Probate Expedite

danielle123456

I am hoping someone could help us or shed some light on our situation. 

We are first time buyers (beyond excited!) we put our offer in which was accepted almost 8 weeks ago. We then went back for a second viewing and the estate agent told us they were waiting for probate that should be back in 6 weeks. We have heard nothing from the probate office and from what we have been told it is a really simple estate.

the buyers solicitor put in a request for expedite almost 2 weeks ago as the probate is the only thing holding up exchange. Does anyone have any experience with how long this could take? 

I have spoken to the agent today and said if this is going to go on for another 6 months we are basically not interested as we were hoping for a quick sale with no chain. 

I’m hoping someone has been in our situation with expedition of a probate? Also the probate has been going through since 16th July 2020! 

danielle123456

I meant the sellers solicitor sorry!

ic

I'm in the same boat, offered at the start of July, got all my stuff in order and underway, and only then around mid-August was it revealed probate application was outstanding.  Still waiting now, and trying to get the vendors to check on where its at and confirm it hasn't stalled (waiting a response, paperwork lost, etc) is hard work.  However speaking to my own solicitor, I'm of the understanding there's no way to speed things up.  The courts service work in mysterious ways, and will hide behind coronavirus as a reason to be even more unpredictable.  Look up twitter for @HMCTSgovuk and probate, and you'll see there's lots of people at the end of their tether.

greatcrested

There's nothing you can do except be patient or.... start looking at other properties.

Like other offices, the Probate Office is under-manned/working from home etc etc.

Even at the best of times it's impossible to say how long Probate will take as there are so many variables around the Estate. Just because the agent optimistically says "6 weeks" does not mean it will be 6 weeks. The agent only knows what the seller tells them, which may or may not be the truth, even if the seller themselves know!

Sorry. It could be a few more days. Or months.

ic

Recent press release from courts service on the problem here: https://www.rememberacharity.org.uk/media/wxdfn2nn/probate-hmcts-statement-november-2020.pdf

badger09

I'm not aware of any process which will 'expedite' a Probate application, unless the sale of the property was agreed before the owner died. 

danielle123456

Thanks, seems like we just need to sit tight and hope for the best that it’s before Christmas. 

getmore4less

BY the time the application for grant is ready all the complications should have been sorted.
It is the last step in the process sending of the paperwork,  unless it has been messed up so stopped or HMRC want a closer look at the numbers where IHT is involved it sits in the queue which is taking a bit longer.

Probate is not required to exchange contracts although most solicitors are not keen, you need non standard clauses and long stops as you can't set a completion date(a bit like buying a new build).

NinjaTune

The seller and EA should have been upfront about the probate situation from the moment you viewed, not waited until you'd made an offer.

Nobody really knows how long probate will take at present, even simple estates are taking ages to go through the system.  Apparently the forms were changed in April which has added to the problem; we were informed by our solicitor that even the 'experts' were having issue with this.  I understand solicitors use software to complete a lot of the information which might not have been compatible with the new forms.  Any error on the forms will add to the overall delay, unfortunately.

danielle123456

All the paperwork was sent 16th July and it was all correct we are literally just in a queue which is beyond frustrating.

badger09

danielle123456 said:

All the paperwork was sent 16th July and it was all correct we are literally just in a queue which is beyond frustrating.

How can you possibly know that?