Probate - how long?

vickster75

Mrsseanbean said:

Have been reading this thread with interest whilst waiting the 16 weeks.
Timeline is as follows:

3/3 Applied for probate online and documents posted on 4/3, showed as received on 5/3
19/3 email received confirming receipt
4/4 email asking for confirmation nothing had been removed from the will as very small pin sized hole in the corner. Replies sent by me and other executor on 4/4 &5/4
10/7 Called Probate office as 16 weeks has passed and told that our replies have not even been reviewed by the "Examining Team" The person I spoke to said they would put something through to chase but not to call again until another 3 weeks has passed

Nothing else I can do at the moment but wait again.

I'm more or less at the same stage as you, however my 3 weeks is up next week so I can chase again. Extremely frustrating

SnowMan

The HMCTS May probate data was released yesterday. Here is a table I've created from the data. Average wait times overall have decreased since April 2024 by around 3 days. Wait times have reduced for not stopped cases (both digital and paper). But stopped cases (both digital and paper) still taking about the same time as in April. The implied stop rate for digital cases remains at a historical low level.

SnowMan

Again more grants were issued in May 2024 than new applications for grants were received, in this case by around 2,200. See the attached chart of open cases I've produced from the data. Although this chart doesn't show this, both the outstanding number of open paper applications and open digital applications have fallen.

SnowMan

And here is my chart from the data of the average wait times over time for digital/paper, stopped/non stopped grants issued up to May 2024. The wait times for stopped cases remain very long. This seems to reflect the experience of this thread that if your application is stopped it's still taking a very long time to get the grant.

Mrsseanbean

Further to my last post, I emailed my MP on 10/7 and got a reply saying he had contacted the Probate Office. Email received from Probate Office on 12/7 confirming application approved and paperwork received the next day.

Happy_Kitties

Mrsseanbean said:

Have been reading this thread with interest whilst waiting the 16 weeks.
Timeline is as follows:

3/3 Applied for probate online and documents posted on 4/3, showed as received on 5/3
19/3 email received confirming receipt
4/4 email asking for confirmation nothing had been removed from the will as very small pin sized hole in the corner. Replies sent by me and other executor on 4/4 &5/4
10/7 Called Probate office as 16 weeks has passed and told that our replies have not even been reviewed by the "Examining Team" The person I spoke to said they would put something through to chase but not to call again until another 3 weeks has passed

Nothing else I can do at the moment but wait again.

I have the same situation, I’m now into like my 47th week (been stopped twice). I think probate knew they had messed up when first witness of will waited 5 months for a simple form that they didn’t send out so have been nicer since then and involving my MP before parliament dissolved. I’m the same, mine is with the ‘Examining Team’. Has already been stopped twice. Second witness has just completed their form. I also have been told to wait 3 weeks before chasing, however I rang last week, my current three weeks weren’t up until this week but they were able to tell me that a  form had gone out to second witness so I will be ringing before the three weeks are up again now second witness has sent their form back. 
They also don’t tell you this but if you need probate for a particular reason (for me it’s a legal case) and are having problems, letting them know the extra detail really does help. I’ve found things have really speeded up since they had additional info of why i needed the probate, it’s just frustrating that they don’t openly say about letting them know the extra detail. They took extra detail from me then as soon as they knew about the legal case. 

Hang in there, I feel that I’m at the point of I will find out in the next 3 weeks of whether probate will be granted or not. If not Letters of Administration….here I come!!!!

whatsthenews

NIckyJJones said:

We applied for probate in mid June (mum's uncomplicated estate no IHT due, she passed away in Apr). Last Sunday (3rd Sept) had an email from probate services saying more info needed - they were missing the IHT421. The IHT forms were sent to HMRC 31st May & we had a letter from them dated 23/06. I phoned HMRC on Monday (4th) and no, they hadn't sent the IHT421 to probate services & sent it whilst I was on the phone to them. I phoned Probate and they confirmed that they did now have the form but still haven't issued the Grant of Probate, I did ask how long now and the response "within 16 weeks".  Monday (11th) will be 12 weeks since we applied.
It's really not good enough, I did my grandma's probate way back in 2002, paper form and estate was completely wrapped up within 3 months of her passing. 

Can I ask why you completed IHT400 if the estate was under the IHT threshold? I understood you didn't need to inform HMRC if the estate was exempt 

Bolt1234

Have I had the quickest response re Grant of Probate for late Mothers estate? 5 days….No property to sell and all savings in NS and I and one bank account. There is IRT to pay but it will come out of NS and I account.  Had help of a fab solicitor and he says it’s never been that quick.

rachpid

Have just had probate for my MIL processed pretty quickly. We submitted our signatures to go ahead to our solicitors on Mon 29th July, after IHT was sorted, not sure when exactly they applied for the Probate, but assuming a couple of days after that? Just checked online and the probate has been granted today. So approx two weeks. Fairly simple estate, one property, one main bank account, all going to my husband apart from a trust for his brother who is in a care home. Was hoping it would be quick but thought it'd be another couple of weeks!

ChocolateTea

Hi, 

We are awaiting probate for a relative, it was a paper application via solicitors who are the executors of the estate (fairly simple with a property and bank account under IHT). We are in week 14 with no stoppages. The solicitor has chased it but was told there are large volumes of work with delays. How long are those with paper applications waiting? 

Thank you