How long for a financial claim to go through court?

[ItsRainingOutside]

As executor of my late father's estate, I am suing two parties for deceptively acquiring assets of the estate two days after my father died.

This has been going on for 18 months now but this week the papers were submitted to the court.

How long can I expect the court process to take? When should the defendants be served with the papers? I'm keen to bring this to an end.

No way! A year or two??? I had assumed the court would act to set a hearing within weeks, not years! One of the defendants will probably settle out of court but the other won't as the police are planning on taking criminal action if they admit liability or are proven to be in the wrong.

BB means the conclusion will be in that timeframe. If one or more defendants files a defence the case will be set down for a brief initial hearing when various directions will be ordered, and then the final hearing will take place once all the paperwork in terms of extra disclosure etc has been filed.

I hope you have a solicitor dealing with the case; contested probate is an area which is fairly specialist and unless the claim is for less than £5k you will need expert guidance.

Thanks for the clarificatio. I have a solicitor dealing with everything and hopefully we'll see a swift(ish) conclusion.

It's a shame that your solicitor hasn't explained this to you - I would have expected him/her to have done so to manage your expectations. The defendants have either 14 or 28 days to respond to the claim (depending on how they chose to deal with it), then there is a period where you both answer the court's questions about what you anticipate from the case (how long a trial would take, what sort of evidence you will produce). In the meantime (as your solicitor should hopefully also have told you) you have an obligation to try and settle the claim.

I think it's likely that a trial will not be until the Autumn, if the case has not been settled before then.

I would ask your solicitor about what they anticipate timing-wise.

Thank you LadyEmmaHamilton. The evidence is pretty clear-cut and I understand they have 14 days to respond given it's a claim just under £25k. My only assumption was it would be dealt with in a few months depending on whether they offer a settlement.