Probate timescales

lisyloo

uknick said:

lisyloo said:

oglop said:

mine has taken 33 weeks so far. was supposed to be granted this week, but the probate office said that it will take yet another 3 weeks to be granted. this is the 6th delay now, so i fully expect it to take even longer....

Do you have an ideas as to why there are delays in your case?
We had delays with MIL in 2020 due to invalid will but for straightforward cases it seems to be quick.

What delay was there for the invalid will?  Did the process start again for adminstration? 

It went through a different route.
It was very difficult to get information because we couldn't speak to people in the back office working on the case only the call handlers.
They didn't like the witness signatures (in CAPS). They first asked if the witnesses were alive. 
The it went to another office - Birmingham or Manchester (can't recall which) which we couldn't speak to.
Eventually they got DH to sign a disclaimer.
So just took longer for them to process.

Bolt1234

So let’s assume all paperwork is submitted correctly.  Father had will but had some Business Relief Shares which should be eligible for 100% relief.  Solicitors involved and estate is circa £1.5 m.  We have all spent a while ensuring paperwork is OK and it’s about to go in.

Are we saying that delays are because paperwork is wrong, missing documents etc or does it depend?  There presumably won’t be rush at a certain time of year although is the summer busier because the probate staff are on leave?

Just trying to manage my own expectations tbh.

JGB1955

AIUI using a solicitor makes the whole process longer. (Apologies... DIY probate in September 2020 for a £600K estate... 9 days).

uknick

lisyloo said:

uknick said:

lisyloo said:

oglop said:

mine has taken 33 weeks so far. was supposed to be granted this week, but the probate office said that it will take yet another 3 weeks to be granted. this is the 6th delay now, so i fully expect it to take even longer....

Do you have an ideas as to why there are delays in your case?
We had delays with MIL in 2020 due to invalid will but for straightforward cases it seems to be quick.

What delay was there for the invalid will?  Did the process start again for adminstration? 

It went through a different route.
It was very difficult to get information because we couldn't speak to people in the back office working on the case only the call handlers.
They didn't like the witness signatures (in CAPS). They first asked if the witnesses were alive. 
The it went to another office - Birmingham or Manchester (can't recall which) which we couldn't speak to.
Eventually they got DH to sign a disclaimer.
So just took longer for them to process.

Thanks for this.  DH? Darling Husband?

Sarahspangles

Bolt1234 said:

Are we saying that delays are because paperwork is wrong, missing documents etc or does it depend?  There presumably won’t be rush at a certain time of year although is the summer busier because the probate staff are on leave?

Just trying to manage my own expectations tbh.

HMCTS publish detailed rolling performance information, with no significant lag.  It breaks down applications by their ‘path’.  This stuff is my field so I had a good look.

The best way - by far - to slow down your application is to submit a paper application.  Even one that goes smoothly can take four times as long.

The online submission process requires you to complete a webform, pay, and then print a cover sheet, you submit the Will under this cover (use ‘signed for’).  It’s then scanned in on receipt - this is when they check it’s not been tampered with - and linked to the online application.  So don’t take out the staples or move those rusty paper clips!

You can see from performance data that at one time completing the scanning step caused delays, possibly due to social distancing?  And then there were issues printing the physical certificates, and later in actually getting them to people’s doormat due to Royal Mail strike action.  

But otherwise the main delay is for applications that are ‘stopped’ which is presumably where something needs following up.  

There’s surprisingly little seasonal variation in processing times, which impressed me.  The pace of the whole system may be determined by the availability of solicitors, even though there is a peak of deaths in winter and you’d expect the applications to peak a few weeks later.

SimonWebs

The paper probate application I send took just under 3 weeks, no tax to pay

If you are doing this yourself best to double check all information prior to sending the application off.

lisyloo

uknick said:

lisyloo said:

uknick said:

lisyloo said:

oglop said:

mine has taken 33 weeks so far. was supposed to be granted this week, but the probate office said that it will take yet another 3 weeks to be granted. this is the 6th delay now, so i fully expect it to take even longer....

Do you have an ideas as to why there are delays in your case?
We had delays with MIL in 2020 due to invalid will but for straightforward cases it seems to be quick.

What delay was there for the invalid will?  Did the process start again for adminstration? 

It went through a different route.
It was very difficult to get information because we couldn't speak to people in the back office working on the case only the call handlers.
They didn't like the witness signatures (in CAPS). They first asked if the witnesses were alive. 
The it went to another office - Birmingham or Manchester (can't recall which) which we couldn't speak to.
Eventually they got DH to sign a disclaimer.
So just took longer for them to process.

Thanks for this.  DH? Darling Husband?

Usually Dear husband
The ironic thing was that intestacy laws (2 children) were exactly the same as the will so it didn't matter whether it was valid or not. We would have been better off saying there wasn't one.

lisyloo

Thanks all.
We have some expenses this this time round.
My father had his front door broken down by the police which cost £1500 and I did not wish to present him with a cheque book on his deathbed. 
We also had to get a certificate for the house (circa £1000) and probate fees, skips etc.
We'll just have to wait.

tetrarch

Sarahspangles said:

But otherwise the main delay is for applications that are ‘stopped’ which is presumably where something needs following up.  

This is not good news.

We applied and sent paperwork on 19th Jan. We received a "request for more infomation" on 6th Feb

Q.1 Was for us to confirm that my late FIL, who was named as an executor should be removed (date of death etc). I don't recall this on the original form, but I assume that I should have renounced his rights as part of the application

Q.2 Should a duplicate probate request be ignored. This is irritating as this was only necessary as the "previous" application glitched at the point of payment so we had to restart.

We are now 5 weeks on from answering these questions and our expectations of doing some distributions before the end of the tax year are diminishing

Regards

Tet

lisyloo

Can anyone confirm what level of detail is provided in the on-line HMCTS account (it's not in my name).
Is it just "in progress" or does it detail the stages the application goes through.

We now have cash buyer for our house.