Anyone working at the Probate Office!!!!

barb33

Despite numerous emails......  their online app having a glitch which I advised....  phone calls 2 advisors promising to escalate to team leader... a webchat that is a joke..... and threatening legal I can get no one to respond to me...my paper app went in 14th Jan 2022 death certificate returned and my payment cashed 24th Jan   a straightforward will.....no one is owing my questions
As I am having cancer treatment and my mums house empty for a long time ..covid stopped house being cleared down and now this period of time. I just dont know what else to do...cant even speak to anyone as recorded message cuts you off....help!

Marmaduke123

I think this is possibly a case for your MP!

jdvhsully

I totally agree with your question. My MIL, died in December last year and probate was applied for on 31 December. We are still waiting, and when we did manage to get an email chat they claimed to be waiting for a response from us from an email they sent us in March, which was never sent. 

This was sent again so we answered straight away (it was querying witnesses to the will) and nothing again. Been waiting over 6 weeks and they haven’t contacted the person who we provided the information about.
Getting very fed up, and wondering why we did probate as everything is very straightforward.

Mrs_Z

Just offering my sympathies to you @barb33.  I'm also waiting for probate for a simple estate - applied for on 14/3.  There seems to be a deadlock between HMRC not having issued IHT421 (as they claim they've never received the IHT400).  The forms were sent to them in March and now re-sent again at the end of July.  There is no inheritance tax to pay as the amount is well under the threshold but I need the probate to sell the property.  Everything else has been sorted, just this one thing hanging on. It's utterly depressing and worrying and prevents everyone in the same situation moving on with their lives. 

shiraz99

Mrs_Z said:

Just offering my sympathies to you @barb33.  I'm also waiting for probate for a simple estate - applied for on 14/3.  There seems to be a deadlock between HMRC not having issued IHT421 (as they claim they've never received the IHT400).  The forms were sent to them in March and now re-sent again at the end of July.  There is no inheritance tax to pay as the amount is well under the threshold but I need the probate to sell the property.  Everything else has been sorted, just this one thing hanging on. It's utterly depressing and worrying and prevents everyone in the same situation moving on with their lives. 

If there was no IHT then why did you complete an IHT400?

Mrs_Z

@shiraz99 It was a mistake.  I wasn't thinking straight at the time but more than that, I misunderstood the meaning of word 'deemed'.  On the instructions there is a sentence about the estate not qualifying as an excepted estate if the person in question was 'deemed domicile in the UK'.  The person who passed away was domiciled in the UK and I didn't understand the undertone of the word 'deemed' which expresses doubt.  The subtlety was lost on me (English is not my mother tongue).

barb33

Mrs_Z said:

Just offering my sympathies to you @barb33.  I'm also waiting for probate for a simple estate - applied for on 14/3.  There seems to be a deadlock between HMRC not having issued IHT421 (as they claim they've never received the IHT400).  The forms were sent to them in March and now re-sent again at the end of July.  There is no inheritance tax to pay as the amount is well under the threshold but I need the probate to sell the property.  Everything else has been sorted, just this one thing hanging on. It's utterly depressing and worrying and prevents everyone in the same situation moving on with their lives. 

Now involved my MP gave her full details and she is investigating so fingers crossed but dire service no one owning

Mrs_Z

I truly wish you the best of luck @barb33.  Just to say that I got through the Probate office straight away one morning via the web-chat at 8.59am (they open at 9am) so that might be worth a try.