Probate delays & no phone contact

Fermion

Has anyone else experienced long delays in getting a grant of probate from the Probate Registry?
I submitted the various probate/HMRC forms with the Will and Death certificate etc about 4 weeks ago to the Birmingham Probate Registry but I’ve not had a response yet and their published timescales say 10 working days!

There is a property (small apartment) to sell but the figures are still well below the IHT threshold. They were fairly quick to cash my cheque though. The property valuation for probate was £107.5K

I’ve tried calling the Birmingham Probate Registry phone number (obtained with great difficulty) but I get a recorded message saying the switchedboard is not manned and referring me to the general national probate helpline number which won’t accept status requests (if you do manage to get through).

Is there a general problem with timescales on getting a Grant of Representation? is the problem with HMCTS Probate Registry or HMRC.

I’d be keen for feedback from anyone else that has similar delays?

Yorkshireman99

Fermion wrote: »

Has anyone else experienced long delays in getting a grant of probate from the Probate Registry?
I submitted the various probate/HMRC forms with the Will and Death certificate etc about 4 weeks ago to the Birmingham Probate Registry but I’ve not had a response yet and their published timescales say 10 working days!

There is a property (small apartment) to sell but the figures are still well below the IHT threshold. They were fairly quick to cash my cheque though. The property valuation for probate was £107.5K

I’ve tried calling the Birmingham Probate Registry phone number (obtained with great difficulty) but I get a recorded message saying the switchedboard is not manned and referring me to the general national probate helpline number which won’t accept status requests (if you do manage to get through).

Is there a general problem with timescales on getting a Grant of Representation? is the problem with HMCTS Probate Registry or HMRC.

I’d be keen for feedback from anyone else that has similar delays?

I have found them most helpful. Od course they may have had rush of application. Not likely to be a problem as the estate is small. It is good practice to pay cheques in ASAP. Their phone number is freely available by a quick google search.

Egg_custard

Just had my grant back from the Manchester office - it took just over a week.

Margot123

You may find this link useful: https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills
I discovered a Grant had been issued 2 weeks before my solicitor told me!

eddyinfreehold

Fermion wrote: »

Has anyone else experienced long delays in getting a grant of probate from the Probate Registry?
I submitted the various probate/HMRC forms with the Will and Death certificate etc about 4 weeks ago to the Birmingham Probate Registry but I’ve not had a response yet and their published timescales say 10 working days!

There is a property (small apartment) to sell but the figures are still well below the IHT threshold. They were fairly quick to cash my cheque though. The property valuation for probate was £107.5K

I’ve tried calling the Birmingham Probate Registry phone number (obtained with great difficulty) but I get a recorded message saying the switchedboard is not manned and referring me to the general national probate helpline number which won’t accept status requests (if you do manage to get through).

Is there a general problem with timescales on getting a Grant of Representation? is the problem with HMCTS Probate Registry or HMRC.

I’d be keen for feedback from anyone else that has similar delays?

Just for clarity I am assuming you submitted all the necessary IHT forms to HMRC first, received a reply noting that £00.00 in IHT was due, then applied on IHT422 for an IHT Reference Number. Having received this, you used that number and not the long 17 digit number when you applied to the court for a grant of probate? It took us 5 months to get to the stage of receiving the IHT422 Reference number and just 3 weeks including Christmas to get the grant of probate. Ten months later our IHT position is still not resolved but the probate is out of the way.

Fermion

Just for clarity I am assuming you submitted all the necessary IHT forms to HMRC first, received a reply noting that £00.00 in IHT was due, then applied on IHT422 for an IHT Reference Number. Having received this, you used that number and not the long 17 digit number when you applied to the court for a grant of probate? It took us 5 months to get to the stage of receiving the IHT422 Reference number and just 3 weeks including Christmas to get the grant of probate. Ten months later our IHT position is still not resolved but the probate is out of the way.

I didn’t submit the IHT form separately to HMRC. IHT205 was the only form required (as the estate is well under the limit) and the new instructions at the end of probate form PA1 say that this form should be submitted with all of the other relevant docs to the Probate Registry (there is a checklist for the documents to be enclosed).

I realise that you can do an online IHT submission but I didn’t do that in this case.

FYI I last did a probate about 5 years ago and the process was slightly different then

eddyinfreehold

Surely you still have to submit a value of the estate to HMRC and obtain a 'nil' receipt to get the Reference Number before applying for Probate, even if the value is less than the nil rate band?

edit, sorry just realised it has all changed since the nil rate band property value scaling up to £1M and the onset of computerisation...

MichelleUK

eddyinfreehold wrote: »

Surely you still have to submit a value of the estate to HMRC and obtain a 'nil' receipt to get the Reference Number before applying for Probate, even if the value is less than the nil rate band?

Estates that do not need to pay IHT and use a IHT205 are handled differently to estates that need to pay IHT. The Probate Office send the IHT205 to HMRC directly and do not need any further input from HMRC to issue Probate. Of course, it is still possible that HMRC may take an interest and query the IHT205.

eddyinfreehold

MichelleUK wrote: »

Estates that do not need to pay IHT and use a IHT205 are handled differently to estates that need to pay IHT. The Probate Office send the IHT205 to HMRC directly and do not need any further input from HMRC to issue Probate. Of course, it is still possible that HMRC may take an interest and query the IHT205.

..well if the Probate Office send anything to HMRC including the IHT205 then good luck to you, even if it's just an OK between Nottingham and the local Court, you could all be there for months. It's becoming years for me very soon....

Fermion

Quick update, I finally managed to get through to the Birmingham Probate Registry Office who were actually quite helpful. They expect to send the Oath Form out in the next few days and then it will be 7-10 working days after signing (in their offices or via a Solicitor) before the Grant of Representation is issued.

As I mentioned, I last went through the process about 5 years ago and the process has changed significantly since then.

Thanks for the various responses.