Applying for Probate without using a solicitor 26 August 2009 at 7:34PM in Over 50s Money Saving 22 replies 15.2K views

booklover

Hello

My mother died last Tuesday and i miss her so much.

My sisters and I are executors of her will and feel that we could apply for probate ourselves to save some money.

My mothers estate is straightforward. Has anyone ever done probate themselves and is it a simple enough process?

Many thanks in advance

Fiona

hatewashingmachines

Sorry to hear your news. I applied for probate when my parents died, it was fairly straight forward if you read through the forms etc.


http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/civil/probate/index.htm

balustrada

I applied for probate myself when my father died 4 years ago. There was only 3 weeks between submitting the application and it being granted. My advice to anyone is to apply for it yourself if you have access to all of the deceased's assets, etc. There's nothing complicated about it. There are numerous horror stories on these forums about solicitors dragging matters out for questionably long periods, which, it seems to me, must make a very difficult time even harder.

tandraig

if the will is straightforward - do it yourself - the probate office will help you!
i am so sorry about the loss of your mother, best wishes

SUESMITH_2

we did it ourselves when our dad died this year - very straightforward and they were very helpful

Hermann

Get the pack from your local probate office and have a look through the forms, you won't believe how straightforward it can be. Provided its a straightforward estate of course.
If its just a house, contents, bank accounts, household bills etc then pretty much anyone can do it. The people at the probate office are very helpful and don't worry about the 'interview' it's also very straightforward, and quick!

zzzLazyDaisy

My sister (not a lawyer) did our mum's will. It was all very straightforward and the probate office were really helpful.

Biggles

It's a piece of cake. A solicitor is the worst possible option (high fees, long time taken and not necessarily any expertise in probate). You could consider a probate specialist like this guy http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/apr/18/probate-writing-a-will (or one of the others linked to from that page).

All the necessary forms and guidance are linked on this page here for free download http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/civil/probate/applications.htm

zzzLazyDaisy

Biggles wrote: »

It's a piece of cake. A solicitor is the worst possible option (high fees, long time taken and not necessarily any expertise in probate). You could consider a probate specialist

I was just making the point that although I am a solicitor, my sister who dealt with the will completely on her own, is not. Apologies for any confusion there.

Unless the estate is complicated, you really don't need any specialist advice. In our experience the local probate office staff are incredibly helpful, and are used to dealing with bereaved family members with no prior experience of obtaining probate.

One thing to note, which might be helpful - probate can be proved at any probate office. So if the executor lives some way from the place where the person lived/died, that is not a problem, they just contact their own local probate office.

Biggles

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I am a solicitor

Nothing personal, Daisy!
;-)

carefullycautious

My solicitor actually advised me to apply for probate myself as her costs were 75 pound an hour ouch!!!

Very straight forward process