Probate timescales and requests for further info

Eddie2023

Hi Snowman, really interesting stuff. Thank you for posting

Newly_retired

No IHT estate - Docuuments acknowledged 18 Sept 2023, email received15 November, Grant received 17 November.

Eddie2023

@Newly_retired - can I ask when your application was submitted please ?

Newly_retired

Sorry, I am not sure of the exact date, but just a few days before 18 September.

Eddie2023

Thankyou. Fingers crossed we're not too far behind you and we'll hear soon

Rmd2021

SnowMan said:

Rmd2021 said:

SnowMan said:

Rmd2021 said:

SnowMan said:

Interesting statistics from that hmcts link. Just looking at the timescales from date of submission, these are the figures in that download if you tidy things up a bit. I've calculated implied stop rates also and tagged them on.

But what is the difference between ‘digital’ and ‘digital not stopped’?

'Digital stopped' is the average timescale from submission to grant for those applications that don't proceed smoothly…

Thanks, that make sense, but the figures don’t! If it is a mean average of the two it would be around 16 wouldn’t it? I’m trying to consider worst case scenarios and had wondered if there was something I was missing. 

The whole thing is really stressful, I have never known an institution whose literal policy is to not tell customers anything!

I suspect it is the arithmetic average time (but I haven't spotted where they tell you that yet) which doesn't really tell you about the distribution of actual times around the average. If it's the arithmetic average (i.e the mean) the overall digital average will be weighted when comparing with the stopped/non-stopped averages by what proportion of digital applications are stopped or not stopped. So the overall digital average weights more towards the non stopped average as the majority of applications aren't stopped and so is below 16.

But the stopped and non stopped averages could be median averages, so that if there are 101 applications it's the time that the 51st longest application takes.  And if it's the median then the overall digital average will only really reflect applications that aren't stopped as the middle time falls within the non stopped applications.

I have no knowledge other than my own research re my own application.

I am guessing there is a long tail in the distribution of stopped applications. The very long times may relate to cases where there are serious issues with the will or disputes on who can apply. So if they've just brought up a small administrative query in your case, I'm guessing you shouldn't really be waiting much more than the stopped average time unless you were very unlucky.

The implied stop rates just assume it's an arithmetic average, just wanted to get a feel for how likely it might be that an application was stopped.

I think you’re absolutely right, I didn’t consider the weighting! What a clever snowman you are! 😂 I mean that sincerely, the maths had me puzzled so thank you.

In terms of being unlucky, I have recently come across someone who had a digital application which was not stopped but it took a total of 32 weeks. This is basically because the solicitor refused to chase it up. I can’t stress this enough, everyone going through this process must chase it up continuously after the 16 week mark if you have any hope of moving this along. I don’t mean it’ll speed it up, I mean it literally won’t be looked at until chased. This is the registry’s policy!! The applicant whose probate was finally granted after 32 weeks was because the solicitor eventually agreed to contact the registry.

Some people still do not realise this, and this is why there are applications still pending from 2022 🤦🏽‍♀️

Rmd2021

Newly_retired said:

No IHT estate - Docuuments acknowledged 18 Sept 2023, email received15 November, Grant received 17 November.

Congratulations, 9-10 weeks is still an awful long time in reality, but it sounds quick and painless compared to most atm

Newly_retired

Yes, I was amazed.

Rhubarbium

Anyone know what is updated when on the tracking ? At lunchtime today I followed the link in the email acknowledging I’d logged the application, logged on and it showed a status of ‘sent’. I then clicked on the reference number to see the further details and it says ‘we’ve issued your grant’. I haven’t though received any email confirmation and I guess any paper copies will be a couple of weeks away.

deewillow

I had email confirmation of the grant on a Saturday (sent actually on the Saturday!) and then paper copies arrived at my house on Wednesday. Hope that helps