with the grant typically posted within three weeks after that. Other registries differ significantly:

• Cavan: 4 weeks for both personal and solicitor applications — consistently the fastest
• Waterford: 2 weeks for personal applicants, 10 weeks for solicitors
• Cork: 4 weeks personal, but 18 weeks for solicitor-lodged files
• Limerick: 6 weeks personal, 2 weeks for solicitors
• Clonmel and Castlebar: Up to 20 weeks for both routes

If your estate falls under a slower registry's jurisdiction and time is critical, discuss with a solicitor whether there's scope to lodge through a different route.

Fees

Court filing fees scale based on the net estate value. Personal applicants pay double the solicitor rate:

Certified copies of the grant cost €20 each — order several, as banks and insurers each need their own sealed copy.

Common Reasons for Rejection

The Probate Office rejects applications most often because the executor names on the S1 don't match the Revenue Notice of Acknowledgement and the will exactly, because the original will shows physical damage or staple removal marks (triggering an Affidavit of Plight and Condition requirement), or because signatures are missing from the Revenue acknowledgement page.

Personal Applicant vs. Solicitor

You can apply personally if the estate is straightforward — no disputes, no foreign assets, no minor beneficiaries, and the will is clear. A solicitor is effectively required if there are contested claims, insolvent estates, or non-resident executors.

The Ireland End-of-Life Planning Guide includes a pre-filing worksheet for Form SA.2 and a step-by-step walkthrough of the personal application process, designed to get your paperwork right before you enter any portal.

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