Probate Delays and Complaints

Redtiler

Hi -

I've been waiting for a year now for probate to granted on my late father's estate which he left intestate. I know this will take longer than probate where a will is made and there are delays in most applications this year but this seems to be very unusual and perplexing to me. My solicitor is saying that the only complaint they can make is by labelling an email as a 'complaint' and that there is nothing else they can do to speed up the process.

I just wondered if anyone else thought this was an extraordinary long time to wait and whether anyone knew whether what my solicitor is saying is true? Any advice would be much appreciated.

RAS

What is the solicitor's role and who "appointed" them.

The general rule of thumb on MSE is that it takes a lot longer for solicitors to execute or administer estates. A year is fairly quick.

Ask when the probate forms were submitted and whether they used the paper or on-line? And understand that there is a standard fee for responding to every request you make.

Marcon

Redtiler said:

Hi -

I've been waiting for a year now for probate to granted on my late father's estate which he left intestate. I know this will take longer than probate where a will is made and there are delays in most applications this year but this seems to be very unusual and perplexing to me. My solicitor is saying that the only complaint they can make is by labelling an email as a 'complaint' and that there is nothing else they can do to speed up the process.

I just wondered if anyone else thought this was an extraordinary long time to wait and whether anyone knew whether what my solicitor is saying is true? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Sadly your solicitor knows what they're talking about... If you try to use the Probate Registry Complaints Form, you get the message 

Sorry, there is a problem with the service

Try again later.

Any answers you provided may not have been saved. When the service is available, you might have to start again.

You are not alone by a long chalk. See https://www.theprobatedepartment.co.uk/probate-delays/  

Redtiler

RAS said:

What is the solicitor's role and who "appointed" them.

The general rule of thumb on MSE is that it takes a lot longer for solicitors to execute or administer estates. A year is fairly quick.

Ask when the probate forms were submitted and whether they used the paper or on-line? And understand that there is a standard fee for responding to every request you make.

Thanks for your reply RAS, I appointed the solicitor to apply for probate and they submitted the application online one year ago. I understand the administration of the estate will take longer but I haven't seen (in many different forums) the actual application for Letters of Administration taking as long as one year or more which is why I'm so bemused.

jlfrs01

I went through a similar process 2 years ago after my father died intestate and the Executors appointed a Solicitor.

At the 9 month mark or thereabouts after the paperwork was submitted we had no timeline on when the Letters would be granted, the Solicitor said it was a "wait and see" scenario so I called them up to find out if the paperwork had been received (yes) and that it was in the system (yes) and what an ETA would be for it to be dealt with (within 4-6 weeks which it was). As my father had debtors who were continually hassling me because the Solicitor wouldn't speak to them I had an extra reason to take direct action in an effort to get these people off my back. Might be worth calling them directly to hear it from the horse's mouth?

Marcon

jlfrs01 said:

I went through a similar process 2 years ago after my father died intestate and the Executors appointed a Solicitor.

At the 9 month mark or thereabouts after the paperwork was submitted we had no timeline on when the Letters would be granted, the Solicitor said it was a "wait and see" scenario so I called them up to find out if the paperwork had been received (yes) and that it was in the system (yes) and what an ETA would be for it to be dealt with (within 4-6 weeks which it was). As my father had debtors who were continually hassling me because the Solicitor wouldn't speak to them I had an extra reason to take direct action in an effort to get these people off my back. Might be worth calling them directly to hear it from the horse's mouth?

The problem is trying to get through to someone...see my link above. Service standards two years ago were apparently rather better than they seem to be now!

Redtiler

jlfrs01 said:

I went through a similar process 2 years ago after my father died intestate and the Executors appointed a Solicitor.

At the 9 month mark or thereabouts after the paperwork was submitted we had no timeline on when the Letters would be granted, the Solicitor said it was a "wait and see" scenario so I called them up to find out if the paperwork had been received (yes) and that it was in the system (yes) and what an ETA would be for it to be dealt with (within 4-6 weeks which it was). As my father had debtors who were continually hassling me because the Solicitor wouldn't speak to them I had an extra reason to take direct action in an effort to get these people off my back. Might be worth calling them directly to hear it from the horse's mouth?

Thanks for this....I did call the Registry earlier this week and got through to an advisor almost immediately but they said they couldn't discuss any aspect of the case with me because I wasn't the applicant. In light of your experience though I think I will try again.

Redtiler

Redtiler said:

jlfrs01 said:

I went through a similar process 2 years ago after my father died intestate and the Executors appointed a Solicitor.

At the 9 month mark or thereabouts after the paperwork was submitted we had no timeline on when the Letters would be granted, the Solicitor said it was a "wait and see" scenario so I called them up to find out if the paperwork had been received (yes) and that it was in the system (yes) and what an ETA would be for it to be dealt with (within 4-6 weeks which it was). As my father had debtors who were continually hassling me because the Solicitor wouldn't speak to them I had an extra reason to take direct action in an effort to get these people off my back. Might be worth calling them directly to hear it from the horse's mouth?

Thanks for this....I did call the Registry earlier this week and got through to an advisor almost immediately but they said they couldn't discuss any aspect of the case with me because I wasn't the applicant. In light of your experience though I think I will try again.

Just an update on this.......I called the registry and tried to explain that I just wanted to enquire about expected timescales and was rudely shouted down by the advisor who said I shouldn't be phoning as I wasn't an expert, didn't know anything about probate and was wasting her time. She then put the phone down on me. Wow, I was stunned, I've never been treated so appallingly by anyone in customer services! Obviously, I'll be making a formal complaint about her...

RAS

It sounds like the sooner this person is removed the better. 

RAS

Retiler, one thing that you will need to clarify, what exactly is the solicitor doing?

Are they applying to administer the estate?
Or have they completed the probate application form on your behalf naming you as the administrator?

They will have signed the form if the former, or sent them to you to sign if the latter.

Redtiler

RAS said:

Retiler, one thing that you will need to clarify, what exactly is the solicitor doing?

Are they applying to administer the estate?
Or have they completed the probate application form on your behalf naming you as the administrator?

They will have signed the form if the former, or sent them to you to sign if the latter.

They have completed the application on my behalf and named me as Administrator as there is no will. 

Does this make a difference when enquiring with the registry? 

They have told me that they can only speak to the person who made the application. I’m a bit confused now…