IHT status

HUMBUG

No - not one update email or letter or reply (from anyone , including the MP's responsible for this rubbish service).

I telephoned David Gauke's constituency to try and speak to him personally on Tel: 020 7219 4459

Spoke to some admin person who started giving me the old runaround that they only take up issues from local constituents and that she could give me the MOJ phone number (futile !!!!). Asking whether I emailed them about this, etc etc . (which I have over a month ago, several times).

I just couldn't hold back my temper and let rip !!!! I got so angry that this person was taken aback and now said she will escalate the matter further to Mr Gauke.

I suggest everyone affected by this fiasco also telephone David Gauke's constituency number and 'let rip' (felt a lot better to be honest after all the stress they have caused me and my family).

PS. I was given this MOJ tel number by David Gauke's constituency office :
08444 530227

Phoned the above number and lady said they were a call-centre to redirect people to the correct office numbers within the MOJ. I informed the lady about my situation and she redirected me to someone that could help. She wouldn't give his name or telephone number but I spoke to him and he promised to refer my issue to someone in authority.

Fingers crossed!!!!

HUMBUG

Low and behold , and after screaming at people on the phone yesterday, I get a letter today from another Indian named 'Probate Officer' . The letter is not dated and has no reference number relating to my mother's case.

It has obviously been hurriedly copied and pasted from some standard template document they use in their vague/obscure internally failing processes. They have said that they did not receive confirmation that the other substitute executor (my sister) had 'given up her right to apply' . So now I and my sister have to complete another form confirming the latter and we have even more delays to the processing of the application (which has made me very angry indeed). In my original application , both my father (the named 'Sole' executor in the will) and my sister signed a letter I drafted stating that they agreed that I would apply for the 'grant of probate' and that they were 'well aware of that fact'. Apparently,my drafted letter was insufficient to fit into their stupid inflexible processes. This is the same problem I experienced when I worked with contracted offshore companies. They develop and draft up the ideal 'friendly' path process but are incapable of including the 'unfriendly path' scenarios. They have no means to understand how to develop a process to cater for an event that does not fit their narrowly defined end-end process. Everything breaks down and is delayed until they figure out internally how to resolve this 'unforeseen' issue. If your application does not fit their process, it gets demoted to the end of the pile.

This is an extract of my email that I have sent to my local MP. David Gauke , The London Probate Office and Richard Heaton (permanent secretary to the MOJ).

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Dear All

Ref: Request For Grant Of Probate For My Mother (deceased)

Firstly, my family have been treated in a disgraceful and shameful manner by the inadequacies of your Probate Heldesk and London Probate Office.

Your forms and internal processes are not fit for purpose plus you have contracted an offshore company ill-equipped to deal with such a complex process (especially when it involves legal complexities concerning the English language). The company in question, as is normal with many offshore companies, are unable to deal with 'non-ideal' scenarios. If there is a 'non-friendly' path in their internal processes that has not been accounted for, everything gets delayed until they fix the process.

I have attached a copy of my 2nd complaint letter that I will be sending by registered post to the London Probate office on Monday 17th June.

I have also attached the 1st covering letter (Letter of Proof Executors) that was sent with the completed PA1P form and my 1st complaint letter.

I am expecting yourselves to ensure that my application is not lost or misfiled and that it will be processed by the 24th June.

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Here is an extract of my future complaint letter (awaiting posting) to the person who sent that letter today:

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Further to your letter which has been sent to me without a date or proper customer reference number, here is the signed form. It seems that you have copied and pasted from some other standard reply letter rather than drafting this yourself (maybe your contracted company has problems understanding the English language).

You haven't made clear whether the form needs to be signed solely by myself or also by my sister. Therefore we have both signed the form and hope that it will satisfy your obscure and vague internal processes.

It seems that the root cause for this disgraceful and shameful delay in processing the application (which has caused our family great distress) is your PA1P form.

Your form does not clearly distinguish between:

a). The named 'Sole' executor in the WILL
b). The 'Substitute' alternative executors in the WILL

I read 'line by line' the contents of the WILL to your 'Probate Helpdesk' but they didn't inform me to include the 'Substitute' executor in section 3.6 (PA1P form)

In fact your 'Probate Helpdesk' has made 2 errors:

1. They told me to include my father's name (as Sole executor) under category C when it should have been D
2. They failed to inform me to include my sisters name(as Substitute executor) under category C (and no instruction whether she also was required to sign the PA1P form).

So because your internal processes lack any clarity to distinguish between 'Sole' and 'Substitute' executors, you have made the completion of the form open to misinterpretation. This has been proved by even your 'Probate Helpdesks' inability to understand and provide clear and concise guidance.

I have made a formal complaint to:
1. Your office via Resolver
2. My local MP Gareth Thomas
3. David Gauke MP (Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice)
4. Sir Richard Heaton (Permanent Secretary for MOJ)

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HUMBUG

Received new style Grant of Probate with sealed copies 2 days ago (can't really tell the original from the sealed - they all look identical).
Pity I had to shout and scream and waste so many hours of my time to get this done.