Probate application chase

shiraz99

GaryBC said:

JGB1955 said:

Bfh said:

No luck getting through today - was quoted 2 and a half hours wait time and had to drop out after an hour and a half because I had to go into work.
Ive actually taken tomorrow morning off so I can sit and wait until I get through.
This is a plea for anyone who might be reading this thread and works for the Probate Office to please tell us realistically what the process involves at the other end and what is the actual lead time - because it clearly isn’t anywhere near 8 weeks for most people

I fully sympathise with you BUT I'm not sure that it's that clear....  but, just like Tripadvisor... or any other review site...it tends to be the people who are having problems who post.  It may be that 95% of applications are going through with no problem. 

Thank you for that opinion but a quick Google search returns innumerable articles bemoaning the delays at the moment. 
Here's one I picked at random... 
https://www.hardingevans.com/news/2022/05/26/delays-in-probate-applications-continue-to-cause-headaches-for-bereaved-families/
Which suggests that, in fact, it really is that clear! 

Did you actually read the article? It states, on average the wait for online applications took just 4.2 weeks and a little over 9 weeks for paper applications. They also state that they'd granted a record number of applications in the period looked at.

The problem lies with what they call "stopped applications", the majority of straight forward applications seem to go ahead within the normal period.

GaryBC

shiraz99 said:

GaryBC said:

JGB1955 said:

Bfh said:

No luck getting through today - was quoted 2 and a half hours wait time and had to drop out after an hour and a half because I had to go into work.
Ive actually taken tomorrow morning off so I can sit and wait until I get through.
This is a plea for anyone who might be reading this thread and works for the Probate Office to please tell us realistically what the process involves at the other end and what is the actual lead time - because it clearly isn’t anywhere near 8 weeks for most people

I fully sympathise with you BUT I'm not sure that it's that clear....  but, just like Tripadvisor... or any other review site...it tends to be the people who are having problems who post.  It may be that 95% of applications are going through with no problem. 

Thank you for that opinion but a quick Google search returns innumerable articles bemoaning the delays at the moment. 
Here's one I picked at random... 
https://www.hardingevans.com/news/2022/05/26/delays-in-probate-applications-continue-to-cause-headaches-for-bereaved-families/
Which suggests that, in fact, it really is that clear! 

Did you actually read the article? It states, on average the wait for online applications took just 4.2 weeks and a little over 9 weeks for paper applications. They also state that they'd granted a record number of applications in the period looked at.

The problem lies with what they call "stopped applications", the majority of straight forward applications seem to go ahead within the normal period.

Read the article? Why on earth would I do that? 

Of course I read the article! 

But question why it was written at all. Its mere existence is due to the fact that "... lengthy delays ... have impacted bereaved families across the UK...". Were this not the case it'd never have been written in the first place. Or it'd have been titled "Slick and efficient probate process continues to impress bereaved families" and this thread wouldn't exist! 

"On average .... paper applications took 9.8 weeks". Did you see the word 'average'? (Whether that figure is the mean, or the median, or any other 'average', it is still higher than is acceptable.) I presume you know what an average is? Clearly there are people who got lucky and received their grant in just a few weeks. Maybe you can find their thread and tell them about us? Personally I'm really not interested in them and, I'd suggest, neither is anyone else who's wait, like mine, is well into double digit weeks.

If anyone else wants to praise HMCTS for their fast turnaround times knock yourself out, but I shan't waste any more of my time responding to them. 

Bfh

I’m currently 1 hour and 73 minutes (?!)) away from being answered. I keep losing connection and getting a quick message flash up that the call centre is closed, then I go to the back of the queue again.
I suspect I’ll give up shortly and try to gather the shreds of my sanity together before I go to work!
if 95% of cases really are being dealt with quickly and efficiently then that’s great.
But for the other 5% then it’s simply not good enough that your case sits in a black hole for weeks on end whilst you chase your tail trying to get answers.
(At this point I was going to launch into a rant about the rubbish time I’ve had and how I really really don’t need this stress on top of it all.
But I’ve hijacked Gary’s thread enough, and I suspect all of us 5% are going through, or have been through similar rubbish!)
if ever the grant of probate arrives, I’ll pop back to update, just in case anyone else wants to compare timelines.

Good luck to all who are still waiting.

GaryBC

"Hijacks" like this are fine - it let's us all see we're not alone!

GaryBC

Quick update for anyone in a similar position.... 
After contacting my MP, and raising my concerns over timescale and lack of communication directly with HMCTS as a formal complaint, I finally received my grant of Probate (should that be a capital P? Dunno) a few days ago. At the 28 week point!
But as a final flourish - and to show that the circus isn't just alive and well but actually flourishing - I then got a letter from HMRC telling me that they'd passed my IHT421 onto HMCTS so I should get my probate "soon". Bless!
So that's it peeps, probate finally granted.
Over and out. 😊

Sjo1

Well done, there is hope..
I'm on week 23, having answered queries 10 weeks ago
Finally got through on phone to find my response had been received but not logged properly due to an oversight!
Back to the bottom of the queue fir another 3 months no doubt

GaryBC

By way of a smug "I'm alright Jack, I've got mine now" (tongue in cheek people, I'm not serious!) position I've just re-read this thread....
My original question? Answer: no, it appears there is no alternate publicly available communication channel.
General observation: To all those who insist on dragging the conversation down irrelevant, meaningless and time-wasting rabbit holes; please think before you type. 
Observation of HM***? Whilst a revamp of the process to actually fix it is clearly far too hard, a parallel system of keeping people informed would go an awfully long way to placate us lot. Give it some thought, eh? 
Message to bfh: Hope you're application comes good soon! 

GaryBC

Sjo1 said:

Well done, there is hope..
I'm on week 23, having answered queries 10 weeks ago
Finally got through on phone to find my response had been received but not logged properly due to an oversight!
Back to the bottom of the queue fir another 3 months no doubt

I don't know if it did anything but it does seem strange that, within weeks of writing to my MP, the system seemed to miraculously unclog! 

Bfh

Glad you finally got there Gary. I too have mine - granted after 26 weeks, and involving several hours of holding on to speak to someone in the probate office and being told several times that they’d “send an email to HMRC”; one complaint that it took four weeks for anyone to give a (meaningless) answer to (by which time probate had been granted); and a request to escalate.
The one positive was that HMRC, when I contacted them directly, were very helpful. In contrast the people in the Probate call centre - let’s face it, that’s what it is - were disinterested, bordering on rude.
as you say, keeping people properly informed would go a long way.
I don’t know about you but I feel like I’ve lost almost a year of my life!
Good luck going forward

GaryBC

Bfh said:

Glad you finally got there Gary. I too have mine - granted after 26 weeks, and involving several hours of holding on to speak to someone in the probate office and being told several times that they’d “send an email to HMRC”; one complaint that it took four weeks for anyone to give a (meaningless) answer to (by which time probate had been granted); and a request to escalate.
The one positive was that HMRC, when I contacted them directly, were very helpful. In contrast the people in the Probate call centre - let’s face it, that’s what it is - were disinterested, bordering on rude.
as you say, keeping people properly informed would go a long way.
I don’t know about you but I feel like I’ve lost almost a year of my life!
Good luck going forward

Yep, that's exactly how I feel! 
But for me Probate is not the end, it's the beginning. I've now got to embark on an almost certainly months long battle with Bank of Scotland over a toxic loan my father was suckered into! 
But that's for another thread. Let's leave this one well and truly behind us, eh! 👍🏻