Probate Woes - anyone with probate expericence able to advise please!

[BustingClouds]

Hi everyone

I've been helping my mum with probate for a deceased sibling - she is the executor but completely unable to do any of the admin so I've been the one liaising with the solicitor etc and it is just dragging on so long now.
Probate was granted in Feb this year and the solicitors still haven't sent the finalised accounts for her to sign off on to allow the estate to be dispersed, is this normal?
Initially there was her and one of the partners in the firm to be executors, but the probate office refused that as being too vague so it ended up being just her.
She had to sign a form for the estate funds to be released to the solicitors bank account 3 months ago, which was only completed at the end of July.

I'm wondering, can she ask for all the remaining funds to be released to her (once they take their fees) as sole executor to settle the estate debts and make the bequests rather than the solicitors doing it? As we haven't much confidence that it will be done anytime soon if left up to them.

I know I can ask the solicitor but would like to have some idea about whether this is allowed before I do so!

Thanks in advance for any replies

Bumping for you OP.
Watching with interest.

Sorry for your loss, OP.

Normally, funds would be sent directly to the executor so if your mother was the sole executor, she'd already have them. So either she has asked the solicitors to do this (gather in the funds and deal with the estate) or the solicitors are joint executors. It sounds as if she has asked the solicitors to deal with the estate, so what happens next depends on what she's agreed with them.

Administering an estate does take quite a while so it doesn't seem too long to me tbh. It takes a lot longer than you'd think generally!

Keep on at them, they only action something when you call them.

Can I ask how long does probate usually take from the day the paperwork is lodged?

Thanks to PP for bumping and also the condolences

In answer to Chic, initially the solicitors were joint executors but the probate office wasn't happy with that so mum then became sole executor.
When I queried why the funds wouldn't come directly to her seeing as she was now sole executor, they said it was because they needed to take their fees first.
There was one meeting she had with them which I couldn't attend so who knows what she agreed to in that, she has some cognitive/processing issues and often doesn't understand stuff unfortunately. Though she hides it well.
It's just so frustrating that Probate was granted 6 months ago and if we were handling ourselves everything would be settled by now! I knew it could take a long time but wasn't expecting it to be this long post grant.

All I can do is keep following up I suppose as Ellen says.

@SoyMarina it took about 6 months from the Probate application being lodged, to it being granted.

Thanks for replies everyone, helps to get some objective input.

I would just ring the solicitors every day and get them to put in writing what the barriers to distributing the estate are.

The only way is to be persistent, though ideally polite.

I have done probate for one estate but no real help as it was incredibly straightforward- I did the forms off the gov.uk website, submitted them to the court and probate was granted I think a few weeks later. It was a very simple estate and will though.

Thanks BustingClouds and sorry for your loss.

I was granted probate for my mum 6 months ago. I’m still collecting in her assets and sorting out her debts. I expect it to be another few months before I am able to disperse her estate. And hers is simple!

My fathers assets took a year to be released after going through probate. There was a backlog due to covid ( allegedly )

H god!
That’s what I’ve been told re my father’s estate!
Blame covid, easy option for them!
So annoying, especially as I live abroad and my sisters are not at all proactive!

It was a fairly straightforward estate though! All cash assets in one institution. No house to be sold.
I just don't understand how it can take so long. But hey ho, lessons have been learned for the next generation in relation to wills and executors... have to try take some positives from it.
Hope it doesn't take as long for you soy. Very difficult though when more than one executor and you live abroad.
@Carlycat was that a year for your dad's assets to be released from the financial institutions? Or to be dispersed entirely?

Condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one on the thread
When you've never been through the probate process before it makes it all so much harder as you don't know what to expect I think.

Thank you BurstingCloud.

I would ring the solicitors while with your mum and ask them exactly what the delay is. Get a definitive answer from them. If they have the money and your mum is dealing with everything, then surely all they now have to do is send the funds to her?

My Gran's estate took a year for the solicitor to sort out and that was literally a few thousand pounds and a bunglow. My parents were the executors. The solicitors dragged their feet on every single area and my parents had to keep on and on at them to get it finalised. It was during covid, but they were awful.

Basically they deal with whoever shouts the loudest as they take on more work than they can actually cope with.

The solicitor charged them thousands. They wouldn't give a fee quote up front. I told my dad to ditch them and use a fixed quote firm, or let me deal with it all, but he wouldn't change from them.

We have been (pardon the pun) haunting the family solicitors this week and guess what probate has been lodged, quelle surprise, 🙄🙄at least now we are in the hands of the state and not the solicitors.

I was the executor of my Grandmother’s estate. Once I had the death certificate I was able to close most accounts and some accounts, even bank accounts, transferred closing funds to me using this. I set up a separate bank account to transfer all of the funds to and then just logged and recorded all account details and amounts. I sent this log to the solicitor who then finalised the probate documentation (essentially a summary of the log I sent over) and then within a month or two probate was granted. I used the probate certificate to finalise all accounts - mainly her house and shares as without probate I wasn’t able to close/settle these. All in all it took about six months, but I did do the leg work, including phone calls, letters etc to companies.
I would reclarify with the solicitor what they are and are not doing so that it’s clear what you can be getting on with versus what they need to be doing. The gov.uk website maps out the process really clearly so you can always use that as your reference.

I would suggest emailing the solicitor for an update and to outline what is outstanding before the estate can be wound up. Email rather than call so that you have a paper trail. Also ask for them to provide a copy of their billing guide to date and dig out the initial letter that your mum received to make sure that they haven’t exceeded the time/rate that was agreed when she instructed them.

Probate can take a long time if there are shares to cash in, (foreign assets are the worst!).

We are routinely appointed as executors and I have never known the probable registry have a problem with that appointment and so I’m a bit dubious about that part of your/their story, particularly if they drew up the Will.

From what I (mistakenly) thought was a fairly straight forward will, it took about 30 months for solicitors to 'sort out'....and a humongous bill! Looking back it was just frustrating as a couple of the legacies were earmarked for house deposits, and of course in the 30 month delay house prices shot up. Glad it's over with now. Makes me reconsider who I have appointed to execute my will. It can be a real burden.