Grant of Probate delays?

oglop

Hello,

I have currently been waiting 27 weeks for the grant of probate to be granted. Does this seem right? Or does anyone have any similar experiences with it taking this long? It seems way longer than it should take from reading about other people's experiences on the internet. 

I have asked my solicitor to file a complaint to the probate office, but nothing has changed. Is there anything else I can do to figure out what's going on or to hurry the process up? My (useless) solicitor just keeps telling me to "wait"... and I have been - for 27 weeks!

I am going through a probate solicitor and live in England.

Thanks.

msb1234

I’d be asking my solicitor to confirm when they submitted the application. Who is the executor on the will?

Pennylane

Complain yourself. Every time you instruct the solicitor to do something it will cost you big money.  

oglop

msb1234 said:

I’d be asking my solicitor to confirm when they submitted the application. Who is the executor on the will?

yes, that is a good point. They insinuated it was send in late July, but never actually explicitly stated it. I'll ask. Unfortunately, the solicitor has power of attorney (and is therefore now executor) so I can't even call the probate office myself

poppystar

Who’s power of attorney is the solicitor? You refer to him as your solicitor but presumably he isn’t appointed by you if he’s acting as POA which may be why responses are not really forthcoming. 

SiliconChip

Power of Attorney ends on death so is irrelevant now. Did the Will specify that the solictor was to be Executor? Unfortunately I think it's too late to ask them to renounce their executorship now due the the intermeddling rules.

poppystar

SiliconChip said:

Power of Attorney ends on death so is irrelevant now. Did the Will specify that the solictor was to be Executor? Unfortunately I think it's too late to ask them to renounce their executorship now due the the intermeddling rules.

Assuming the solicitor was the deceased’s POA, hence my question. It is possible that he is the executor’s POA? Which given the OP seems to have capacity would mean not the OP. 

oglop

poppystar said:

Who’s power of attorney is the solicitor? You refer to him as your solicitor but presumably he isn’t appointed by you if he’s acting as POA which may be why responses are not really forthcoming. 

i was the executor, but gave power of attorney to the solicitor myself, as i'm not in the country!

poppystar

oglop said:

poppystar said:

Who’s power of attorney is the solicitor? You refer to him as your solicitor but presumably he isn’t appointed by you if he’s acting as POA which may be why responses are not really forthcoming. 

i was the executor, but gave power of attorney to the solicitor myself, as i'm not in the country!

Thanks, that clears that up. So I can understand your frustration, not even being in the country must add to the anxiety. I fear the key word is ‘power’ and that’s what the solicitor now has. A different scenario to just employing the solicitor to do the probate on your behalf. 

oglop

It's frustrating because I have no idea if the solicitor is being honest with me, and I can't prove they aren't.

I have just asked the solicitor exactly when probate was applied for.

Are delays in grant of probate like this normal, generally? Even the govt website says it shouldn't take longer than 16 weeks.

The probate case itself should be the simplest of cases - nothing complicated and only one recipient, so I can't understand the hold up....especially when I was promised by the solicitor it would be granted back in October. 

poppystar

Timings vary so much it’s really hard to say but it would be good for you to know exactly when it was applied for, if they have chased it etc. I’m not sure how POA works in these cases so am unclear how much autonomy the solicitor has. I assume you are the sole beneficiary? Did you agree when the POA would end in writing when it was set up? Was there a clear remit rather than it being a standard POA which would not have an end point? (Unless donor ended it)