Probate application in England and Wales with Scottish will

silentstatues58

Hello

Does anyone have any experience of applying for probate in England and Wales with a Scottish will? I am waiting for an affidavit from the Scottish solicitor who drew up the will as I believe I will need this to confirm its validity. However, I can only find conflicting information as to whether I can then apply for probate online or it has to be a paper application.

The estate involves a property with large amounts of equity release on it which are mounting up as we track down the will in Scotland and now organise the affidavit. Ideally I would apply for probate online and send the affidavit by post with the will but if this is absolutely not permitted and will cause delays I will go ahead straight away with the paper route.

Any recent experience would be very welcome. I need to get this right because the equity release is terrifying and we need to get probate as soon as possible. Thank you!

poseidon1

I doubt you will get a response from anyone who has tried to prove a Scottish will for the purposes of obtaining English probate.

In my view it is extremely unlikely this can be handled via the fast track online process since you need to accompany the application with the Scottish solicitor's affadavit.

Accordingly if you have not already done so you should familiarise yourself with form PA1P for paper applications -

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b6f6ab78dd6cacb71c6a3e/PA1P_0124_citizen.pdf

As for the equity release mortgage steadily eating away the property equity, I imagine you are aware the English property market is in a diicult period at the moment.

Therefore unless you are considering the possibility of an eventual traditional auction sale ( if need be), a normal estate agent private treaty disposal could drag on interminally.

silentstatues58

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately the deceased did not update his will on leaving Scotland some 15 years ago. He had no remaining assets in Scotland. We want to retain the property which makes this very frustrating as delays equal more money mounting up in equity release and the lender is not at the moment letting us pay it off before grant of probate is received.