How long to grant probate?

[BigRedBoat]

We are buying a house that is a deceased estate, I'm not totally sure when the owner died but I believe it was earlier this year. The executor is a solicitor so we were hoping this meant it would run smooothly, however we've had the initial enquiries back and there is no mention of probate being granted. Our solicitor has sent another enquiry asking if this has been applied for and when it is expected. I have looked online and seen horror stories of probate taking a year to be granted which has worried me somewhat, has anyone been in this situation recently and if so how long did it take? The owner had no children and was a widow, I have no idea if there was a will if that makes a difference.

[Bells3032]

It really depends on whether they have gathered all the info and applied for it yet. It took us 6 months to get the paperwork together and then 12 weeks later still waiting for the grant but that includes several properties across multiple countries and borderline of what tax is payable.

If it's just one property below the threshold then probate may not even be needed.

[TobyHouseMan]

I'm afraid its impossible to say, but a lot depends on how long the executors take to apply.

For my mother, once I applied for probate I got it back within a month and her's was more complicated than most.

[CMOTDibbler]

My parents died this year, in March and April. I did probate for both, and they took 8 and 2 weeks. I'd had an offer on the house the week I was submitting the second one, and they knew the timeline, but in the end we were waiting on the chain for exchange, completing in 2 weeks time.

[TheSeedsOfADream]

My mother died in June, I am the only beneficiary and there was a will and POA. We have been told between 12-18 months due to Covid delays.

@CMOTDibbler ,I didn't realise your parents were gone you were more help to me than you could ever imagine under a different username when my mum was first starting with dementia.

[CMOTDibbler]

@TheSeedsOfADream, I'm so glad I could help you. Dad died the first day of lockdown, and mum a month later, so its not been easy. But submitting for probate was all online and very easy (and dads IHT was all online and very straightforward, mums had to be done on forms and took me longer to fill out). I did dads probate in May, and mums in June, so I can't see that they have fallen that much further behind tbh

[Hadalifeonce]

The solicitor dealing with my mother's estate recently said that probate has been taking on average about 2 months.

[TheSeedsOfADream]

(hijack, sorry) that's interesting to hear, wonder why we were told so long...

[redgin]

Just done an online application and was back within 2 weeks.

[BigRedBoat]

That mostly seems quite quick, thank you for sharing everyone. I'm aware it's a very unscientific study but a few positive tales definitely help!

Also, just to say for everyone who is dealing with a bereavement.

[GU24Mum]

We put in an application (well, the solicitor did as it was fiddly for tedious reasons) in mid-June and it took just under a month to come through.

[Newtomarket]

At the height of Covid it was taking about 3-4 months. Now it’s about 1-2 months.

If you want to check whether probate was granted do a probate search on the HMRC site. You’ll need to know the decease name and year of death.

[BigRedBoat]

Got the great news today that they haven't even applied for probate yet just hope our buyers will hang around for the extra several weeks this is going to take.

[FuzzyPuffling]

Our house was a probate buy. The previous occupant died in May, we viewed at the beginning of September and we moved in mid November. There were a couple of weeks of hold up waiting for probate.

But this was not this year with covid.