probate office not confirmed received will

kev1744

hi all
hope you can help.
i am in process of applying for probate, ive paid the fee and as requested sent the original will off to them. i sent it recorded delivery and was informed that they would email me when they received it....its been a month now and ive not had anything to say they have it even though per royal mail it has been signed for.
how can i confirm they have the will? ive tried calling but basically a message just tells me to wait 8 weeks before they will even talk to me.
im not trying to find out how the probate application is going, i just want confirmation they have the will.

DJGill

the process seems to be that you will receive 2 e-mails within of each other. One confirming receipt and the second confirming probate granted. I just had this happen with my application n the last couple of days. Total time for me from sending in will etc. was around 4.5 weeks. Reckon you'll hear back within next week or so. Don't worry...

DJGill

DJGill said:

the process seems to be that you will receive 2 e-mails within of each other. One confirming receipt and the second confirming probate granted. I just had this happen with my application n the last couple of days. Total time for me from sending in will etc. was around 4.5 weeks. Reckon you'll hear back within next week or so. Don't worry...

Sorry meant to include that the mails were received within a couple of minutes of each other 

ebc

Have you tried using the Probate online webchat service - you could ask them to confirm they've received it. We've found them very helpful (though we were chasing up receipt of  the IHT421 tax payment confirmation rather than receipt of the will) . You may have to wait a while for an advisor to become available (8am worked well for us - only a couple of minutes wait).
When we sent our docs away we also had to send the Death Certificate, and that was returned to us after several weeks, so that confirmed that they had received the parcel (as well as the RoyalMail tracking). 

https://www.apply-for-probate.service.gov.uk/contact-us

RnK136

kev1744 said:

hi all
hope you can help.
i am in process of applying for probate, ive paid the fee and as requested sent the original will off to them. i sent it recorded delivery and was informed that they would email me when they received it....its been a month now and ive not had anything to say they have it even though per royal mail it has been signed for.
how can i confirm they have the will? ive tried calling but basically a message just tells me to wait 8 weeks before they will even talk to me.
im not trying to find out how the probate application is going, i just want confirmation they have the will.

Same for me. I applied for probate and sent the documentation off with Royal Mail delivering on 20 April but I still haven't had confirmation of receipt via email from them, or any contact yet at all.

DJGill

RnK136 said:

kev1744 said:

hi all
hope you can help.
i am in process of applying for probate, ive paid the fee and as requested sent the original will off to them. i sent it recorded delivery and was informed that they would email me when they received it....its been a month now and ive not had anything to say they have it even though per royal mail it has been signed for.
how can i confirm they have the will? ive tried calling but basically a message just tells me to wait 8 weeks before they will even talk to me.
im not trying to find out how the probate application is going, i just want confirmation they have the will.

Same for me. I applied for probate and sent the documentation off with Royal Mail delivering on 20 April but I still haven't had confirmation of receipt via email from them, or any contact yet at all.

Seems you will hear nothing for around 5 weeks then get document receipt/grant of probate confirmations via e-mail within a few minutes of each other. 

kipsterno1

If your letter has been received I wouldn't worry too much. Like others I never got an acknowledgement email. After about five weeks I used the online chat and they confirmed it was on the system. A couple of weeks later I got the acknowledgement email immediately followed by another asking for confirmation of one point.

DancingBadger

If I recall correctly, once they have the will, the website states you should allow 14 (working, I assume) days for them to acknowledge receipt.  I heard nothing, and trying to contact them via phone and webchat was just painful, neither did they respond to an email I sent.  

After about six weeks, I bit the bullet and waited over an hour for them to answer the phone.  Very friendly woman eventually answered and was able to confirm receipt, as well as advising I'd hear from them in due course.  Very shortly thereafter I received an email confirming probate had been granted, and the Grant came through the door about three days later.

It seems everyone has a different experience.

(Since then, I've needed to phone the Office of the Public Guardian, and I think they might hold the record for the longest telephone wait times, "You are number...68 in the queue.". Arrrggghhh!)

Pennylane

The Probate Service is shockingly bad and as far as I know is answerable to nobody.

warfield

ebc said:

Have you tried using the Probate online webchat service...

https://www.apply-for-probate.service.gov.uk/contact-us

Use this link and you will bypass the bit where they say they are too busy and to try again later and it then takes about 10 minutes even though the stated wait time may be longer and never changes.

https://www.apply-for-probate.service.gov.uk/avaya-webchat

kev1744

hi , just a quick update.
used the link above (thanks warfield) and got confirmation that documents had been received. person on webchat explained that at present they are not sending out confirmation emails untill the case is actually being examined. this is why the 14 days time limit isnt being kept to and would explain why people are getting confirmation one day and within a couple of days later are getting probate granted.