Probate - how long?

SnowMan

techphobe said:

Well those December stats have got me annoyed. I am currently waiting on an application submitted about two weeks ago. It is one of the 15% which had to be submitted on paper due to one of the executors being unable to act due to dementia.

I had hoped that the paper stop rate being over 50% in November was a blip and it would come down again but now the paper stop rate is 55.5%!!! So the chances are I am looking at a 7 month wait 😡

The high implied paper stop rate in December may be as a result of the Probate Registry just putting more resource into dealing with stopped cases in December relative to dealing with new applications, since it is just the percentage of grants issued in the month that have come from stopped applications. In terms of paper cases first being looked at, I'd look at an average over a number of months and guess there is perhaps a 40% chance of the average new paper application being stopped. There is no reason for them to stop more cases when they are dealing with a huge backlog. If anything there may well be pressures on them to cut more corners and let applications through which they normally wouldn't let through.

Monthly variation in average wait times can also be due to a change in policy as to whether they concentrate on older applications or new applications, as it is just the average time for grants issued in that month. The fact that the average paper grant time hasn't come down much since August despite falling paper numbers in the system again suggests they are working slightly more to progress older stopped paper cases.

The shocking thing about paper applications is just how many there are awaiting grant and how long they are taking relative to digital applications (see earlier chart). As someone else pointed out elsewhere there were more paper applications awaiting grant in September 2023 than there were in May 2020 despite the switch from mainly paper to mainly digital between these two dates. 

Here's my chart of paper applications in the system by the way.

I really hope you get your grant without too much delay.

 

rolysatch

Hi, just in case anyone is interested, I sent off the will etc to the probate office around 28th of December, around 20 days after sending iht forms. I was granted probate on the 19th of February which is much quicker than I thought it would be.

Although it was a fairly straightforward estate I applied for nil rate band and residential nil rate band and transferred my dads nil rate band too. I also just used estate agent valuation for house value.

GoogleMeNow

Well, I got confirmation that my probate application had been approved on 10th February.  It is now 22nd February and I still have not received the original Grant in the post....... grrr!

SnowMan

GoogleMeNow said:

Well, I got confirmation that my probate application had been approved on 10th February.  It is now 22nd February and I still have not received the original Grant in the post....... grrr!

Sorry to hear that. 

That sounds unusual as getting the paper grant once issued was the one bit of the process that seemed to be working OK.

Mine was just posted through the letter box, no signature required. Perhaps it's a  postal issue?

GoogleMeNow

SnowMan said:

GoogleMeNow said:

Well, I got confirmation that my probate application had been approved on 10th February.  It is now 22nd February and I still have not received the original Grant in the post....... grrr!

Sorry to hear that. 

That sounds unusual as getting the paper grant once issued was the one bit of the process that seemed to be working OK.

Mine was just posted through the letter box, no signature required. Perhaps it's a  postal issue?

Perhaps it is a postal issue, but I am probably going to have to call the probate office again....!

Mikey_JB

The probate office do seem to be markedly improving their timings, from the number of recent posts on this thread giving examples of quicker-than-expected approvals.  That's got to be a good thing.   
@GoogleMeNow, I agree with @SnowMan - it did seem that this was the only thing they were getting right a few weeks ago, hopefully the paper grant will arrive before the weekend for you.  

pjs493

My paper copies came through two days after I received the email stating my application had been granted. Just posted through the door, didn’t need to sign.

Luckily I was near the door when the postman delivered them. One of my dogs likes to bring me the post and often gets a little enthusiastic in her delivery. I often end up with things with teeth marks in them, but luckily she didn’t damage the originals I paid for. She did, however, destroy one of them when it was returned to me from the mortgage company. So pleased I ordered more than one copy. 

Raysablade

Elliemiss said:

Hi,
I know it's been asked before but on this cold and wet afternoon I've nothing else to do but think.....

Probate submitted end of June, straightforward, just bank accounts, how long can it reasonably take?

Apologies again for repetition, just wanted to hear some real experiences (recently) thanks 

Except estate with a straight forward Will, I submitted Probate application and posted will on 8th Jan and advised today (22nd Feb) that probate has been granted so just under 7 weeks for my case.

Happy_Kitties

25 weeks for me now and witness being contacted who doesn’t have an email. When I last spoke to them they have had nothing through from the registry, yet i supplied their details over 4 weeks ago. Going to need to ring, what a nightmare. It’s the simplest of wills aswell but has now been stopped twice

GoogleMeNow

Thought I would just update the thread.

My probate application was granted on 10th Feb.  I still hadn't received the original Grant in the post on 22nd Feb, so I phoned HMCTS on Monday to enquire about it.  The guy I spoke to was quite pleasant and said he would send out a duplicate that day.  Finally received the paper copy today, phew!

Either HMCTS didn't send it originally or it got lost in the post, but I'm there at last, thank goodness.

Wishing everyone else still in the process lots of luck with their applications and hope that with the 'extra' staff HMCTS seem to have employed, applications are approved a little quicker than they have been to date.