How long are probates taking right now?

akorn77

In the process of buying a house. Sellers probate has been undergoing for 15 weeks now - they used a specialist probate solicitor to handle it. EA told me its a simple/straight-forward probate with just one property. EA seems to think it will arrive in the next few weeks, although not sure how they are making that assumption? I've asked another solicitor who said that a simple probate should be taking more than 16 weeks based on current trends their seeing. 

In peoples experiences as Buyers or Sellers, how long are probates actually taking in London / South East right now? 

Seen as my Sellers probate has been 15 weeks now, could that signify an issue with their probate or that its a complex probate? 

(Unfortunately solicitors and EA have not been able to provide specific updates, as the probate office doesnt provide status updates apparently)

MovingForwards

Depends where in the UK as offices have different workloads.

akorn77

MovingForwards said:

Depends where in the UK as offices have different workloads.

London (I'll add it to my opening post)

MovingForwards

You could call the probate office and ask how long applications are taking at the moment. That's assuming it is being done through the one you think.

akorn77

MovingForwards said:

You could call the probate office and ask how long applications are taking at the moment. That's assuming it is being done through the one you think.

Thanks, I'll give that a go. I also read on other forums that some people are having success with the webchat to find out a status update. Going to suggest that to the Sellers.

HRH_MUngo

My mother died on the 5th April. Probate was granted 6th June (Midlands).

JGB1955

It seems that, if solicitors are applying for probate, and IHT is payable,  it takes longer.  Probate for my father (personal application, no IHT) took 10 days.

Tiglet2

Yes, it's often noted that when solicitors do the work of applying for probate it can take quite a while.

Where an Executor of the Will applies for probate themselves, it is often quicker mainly because the executor is often a beneficiary of the Will and it is in their best interests to get the probate certificate so the estate can be wrapped up and beneficiaries satisfied quickly.

akorn77

JGB1955 said:

It seems that, if solicitors are applying for probate, and IHT is payable,  it takes longer.  Probate for my father (personal application, no IHT) took 10 days.

Tiglet2 said:

Yes, it's often noted that when solicitors do the work of applying for probate it can take quite a while.

Where an Executor of the Will applies for probate themselves, it is often quicker mainly because the executor is often a beneficiary of the Will and it is in their best interests to get the probate certificate so the estate can be wrapped up and beneficiaries satisfied quickly.

Thanks for that information. I didnt realise that having a solicitor can slow things down! 

Noneforit999

Probate varies, there is no specific timeframe.

What might seem simple to you, could be more difficult depending on the assets.

We are in the SE and probate took around six weeks......we then got a letter from the DWP advising us not to distribute the estate until they had done checks into overpayments of what we assume is either attendant allowance and/or pension credit as the person had well over £10k in savings so we are now in limbo with an empty house that cannot be sold yet but bills etc have to be paid.

Choirgrl

Noneforit999 said:

… so we are now in limbo with an empty house that cannot be sold yet but bills etc have to be paid.

Are you sure you can’t sell? It may depend on how the will is worded, but it may be that you can go ahead and sell the house, but shouldn’t distribute the proceeds to the beneficiaries until the DWP come back to you. They are concerned that you don’t distribute money that they are going to claim back.