What is a Licensed Probate Practitioner?

A Licensed Probate Practitioner is a specialist probate lawyer regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). Where a Licensed Conveyancer handles the legal transfer of property, a Licensed Probate Practitioner handles the legal administration of a deceased person's estate: proving the will, applying for grants of representation, dealing with intestacy, calculating and reporting inheritance tax, gathering in assets, settling liabilities, and distributing the estate to beneficiaries.

It is the same regulator, the same style of qualification, and the same licensing framework you already know from conveyancing. That is precisely why the transfer is so efficient: you are not learning a new system, you are adding a second specialism inside a framework you have already mastered.

Probate and property work also overlap in daily practice. Many estates include a house that has to be sold or transferred, so a professional who can handle both the estate administration and the conveyancing is unusually valuable to a firm and to its clients.

How much of my conveyancing qualification transfers to probate?

More than most people expect. The CLC Level 4 and Level 6 diplomas in Conveyancing and Probate are built on a shared spine, so a great deal of what you have already passed counts towards the probate route. The table below shows exactly what carries over and what is left to complete. It assumes study with Access Law Online; the CLC assesses every exemption individually, so treat it as a reliable guide rather than a guarantee.

CLC requirement	If you are a qualified Licensed Conveyancer	If you are still studying conveyancing
Level 4: English Legal System, Contract Law, Land Law	Exempt (already covered)	Shared units, sat once and counted for both diplomas
Level 4: Law of Wills, Succession and Grants of Representation	Exempt (whole Level 4 Probate Diploma is exempt once licensed)	Complete this probate-specific unit
Level 4: Understanding Accounting Procedures	Exempt	Only one Level 4 accounts unit is needed across both diplomas
Level 6: Managing Client and Office Accounts	Exempt (shared accounts unit)	Only one Level 6 accounts unit is needed across both diplomas
Level 6: The Administration of Estates	Complete	Complete
Level 6: Wills, Succession and Grants of Representation	Complete	Complete
Practical experience	1,200 hours needed in probate specifically	1,200 hours needed in probate specifically
Conveyancing Level 6 units (Conveyancing Law & Practice, Landlord & Tenant)	Not required for the probate licence	Only if you also want the conveyancing licence

You can confirm your own position with our CLC Exemptions Calculator, which maps your prior study and qualifications against the Level 4 and Level 6 units.

The fast track if you are already a Licensed Conveyancer

Once you hold a CLC Licensed Conveyancer licence, the probate route is short and clearly defined. Here is the full pathway from where you are now to a probate licence.

1. Claim your exemptions

   As a licensed conveyancer you are exempt from the entire Level 4 Probate Diploma and from the Level 6 Managing Client and Office Accounts unit, because the accounts unit is shared across both diplomas and you have already passed it. Nothing at Level 4 remains.

2. Study Wills, Succession and Grants of Representation

   The first Level 6 probate unit. It covers the validity and interpretation of wills, testamentary capacity, intestacy rules, the entitlement of beneficiaries, and the different types of grant, giving you the legal grounding that sits beneath the administration work.

3. Study The Administration of Estates

   The second Level 6 probate unit. It covers the practical administration of an estate from death through to distribution: grants of representation, collecting assets, paying debts and inheritance tax, estate accounts, and dealing with beneficiaries.

4. Complete 1,200 hours of supervised probate experience

   Your conveyancing hours do not carry across, so the 1,200 hours must be gained in probate work, supervised by an Authorised Person and evidenced on the CLC Statement of Practical Experience (SoPE). Most people accumulate these hours on the job while they study, and the SoPE is signed off after your Level 6 certificate is issued.

5. Apply to the CLC for your probate licence

   Submit your Level 6 probate certificate, your signed SoPE and the fit-and-proper declaration through the CLC's DocuSign application. Because you are already regulated by the CLC, this is a process you have been through before.

Read our companion guide on how to become a Licensed Conveyancer for the equivalent detail on the property side of the licence.

Can I add probate while I am still studying conveyancing?

Yes, and it is often the smartest time to do it. Because the Level 4 units of English Legal System, Contract Law and Land Law are common to both the conveyancing and probate diplomas, you sit them once and they count towards both. The CLC also allows you to sit just one of the two accounts units at each level when you take both diplomas, rather than doubling up.

In practice, that means a student aiming at both specialisms only needs to add the probate-specific units: Law of Wills, Succession and Grants of Representation at Level 4, then The Administration of Estates and Wills, Succession and Grants of Representation at Level 6. If probate interests you at all, it is far cheaper to build it in during your studies than to bolt it on years later. Our guides on what qualifications you need and on qualifying without a degree explain the shared foundation in more depth.

What does it cost and how long does it take?

For a qualified Licensed Conveyancer, the transfer comes down to two Level 6 modules plus your practical hours. Studied as individual modules with Access Law Online, the two units cost £1,490 in total if you pay in full, or from £149 per module per month across five interest-free instalments. That is less than buying the full Level 6 Probate Diploma at £1,920, because you are exempt from its accounts unit and do not need to pay for it.

On timing, the academic side is quick. Assignments are released on application and assessments run six days a week with no fixed windows, so a motivated student who already works in law can complete both units in a matter of months rather than years. The longer pole is usually the 1,200 hours of supervised probate experience, which most people accumulate on the job. For a fuller breakdown of pricing and payment plans across the CLC diplomas, see how much a CLC qualification costs.

Why dual-qualify as a conveyancer and probate practitioner?

Adding probate to your conveyancing licence roughly doubles the range of work you can bill for, without doubling the study. Employers value it because one dual-qualified fee earner delivers what would otherwise take two hires; clients value it because a single trusted adviser can handle both the sale of a late relative's home and the administration of their estate.

Start your transfer to probate

The two Level 6 units below are all a qualified Licensed Conveyancer needs on the academic side. Take them one at a time, in either order, or study them together.

Prefer to browse everything first? See all individual probate modules, or explore the employer-funded Licensed Probate Practitioner apprenticeship.

Frequently asked questions