…to wonder how long probate is going to take?

[takethegirloutofwales]

We’re in the process of buying a probate property. We are not part of a chain ourselves and our solicitor said we should be in a position to complete by end of April. However I asked her to check with the vendor’s solicitor what stage probate was currently at and the response from them is that application for probate has been drawn up but not yet submitted. I also saw this ad in the paper which got my hopes up that perhaps we’ll be close to completion towards end of April but no idea if that’s the case or not really. Any advice or encouragement gratefully received. It’s mainly so we can get our builder booked in so that work can start once we’re the legal owners.

My grandmother’s took 3 years.

How long is a piece of string? My aunt's took 2 years but I bought a house under probate and it took 5 months from offer acceptance to completion.

Congratulations on finding a new home!

My parents’ both took less than six months because I did it myself. That was pre Covid though.

I have handled probate for my father's estate recently. In England, the service time once submitted is around eight weeks according to gov.uk. The grant for us took c.5. However, I stress this is once all formalities have been completed. If there are complications around identifying assets/liabilities or the structure of the will it could of course be that much longer. I would ask to be informed when a submission is made. If this is not made in the next month then I think you may have an issue.

I did my late FIL’s probate application in 2020. It was very straight forward, no inheritance tax to pay, just had a house and some savings. At the 8 weeks stage, you can chase, which is what I did and probate came through at 12 weeks. I think you should realistically be looking at late summer considering probate hasn’t even been submitted yet.

I'd say at LEAST another 2 months if probate hasn't even been submitted yet. As PPs have said 8 weeks is pretty standard for getting the grant of probate and they won't be able to complete until that's been sorted.

I'm an executor selling a house, and I have buyers waiting. I told them at viewings that I planned to submit by the end of April, and that I wouldn't expect the grant before the end of June.

As it turned out I was able to submit four weeks ago today. I was also told I can't chase until eight weeks have passed. I've got April 28 circled in my diary!

Law Society has recent wait times: www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/court-reform/news/probate-service-update-january-2022