Probate - why does it take so long!?

RX-78

I'm currently in a process of buying a probate estate and its jus takin sooooooo long.

We know they've been looking at the probate since Jan. Our offer was accepted 7 weeks ago with an understanding they will finish the probate & complete the sale by end of April. We had a call from my solicitor today to say the seller's probate will not complete for another 3 weeks! And apparantly there is nothing we can do:mad:

So what takes probate such a long time? We are getting a bit fed up & also worried as they seller (solicitor acting for probate) refuses to take the property off the market - so we could get guzumped in the mean time. And its difficult to deal with probate solicitors who are not "real" sellers - I doubt they think twice about taking another offer if it meant more money for the estate in the end & there is no real person to put a pressure on to get the process moving!

RX-78

Could anyone help?

lottie176

I think the problem is that they have to be seen to get the best price for the people involved in the will. I have been involved in this recently when it came to selling my late grandmothers estate. If more than one person is gaining money in the will from a property then those people will want to make sure that they get the true value. This can really slow down the process and may not only be annoying to you. People in the will might want it to hurry up too!!!

peter999

RX-78 wrote: »

Could anyone help?

You don't know what's going on behind the scenes, between Executors, Beneficiaries, Estate issues & their solicitor.

Delays can happen in all parts of the chain particularly where you have to get multiple agreements and new issues can pop out at anytime.

It all has to be done right.

peter999

tootsmyboots

Really they should not have put the house on the market till probate was granted. I posted about this about a year ago now. My dad died and I was left his house. I was advised not to put it on the market until probate was granted. To obtain probate you first have to find out all the deceased assets and debts (if any). Then you have to fill in a long form, some people employ a solicitor which slows it down further. Then you have to send the form off and apply for a court date. Then you have to go to court to swear an oath. Once that is done the beneficiaries own the assets (like the property). So you cant sell the property until you own it.

In my case it was very straightforward as I was the sole executor and beneficiary. Once more beneficiaries and executors are involved it can get slowed down. Some people name a solicitor as executor so then you can only go at their pace and it wont be their only priority as they will have other work too.

The more people who are involved the harder it will be. You can only go as fast as the form can be filled in and the court gives you the date. In my straightforward case we had probate granted 2 months to the day that my dad died. However my Father In Law did the probate form for us so he had a vested interest in working quickly. Sometimes the courts have a long waiting list to get a date.

I daresay the benificiaries will want it sorted ASAP. Do you know how many people are involved?

RX-78

Thanks guys. I should have made it a bit clearer - I'm told it takes 3 more weeks for some kind of probate certificate to be granted (presumably from probate office). Should have clarified with my solicitors but I forgot:o

The offer was accepted a while ago, so I assume unless the parties involved changed their mind, its not about how much they are getting for the house.

tootsmyboots

I'm not 100% certain I know what you mean by 3 more weeks - do you mean they have been given the court date to be in 3 weeks? If so then there is nothing they can do to progress it until they own the property as it is not yet theirs to sell.

tootsmyboots

they could arrange for exchange to take place as soon as they hold the grant of probate (the certificate you mentioned).

RX-78

tootsmyboots wrote: »

I'm not 100% certain I know what you mean by 3 more weeks - do you mean they have been given the court date to be in 3 weeks? If so then there is nothing they can do to progress it until they own the property as it is not yet theirs to sell.

I'm not sure either:p Didn't even know they had to goto court (I assumed it was some kind of meeting in the probate office:o) - will have to ask my solicitor more questions when I get a chance.

Thanks tootsmyboots, your posts have been very helpful. You are right, they are naughty to have marketted the property when they didn't even have the right to sell. I guess I'll just have to sit tight and hope nothing goes wrong in the mean time.

00ec25

RX-78 wrote: »

I'm not sure either:p they are naughty to have marketted the property when they didn't even have the right to sell. .

whilst that is true, it does help with the probate if the executor has an actual offer on the table when filling in the probate forms so they can put a real value rather than the estate agent's valuation (ie guess)

It might make a big difference if the estate is above the IHT threshold. No one wants to pay tax on an estimated figure and then have to get a subsequent adjustment done, becuase if it sells for more than the estimate, then HMRC may apply an interest charge on top of the extra unpaid tax

RX-78

Wow thats complicated - does that mean they have to pay inheritance tax on the estate even before the probate is granted?

I can see what you mean and its works for the seller - but this leaves buyer (like us!) in a position where buyer has spent over £1k in survey & mortgage arrangement & conveyance fee only to discover they have no right to sell it at the time of accepting the offer. (I'm assuming they have no right to sell the property until they have probate or I'm sure they wouldn't insist on waiting for probate before exchanging)