GUIDES
PA14 is a probate medical certificate about an entitled person’s capacity for the grant application and estate administration. It concerns that living person, rather than the deceased’s will-making capacity.
PA14 is the probate medical certificate used where an entitled person lacks capacity in relation to applying for a grant of representation and administering the deceased’s estate. It concerns the living person who would otherwise act, not the deceased’s testamentary capacity. It supplies evidence for a probate application; it does not itself appoint a substitute, make an LPA or confer authority to administer. The probate rules and registry determine who may obtain the appropriate grant.
PA14 supports the capacity aspect of a probate application where a person entitled to a grant cannot manage the relevant affairs. The correct applicant and form of grant depend on the will, entitlement, other people with priority and any LPA, deputyship or other authority. Obtain probate advice rather than assuming that the nearest relative, beneficiary or attorney may simply take over once the certificate is signed.
The capacity in question is the person's ability to manage the task the grant involves: applying for it and administering the estate, or, framed practically, managing their property and financial affairs to the extent the role demands. It is not a general verdict on the person, and it is decision-specific like every capacity question: a person may be unable to administer an estate whilst retaining capacity for many other decisions, and the certificate should speak to the probate role rather than to the person's life at large.
The current PA14 asks the professional’s name, workplace, job title, qualifications, the patient’s details, how many years they have attended them and the deceased’s name. Its certification links an impairment or disturbance of mind or brain to inability concerning the grant application and subsequent administration, and refers to property and affairs capacity under the Mental Capacity Act. The responsible eligible professional signs and dates it; signatures may be typed or handwritten. The short form does not remove the need for a sound basis for the opinion.
Behind a reliable certificate sits the ordinary discipline of the Mental Capacity Act 2005: the presumption of capacity, practicable support, the functional test of understanding, retaining, using or weighing the relevant information about the estate role and communicating, and the causative link to an impairment of, or disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain. Where the completing practitioner has not assessed recently, a decision-specific assessment should be conducted rather than certifying from an ageing impression.
The standard certificate may be sufficient for its probate purpose. If evidence is disputed, incomplete or requested by the registry, further decision-specific material may help. A fuller report should be agreed because it answers a real evidential need, not merely because an estate is valuable. Do not assume that a separate report replaces PA14, or that one opinion automatically covers a later deputyship, LPA or other decision.
The recurring difficulties mirror capacity work everywhere: certificates resting on diagnosis alone with no functional basis, completed by practitioners with no recent knowledge of the person, contradicted by other evidence in the application, or framed as though the person lacks capacity for everything rather than for the estate role. Each invites requisitions and delay, and each is avoided by the same means: a real assessment, recent, decision-specific and consistent with the wider application.
The person the certificate concerns retains their rights throughout: the presumption of capacity until evidence displaces it, support to participate where participation is possible and a process that treats the finding as specific to the probate role. Where their capacity may fluctuate or recover, the papers should acknowledge it, and where they can express wishes about the estate or its administration, those wishes deserve recording even though the grant is passing to another.
Clarify the person entitled to the grant and obtain probate advice on who can apply if they cannot act. Use an eligible HMCTS-listed professional who can substantiate the PA14 opinion, giving the actual estate-role information and relevant records. Keep the application documents consistent, address any dispute or change in capacity and check what the registry requires. Authority and capacity must be established separately.
PA14 provides capacity evidence for a defined probate purpose. Check the eligible signatory, actual assessment basis and correct probate route. The certificate does not itself transfer an office or authorise another person to take a grant, and a report for another decision should not be used without checking its relevance.
No. A diagnosis alone does not establish incapacity. For a Mental Capacity Act decision, provide practicable support, examine understanding, retention, use or weighing and communication, then explain whether any inability is caused by an impairment or disturbance of mind or brain. The conclusion is specific to the decision and time.
The PA14 itself, the assessment behind it addressing the person's ability to manage property and financial affairs, relevant medical records and the LPA or deputyship order of whoever will apply in the person's place. The registry's question is narrow and the evidence should answer it directly.
A formal assessment is useful whenever an executor's or administrator's ability to act is genuinely in doubt: it either evidences the PA14 route cleanly or confirms the person can act after all, which avoids wrongly bypassing them.
Yes. Capacity is decision-specific and time-specific. A person may be able to make some decisions independently but still need assessment for whether the person can make decisions about applying for a Grant of Representation and the subsequent administration of the estate, especially where the decision has legal, financial, welfare or court consequences.
A stronger report defines the decision, identifies the relevant information, records practicable steps, analyses the person’s own reasoning, explains causation and makes clear how the evidence supports the conclusion.
Before seeking a report, write down the exact decision, relevant date, reason for concern and intended use. Gather the documents that explain the real options and any communication needs. Check any required form or court direction, agree the scope and total fee, and clarify how missing evidence or further questions will be handled.
The related pages below explain connected decisions, evidence requirements and legal processes.
PA14 Probate Mental Capacity Assessment
Who can complete a PA14 medical certificate?
Mental capacity and applying for a Grant of Representation
PA14, deputyship and Court of Protection: how they connect
Retrospective testamentary capacity and disputed wills
HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Form PA14: Medical certificate (probate). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-pa14-medical-certificate-probate
Mental Capacity Act 2005, c. 9. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/9/contents
The Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, SI 1987/2024. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2024/contents
GOV.UK, Applying for probate. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate
Written by Ben Slater, Registered Social Worker, Founder and Managing Director of Nellie Supports
Reviewed by Kerry Slater, Director of Operations
Last reviewed: 2026-07-19
Author: Nellie Supports Ltd
Publication Date: 15/05/2026
Copyright © 2026 Nellie Supports Ltd. All rights reserved.
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PA14 is a probate medical certificate about an entitled person’s capacity for the grant application and estate administration. It concerns that living person, rather than the deceased’s will-making capacity. The sections below explain the evidence, practical steps and limits of the assessment or process.
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