to think that probate is taking too long

[GeraniumGirl]

My dear Grandmother died in October.

Her estate was very simple because she had already sold her house and moved into a care home.

A solicitor is the executor but there is still no sign of probate.

I know that it was taking a long time for probate to be granted last year but looking at the probate search online it doesn’t generally seem so long now.

Does anyone have any recent experience of probate times for simple estates?

AIBU to think that the solicitor is dragging his heels?

I don’t think people realise how simple it is to do probate themselves,that’s if there is a will and all straightforward.I did my own when I was widowed,it only took a couple of months and I was proud of myself and saved myself money.

Well done @LadyWiddiothethird ,that sounds like the best option rather than being at the mercy of a solicitor who could drag the whole process out and cost more.

I submitted an application for my Dad's estate in March this year (straightforward estate, DM still living and the sole beneficiary) and probate was granted within four weeks.

If you are a beneficiary but not an executor then you don’t have an automatic right to demand information from the solicitor instructed by the executor (unless the solicitor is itself the executor). You should really be contacting the executor and asking them for a progress update.

For context: my FIL died last year, the tax return was filed 8 months after the death, the probate application was filed 6 weeks after that, and the grant of probate was 3 weeks after the probate application was filed. The beneficiaries were paid just under a year after his death. After a year the beneficiaries can claim interest, but until a year is up I would not expect the whole process from death to payment out to take much less than a year.

First of all, the assets have to be identified and valued, and both of those may take time. You say that the house had been sold but you don’t mention whether there were other assets such as shareholdings, jewellery etc.

Second, if the estate is close to or over the inheritance tax threshold or if it would be but tax relief is being claimed, an inheritance tax return has to be submitted. That (a) has to be paid before the grant of probate and (b) the tax return has to be sent to HMRC before the probate application is filed so that HMRC can approve it and forward it to the probate office so that it can be married up with the application when it comes. If you send the application off before the tax return is there, the application will be “stopped” ie put to the bottom of the pile pending resolution of the problem, which can lead to delays of up to 16 weeks. It is recommended that you wait at least 5 working weeks after filing the tax return before filing the application so that HMRC has had time to approve the return and send it to the probate office.

Once the application is in, it should only take 3-5 weeks for an electronic application, though if there are any complexities this can again result in it being stopped.

When probate is granted it can still take a lengthy period for money to be released if they are investments. I did a lot myself for FIL’s estate after grant of probate and you have to find out what info they need (eg certified or original ID docs of the executors which are often needed as well as the grant itself), fill in the forms, send off the info, and it can take 28 days or longer after that for investments to be liquidated and sent to solicitors.

Dad died in September and I handled probate. I submitted all the information on line and it took 20 weeks and 2 phone calls from me for probate to be granted
I think there was a backlog as when I submitted they said 8 weeks to completion, but that changed to 16 weeks estimate part way through

Thanks, that’s very helpful

Solicitors have a duty of care and ethical responsibility not to take on work they do not have the capacity for. Saying that they are too busy to answer emails would not be acceptable to the Law Society.

His attitude was pretty shocking to be honest.

@GeraniumGirl no worries - and please ignore my first para re contacting the solicitor direct, as you explained that they were also the executor while I was typing out that screed!

There are statistics on how long the probate office takes (here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-april-2023) - you can see that the time taken for non stopped electronic applications differs wildly from eg stopped paper ones. But my experience was that the stuff that happened before and after was what took the time. I hope you get resolution soon.

If he isn't a sole practitioner then there will be a nominated partner who deals with complaints. Send an e-mail to them
Asking for a reply within 7 days or you will take the concern to the law society.

Or solicitor's regulatory authority

Everything to do with bereavement is taking too long, at the moment.

When I was venting my fury at the Probate Office, they said many people were working from home, and didn't have access to all information, until they went into the office.

Great.🙄

We have just received the Grant of Probate for my late mum, who died in November. It took just under 20 weeks and was a straightforward estate. It's not supposed to take more than 16 which is bad enough.

I've written to my MP and Mike Freer about the stress such long waits and uncertainty are causing (we were told after 16 weeks our application would be looked at within three weeks, which didn't happen). It is also a waste to have houses needlessly empty for months on end.

I can't comment yet on how quickly the rest of the probate process will go but hopefully it won't take too long now we have the Grant and the house buyers have completed all their surveys and searches.

Also our application was submitted online. It didn't get stopped but probably spent 19.5 weeks in a queue and then took about 2 hours to look at.

We did the application ourselves for my Mum's estate (it was a simple case). It took 5 weeks to be granted. We applied at the end of January 2023, so fairly recent.. We did it ourselves on line. I understand that if you don't use the online service it can take much longer though.

I knew I read this somewhere - just found it: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/apply-for-probate "It takes longer to process paper applications than online applications. Apply online if you can."

DH applied for probate for FIL - took about 20 weeks - received a couple of weeks ago

My dad died in October 2022 I did probate and I think I got it in December or around about then.

It was a very simple estate - just his flat and a small amount in the bank.

I’m in Scotland so it’s confirmation not probate. Dad also died in October - no will & my mums dead too. My sister is executor as she wanted to be & i could do without the hassle & we only got confirmation last week (paper work all submitted by a lawyer in November) we have a flat to sell and can’t get things moving til we got that. Usual excuse of delays down to “covid” as it caused backlogs and people being off etc. seems pretty standard as we were told “about 6 months” when we submitted it all

My Father in law died in March 2022 we've been told that probate was applied for in October 2022 and it hasn't been granted yet, I believe they're very behind. We can't check anything as we didn't apply we just have to wait until we hear from the executor.

When I did my Mum's probate during lockdown, they kept putting a "stop" on the file but didn't ever think to tell us. The only way we ever found out was by phoning them (which could easily take 30-45 mins on hold each time).

They lost so much paperwork and often contradicted themselves. I was later able to switch to webchat so that I had a record of their fibs. Luckily HMRC were a bit more organised.

I was under the impression that professional probate firms could check progress themselves.

My DF died in October. Estate was very simple so me and DSis did probate ourselves. Told when submitted it would be 16 weeks. Didn't hear after 16 weeks so rang to chase. Took about 2 weeks after chasing to come through, it hadn't even been looked at when we first chased them.

MIL died in September leaving a will where everything goes to FIL. Still no probate yet.

I'm in the unfortunate position of having had to do probate recently. I was told anything up to 20 weeks was normal. Was surprised to have got my certificate back in less than 5 weeks from submitting. It was a very straightforward estate - no IHT etc and submitted online.