Sending will to probate office

p00hsticks

Hi, We've finally managed to complete the online probate application (after a bit of a delay where the service always seemed to be down when the co-executor was trying to complete the legal declaration). So a question for you kind folks who are a little bit further down the same path....

Q). We now need to send the original will to the Probate Office at Harlow. I've been looking at the Royal Mail website and got completely confused - what is the safest service to use and how do I go about getting it ? (My initial research suggested the Royal Mail Tracked service, but this isn't available from a Post Office - am I reading this wrong ?  

Thanks in advance

BooJewels

We just sent ours (along with the paper application and death certificate) by Special Delivery - gets there next working day and is 'signed for' and you can follow the Royal Mail tracker with the number on the receipt to check when it arrives.  Available over the counter - ours was a full envelope, so just over 7 pounds.

ETA:  You're right the Royal Mail site seems to have got very confusing.  This is the Special delivery page:   https://www.royalmail.com/sending/uk/special-delivery-guaranteed-1pm  I did send something a while ago and paid the extra 72p or whatever it is now to get it collected from my home, which worked okay - just adds a day, from memory.

parcival

Yes, Special Delivery is the way to go as it's FULLY tracked and travels separately from ordinary mail.

Flugelhorn

I ended up hand delivering it (pre covid) - also got a certified copy from local solictor who charged me £5 to keep at home  ... just in case 
If you are posting then agree, special delivery with bells and whistles tracking 

p00hsticks

Flugelhorn said:

I ended up hand delivering it (pre covid) - also got a certified copy from local solictor who charged me £5 to keep at home  ... just in case 
If you are posting then agree, special delivery with bells and whistles tracking 

Out of interest, how did you know where to hand deliver it to ?

The address i've been given is just a PO Box in Harlow

xylophone

In  summer of 2019  (so pre covid) relative who was exor of an estate sent the will special delivery to the London Probate Registry in High  Holborn.

Flugelhorn

p00hsticks said:

Flugelhorn said:

I ended up hand delivering it (pre covid) - also got a certified copy from local solictor who charged me £5 to keep at home  ... just in case 
If you are posting then agree, special delivery with bells and whistles tracking 

Out of interest, how did you know where to hand deliver it to ?

The address i've been given is just a PO Box in Harlow

actually it was to probate office in Leeds - sounds like  things have changed. Looks like they are all using a central postal address

p00hsticks

Thanks for all your advice.

Just to update - having finally completed the online probate application last Thursday, I decided to wait until Monday to send off the Will special delivery rather than be on tenterhooks about it being in the mail or in an unattended office over the weekend. I checked the Royal Mail tracking which confirmed in had been delivered on Tuesday. Just after lunchtime today (Thursday) I had an e-mail from the probate office to say the document had been received, followed by another a minute later to say the application had been approved and the grants will be in the post to arrive within the next ten working days!

So an unexpectedly quick turn around of a week - probably helped by the fact that there was no IHT to pay and it was a professionally drawn up and recent will.

Only problem now is that I was working on the timescale of 6-8 weeks turnaround to give me a chance to do a bit of house clearance and staging before getting it on the market....

BooJewels

Thanks for the update.  Delighted that you got yours sorted so easily.  One less thing to worry about.

I thought ours was going to be straightforward too and expected it to be turned around reasonably fast, but it was received mid April and we got the Death Certificate back a couple of weeks later, but nothing since.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to their timescales.  I've not had any emails - as we did a paper one - although you do put your email address on it.  But maybe paper applications simply take longer.

I've been on with 'house clearance' for 18 months now - we were heading towards selling it when he was in care, but it's a large house, in bad repair and they were bordering on being hoarders (with a significant mouse infestation to add to the joy) - so it's taking a loooong time.  Not helped with Covid, me living 50 miles away and having a very poorly husband.  I have however just seen three sacks of shredded documents (including 1967 bank statements in pounds shillings and pence) taken away with the recycling, so it was good to see the back of that.  I've now sorted through 4 large storage boxes (Ikea's biggest plastic ones - if you fill them, you can't actually lift them) of just files and paperwork - about a third of one still to go.  Then we reckon we've got about 1000 or more books to look at .....

Savvy_Sue

You mention shredding, a friend has just used a service where they delivered bags to her, she filled them and sealed them, they came to collect them and took them away for shredding. I was quite impressed with the size and strength of the bags: like the IKEA boxes they were too heavy to lift once filled, but half full we were able to drag them down a flight of stairs without apparent ill effects ... 

BooJewels

Luckily I obtained (for free) a heavy duty shredder a number of years ago, so it hasn't been so bad, it can shred papers as fast as I can feed them into the slot - and it's never got too hot.  I sort a folder into piles - shredding, recycle and keep - and when my piles get up a bit. I feed some into the shredder.  I've done the job in bursts between other things - that's actually quite satisfying.  It's the actually looking at everything that's the tricky and time-consuming bit.  I've found enough hidden treasures that I want to ensure that I do it carefully.  That's the bit that no one else can assist with and there's no short cuts.

If I didn't have the good shredder - I would certainly have used a professional service of that nature - sounds ideal.