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Original poster

Probate waiting times

27 replies

As476 · 27/10/2023 13:56

Hi all,

I am in desperate need of some help. I received an email from my probate solicitor on the 11th June 2023 to state that the application for grant of probate had been made and was in hand. I paid the £600 fee. Then I was asked for a £275 court fee in august, which I paid immediately. I phoned to check on the application and apparently the probate office only acknowledged receipt of the will on 25th September. Is my solicitor having me on?

Does it take 4 months for the probate office to acknowledge the will? I am about to lose the buyers and have to pay a huge chunk of service fees if the property isn’t sold soon, which I can’t do until probate is granted.

Thankyou in advance to anyone able to answer this 🙂

OP posts:
sparklefresh · 27/10/2023 13:58

The probate registry are taking months. They say 16 weeks from the date of receiving the application. Some applications are quicker but 16 weeks is what they tell you to expect. All public services are on their knees thanks to the Tories.

Please don't accuse your solicitor of lying - it's a really serious allegation for them.

Woollyjumpersandtomatosoupweather · 27/10/2023 14:01

It's beyond slow - waiting 5 months here! Id ask your solicitor's assistant to call them and ask how much longer it will be for probate to be granted.

Original poster
As476 · 27/10/2023 14:01

Hi @sparklefresh I’m not planning on saying anything to my solicitor, it just seemed a long time (4 months) for the probate office to have acknowledged the will. I’ve been told by another solicitor that it is 16 weeks from the date of acknowledgement, which will put it at 8 months (at least) in total since I was told the application was put in. That’s why I’m confused. Thankyou for replying though, I appreciate any advice I can get at the moment 🙂

OP posts:
Ohmylovejune · 27/10/2023 14:09

Last year a simple probate took us 9 weeks from sending to get it back complete. I don't know how long the acknowledgement was.

The land registry change (not a sale) took 4.5 mo the.

They are very slow. Hopefully your buyers will hang around as probate buys are known to be subject to long delays and extra complication.

Original poster
As476 · 27/10/2023 14:19

@Woollyjumpersandtomatosoupweather thankyou I have done that, and she said 16 weeks from date of acknowledgement so isn’t able to chase yet. This is what I’m finding frustrating. If it was applied for in June, is it usual for it to take 4 months to acknowledge it?

OP posts:
HeavenKnowsIamMiserableNow · 27/10/2023 14:23

Ours took a year.

Woollyjumpersandtomatosoupweather · 27/10/2023 14:29

I asked around a few of my friends recently who are also sadly in the same position and 4 months to even acknowledge receipt (let alone grant probate) seems average at the moment. It may depend on which probate office the application has been sent to though? One friend received her mums probate through from Wales very quickly, but then they may have a shorter list of applications?

whataboutnow · 27/10/2023 14:31

We applied in July and it was granted in 9 weeks. We didn't use a probate solicitor,we did it ourselves

ohyesohyesoh · 27/10/2023 14:35

Ours took roughly 7 mths very recently

JanglyBeads · 27/10/2023 14:40

Delays are huge, I'd advise taking all their "maximum" suggested timescales and doubling them at least.

Moneybox on Radio 4 did a programme all about it a year or two ago.

Original poster
As476 · 27/10/2023 14:40

@Woollyjumpersandtomatosoupweather thankyou that is genuinely really helpful. I don’t want to say anything to my solicitor at all if it’s normal which it sounds like it is, but none of this has actually been explained to me by her 🥴. My estate agents are hounding me for an update and I just don’t have one!

OP posts:
PerfectYear321 · 27/10/2023 23:38

They took two months just to reply to an email asking for a particular form that I couldn't find online. The reply was "do you still need this?" because presumably they knew it had been stupidly long and I myself was probably dead by then 🙄🤔

namechanged221 · 27/10/2023 23:53

Oh no, I've heard about this a lot.

I did probate myself on the gov. Website. It came through in 3 weeks and cos £275.

Unless it's a complex estate, do it yourself online! It's much quicker.

system2319 · 28/10/2023 00:33

I applied for probate online about 4 weeks ago. I sent of the will the following day and was notified about 5 days after posting that the will had been matched to the online probate application.

My friend also applied for one May/June time this year and it took 17 weeks from applying online to receiving probate.

Hope that helps.

Original poster
As476 · 28/10/2023 12:13

Thanks everyone. I asked a solicitor for help as she did the will and does a lot of probate applications. I’ve paid £875 so far and as I say, I’ve been waiting since June. I am so utterly fed up with it all and just want to get the house sold. I looked at doing it myself but was told I couldn’t as it had already been applied for. So frustrating. I didn’t realise I could have done it myself at the beginning.

OP posts:
JosieRay · 30/10/2023 20:13

It seems to vary hugely. We did probate for my DM online. It was very straightforward as she had kept everything simple, had very few assets and a straightforward will. We were told 16 weeks in August this year, it took 6 weeks.

ProvenceWhipped · 31/10/2023 15:53

If you're selling a property which is on the verge of falling through due to the delay then probate registry may expedite the issuing of the grant. They usually require a letter from the seller's solicitor and/or the buyer's solicitor confirming that the delay will cause the matter to abort.

Original poster
As476 · 01/11/2023 06:46

Thankyou this is also really helpful. My solicitor for probate has told me that I need to “take the house off the market then” 🙃.

OP posts:
FaintlyInglorious · 01/11/2023 14:19

@As476 this is not great news as we're also waiting on probate.

Our solicitor put in our probate application in early July, telling us to expect 16 weeks, so we were thinking it would be granted any day now.

It's odd though - we've been told that only he can chase it up as he applied. I'm interested to know how you were you able to call them yourself.

Original poster
As476 · 01/11/2023 19:55

@FaintlyInglorious i had had a really really bad day, the buyers pulled out, and I cried on the phone to the probate office. Not my finest hour. She said she really wasn’t supposed to give me any information and that it should all go through my solicitor but at the time my solicitor wasn’t responding - hence the tears of frustration.

OP posts:
FaintlyInglorious · 01/11/2023 21:23

@As476 oh no, I'm so sorry! Our solicitor is often 'abroad on business' and it's very frustrating as he costs a fortune.

Fingers crossed for you!

VickyEadieofThigh · 05/11/2023 20:43

JosieRay · 30/10/2023 20:13

It seems to vary hugely. We did probate for my DM online. It was very straightforward as she had kept everything simple, had very few assets and a straightforward will. We were told 16 weeks in August this year, it took 6 weeks.

I did my Dad's online in February this year. Took about 2 weeks to get receipt acknowledgement and 6 weeks in total for grant of probate.

LumpyandBumps · 09/11/2023 00:34

It does seem to vary greatly.
I applied online 10/7/23, sent the will off that day, and receipt wasn’t acknowledged until 5/8/23.
Things then stagnated until 20/9/23 when they asked for some information ( I hadn’t missed anything. They wanted to send what turned out to be a fairly routine questionnaire to the witness). I replied straight away.
4 weeks later my online account still said they were waiting for information from me. I couldn’t access online chat so many times I doubted that it actually existed. I tried phoning, but as my application was still a few days short of the mythical 16 weeks the call was terminated.
Eventually I got through via online chat, and was told that the questionnaire would be issued within one week, and to call back if it hadn’t happened in two.
The reply reached them 7 days ago, and my online account has not been updated to show receipt.
It does now have a message to say that applications can take up to 16 weeks but mine may take longer as they have asked for additional information!
I am paying a mortgage on a property and the lender has said that they require full repayment. I can’t get the lump sum from my husband’s pension, everything is on hold pending the Probate Office dealing with what looked like a very straightforward application.

Borntobeamum · 09/11/2023 11:11

My mum died in feb and I did probate online. It took 8 weeks till granted. 4 weeks into the 8, we realised we also needed probate for my dad who passed sept 2022, and instructed a solicitor to deal with it.

Dads took 11 weeks.
I wish I’d known to do them both in February as it would have saved me about £600 and an extra 7 weeks!

I honestly think the solicitor did it as and when he had a spare moment and didn’t prioritise it.

Enko · 09/11/2023 14:41

Op I work in retirement we have lost 4 residents in the last year. 1 done by solicitors took 5 months. 1 done on their own is still not passed currently on 8 months. One passed in August still not through (unsure if done by relatives or solicitor.) The last was 11 months but much more complex than the other 3.