Probate and the timeline

SimpleJoe

Hello,

Sadly, I can't post a little picture here  -  I'm just a humble newbie ;-)

We've been waiting since 14th August for probate.  IHT400 all good.  Luckily there was enough in cash to settle the IHT bill.

What's concerning me is that the progress on the .gov probate site has actually gone backwards.  If anyone has been through this system you'll know about 4 areas. "application received", "documents arrived", "application in review" and then "grant issued".

Sadly, I have had to do this for both parents and a very close family friend - all in the last 2 years.

I get quite obsessed and check progress on an hourly basis (I know this is futile).

However, in the previous 2 applications it has gone through to "app' in review" and then a time afterwards to "grant issued".

In this case we were at "application in review" for about 7 weeks - 3 days ago, however, the white tick that appears over the blue ball has suddenly disappeared.  Anyone familiar with the system will know what I'm talking about - I hope.

Should I be concerned about this?  We are at about 15 weeks now and this is just unforgivable by HMCTS.  If we hadn't got money to pay IHT we would be right on the cusp of interest payments now - and we can't sell the house due to not having probate.

If you look back at the timeline, we would have needed to start the paperwork before the funeral.  Even then we would be in to interest payments next week.  What sort of system is this that we can't even begin to grieve (I know I haven't) due to trying to deal with the Government dept.  It actually really upsets me.

Anyway, so it's all about white ticks on blue balls if anyone has the knowledge.  Sorry if it turned a bit "ranty".

Thanks in advance.

Runner_Duck

This happened to us, first we knew there was a problem was an email stating probate could not proceed because "We are yet to receive the IHT421 from HMRC." IHT had all been paid 2 months ago but somehow the HMRC had failed to send on this crucial document.  Time to phone HMCTS to find out what the issue is. I know they say not to call before 16 weeks but I found extreme grovelling and apologies worked, you just want to know what has gone wrong, not when probate will be granted etc.  

SimpleJoe

Just wanted to update this.

I tried to get through a couple of times and gave up.  End of last week I waited for 3 hours to get through.  A very helpful adviser said that there was nothing missing from the application and that it was "in the queue".  They told me they would look at the application and email me.

Literally 2 minutes later I had an email to say, "application approved".

Persistence when you are at the end of the time period has proven to be effective.  I was extremely polite and explained that we had issues with an unnamed supplier (that'll be British Gas - complaint already in).

Some kind soul took pity on us and we have managed to get this through. Thank you to that person - you'll never know what this means to us.

Thank you to the comment above and anyone else who read the thread.  Hope this helps someone else.