Waiting for probate

[Stillchuffincold]

Stuck and can’t move on, everything is taking so long.
Took us a while to find all the information for the estate and opted to engage solicitors to complete the forms for HMRC & probate.
Solicitors submitted forms to HMRC mid February for the code that’s then needed for probate.
Apparently there's a back log and we’re still waiting for the code. Gov website says 2-4 weeks but it’s been nearly 14.
I can chase it up because it was the solicitor who submitted it.
Feel like I sat in limbo.
Is anyone else still waiting?

Took 2 years from start to finish in my situation. It’s a long old process if you have property etc to sell. Helps if you have a decent solicitor doing it, I’ve not been impressed by mine but felt too far into the process to change. I’m also sorry for your loss

2 years! Oh heck!
I just don’t understand the hold up with HMRC, there is property but they don’t ask if that’s going to be sold, just value.
The estate is under the threshold for inheritance tax, nothing complicated in the will, quite a few bank accounts but nothing else of value

I find that quite surprising, when my uncle died in 2023 it was taking 16 weeks, we called them at 16.5 weeks and they granted it that day. When dad died last year I got it within 3 weeks. In both cases I did it myself.

the code comes through very quickly, it’s like the self assessment codes. I’d chase your solicitors and see what they’re playing at.

Thanks, I did email the solicitor a few weeks ago, I’m conscious of them charging extra for anything above the flat fee (already paid) and there reply was backlog with HMRC
I wonder if staff have been pulled off doing IT codes to deal with April’s self assessment?

It's dead easy to do yourself and much quicker than using a solicitor. You still have to gather all the information for them but pay them for the privilege.
When I did mum's I had it all done and granted in 5 weeks.

2 years was start to finish, hopefully everything moves quicker for you as a lot was down to slow response times from solicitor (it was up to 2 months sometimes to receive a reply and everything had to be done over email). In terms of the process of getting probate, it took 16 weeks from submission, but I was told that at the time. I just think there tends to be a consistent backlog unfortunately ☹️

@Stillchuffincold That’s odd. My DMs took 3 weeks last year. I’d see if you can check what’s wrong. They said much longer on the web site but in practice it was quick.

We had it within 3 weeks recently for my aunt’s estate, using a solicitor. They were surprised it came back so quickly though.

I did two lots of probate last year and the HMRC code took almost exactly four weeks each time, and the probate office less than a month. I wonder what has gone wrong at HMRC? Perhaps staff have been transferred to some other division?

To people saying 'do it yourself' - whether it is by yourself or through a solicitor, getting the HMRC code should take the same amount of time.

Are you sure the solicitors actually submitted the paperwork when they said they did? They really should be chasing it by now.

Can I ask how recently?

Mine took less than 2 weeks in May this year. Submitted it myself with my brother. Approval came almost immediately and document arrived in about 10 days.
The original email from HMRC said it would be 12 weeks but it was so much quicker.
No solicitor and under IT threshold.

Agree with previous posters the code from HMRC comes through quite quickly, it’s HMCTS that’s slower. My mum died last January and HMCTS was pretty slow and they would only answer a query if you had been waiting for 16 weeks. However, waiting times seemed to dramatically reduce from summer last year.

Thank you, yours is within the timeframe ours has been sat.
I wish we had opted to do it ourselves so it would be easier to see what’s gone wrong but we didn’t.
Thanks all those who’ve shared their timescales and sorry for your losses

My family member's took 3 years from when they passed. Hope it comes through soon.

HMRC are haphazard, even with semi automatic things like codes. I work with them daily and they’re a nightmare as there’s no consistency and it’s impossible to get progress reports or chase them up other than the formal complaint process but even that it haphazard!

I’d get back onto your solicitor.

I did my MILs and there was a helpful chat option online which I used. Turned out I’d missed a bit of paperwork … not sure when they planned to tell me this 🤷🏼‍♀️. But it all moved quickly after that.

Not all estates need probate. I did Tell US Once then contacted non-government entities myself. My DM's had just enough to pay for the funeral. Depending on the bank, you often only need to produce a death certificate. So HMRC know, I am waiting for them to let me know if I need to do a tax return for her, but she had no income that they didn't already know about and wasn't already taxed.

I don’t understand that, I sent IHT forms tracked and signed on 9th June and had my code back on the 12th? Literally three days.

Probate applied for online, the will sent off/received and just waiting for final probate grant now, which is estimated at 2-8 weeks going by others’ experience online.

Your solicitor needs to pull their finger out. Be a squeaky wheel and make YOU their priority.

I was going through this about 2 years ago.

I can’t remember the exact timings but it was way over the expected 16 weeks. In the end I had to get the solicitor to chase it up. It turned out that HMRC had flagged a very small query months before but not communicated it to either me or the solicitor. It was all resolved very quickly after that.

I did my DFs myself. Very easy despite property, shares, ISA etc. It got granted in 4 weeks. This was 22 years ago though.

Probate came through in 3.5 weeks last year. Code max 2 weeks wait. Process with simple estates under iht threshold does often seem slower when people use solicitors. You really need to chase them and find out exactly what the delay is, and check they are chasing regularly . If you have a property to sell you can get it ready and my advice would be to not empty it completely, if it’s cluttered just declutter and leave some furniture, maybe throws on old furniture, new cushions etc. painting some furniture to update it if you have time.

Thank you, property not being sold, sibling still lives there and will be buying me out once probate done.
we’ve already got a joint bank account that little things that could be done with just a death certificate have gone into (tax refund of all things) and % of the last months pension that didn’t get paid as we’d closed bank account before it was paid

Ours was quick too in November last year. The code took a bit longer than probate which was super quick.

I got an email saying they’d received the documents and it could take 16 weeks then about two hours later I got an email saying probate had been granted!

My Nan's took about 4 weeks from submission, in February.

You can do a search online for granted probates. That's how I knew hers had been done, we paid a nominal sum for a copy of it then sent it to the solicitor. The estate hasn't been distributed yet as they're now waiting on her bank to release the funds.

Have you checked online to see if it's been granted? It may have been, but the solicitor just hasn't told you. It's just the beginning g of the process for calling the funds in. We've been advised ot takes around 6 months after probate has been granted for the estate to be distributed..

Yes have checked online to see if probate had been granted which is what prompted me to phone the solicitor 3 weeks ago where they told me it was still with HMRC.
I'm also getting letters from banks asking if we’ve got probate yet as they want to finish closing the accounts