Figures from the High Court have shown that the number of disputed probate claims is continuing to rise.
A total of 1,217 disputed probate cases were filed at the High Court in 2025, an increase of 12.7 per cent from the figure of 1,080 in 2024. There were 342 claims filed in the last three months of 2025, the highest quarterly figure in a decade.
The legal data platform Solomonic, which produced the figures, said that drivers of litigation include the blended nature of modern families, an ageing population with increasing challenges to testamentary capacity, the value of estates and the cost of living, and public appetite for litigation and for DIY or cheaply prepared wills.
In May 2025, the Law Commission published a report, Modernising Wills Law, containing its recommendations for reforming the law governing wills. The Law Society of England and Wales has called on the government to act to implement the recommendations.
