Probate advice at the end of our tether

[probatepurchase]

We are the bottom house in a chain of 3 houses. The owner of the top of the chain has died in April 24, and so we are waiting for probate to be granted. Apparently it's with HMRC to wait for a code to be released and there is talk of an inheritance tax 'cheque'.

The information we have is from the lady we are buying from.

We are going to lose our buyer if we don't complete within 2-3 weeks.

Does anyone understand what the above means and, if our timescale of 2-3 weeks is realistic?

It took nearly 30 weeks for us to get probate as we were teetering on whether we had to pay iht, then the house offer was higher than we thought so had to resubmit paperwork with higher numbers and pay iht. It's been a real struggle - luckily I had some savings so could pay the bill and have claimed it back from DFs estate.

I sent probate in and it was done in 2 weeks, this was from literally doing it online and payment to them sending through the probate certificate to my house.

I wasn't aware that the house could be marketed before probate was granted

Hi! I'm a probate solicitor. I do have some slightly good news to share here - the probate registry are very reluctant to ever expedite any applications. However, one of the only reasons that they will accept to push an application through as 'urgent' is if the property was on the market BEFORE the deceased passed away. Might be worth prompting your estate agent to ask the probate solicitor about this.

If they're still waiting for a HMRC code though, probate definitely has not been applied for yet. You have to wait 2 weeks from sending a code request to be able to submit a probate application.

It can, it just can’t complete until you have the certificate so you really need to have done all the work and actually applied in confidence that nothing is outstanding first.

I have been through this - twice and am still going through one. The Probate Office need a massive rocket up them. The forms are a nightmare especially where a house is involved and there is tax to pay. I employed a solicitor to assist and they were very good. But - 16 weeks! And that is assuming all the forms are OK. There are rumours that if something is wrong on the forms it gets put to the back of the queue but I am not sure that is quite true.

The most shocking thing for me is that HMRC charge the IRT tax whether they have passed the estate for Probate or not!

They cannot have it both ways. Resource the offices properly and get your act together. If this was a private company they would be out of business by now but as its run by the state they can do what they like

The timescales lately haven’t been too bad. Friend’s mother passed away in 2022 and probate took about 8 months, another friend who lost a relative was able to get probate in 6 weeks this year. It depends on how many elements need to be sorted - some people have lots of shares, savings etc. that need chasing up in addition to transfer of ownership of house etc.

Probate was nearly 2 years for my parent. And 20 months for my aunt. This stuff seems to go on forever.

I'd not be buying a probate sale unless I was a cash buyer with no urgency.

All these people stating its taken 18 months-2 years. Just why? You can chase after 16 weeks.

Is it because it took ages to pull the financials together before Probate was applied for? That makes more sense.

My father passed in April
his estate is above the IHT threshold but I can claim NRB as he left his house to me , however the process has now changed . You have to submit all the IHT paperwork BEFORE the probate application , to HMRC , they are supposed to issue a code within 20 working days .. ha ha .. yeah right . I’m now 8 weeks and still waiting .
Once the code is issued you submit the rest of the paperwork .
my fathers estate is straight forward but my solicitor has advised codes are taking months and the probate process overall could take up to 2 years ! (Due to staff shortages and delays )
So if they haven’t received the code then I don’t think you have a good in Hades of completion anytime soon .. sorry 😔

@Tracker1234 my solicitor has chased the code and simply been told .. it’s being dealt with . My solicitor said some of the estates on their books are edging towards 18 months with no reason for the delay given

Sorry, OP but when my MIL died, HMRC got involved due to an unpaid tax bill, and probate and settling the tax issue took 13 months.

We applied for probate late March for my DF estate and it was granted early May. Apparently much speedier now than it has been, although this was a straightforward everything (property, bank balances and shares) transferring to DM.

The thing that took the time was gathering balances and valuations, that took 3 months. The actual probate from applying to granting was 5-6 weeks.

Scooby - that is what I meant. The clock doesnt start ticking until you actually input your application. It might take 18 months but that isnt 18 months with the Probate Office.

The top of the chain manager of the estate agent has come back with the below and I don't think he's right in what he is saying. Or is he, any advice welcome.

'I was informed by the executor to the Estate and the sole beneficiary that the inheritance tax has been paid to the Inland Revenue. As soon as the money has been cleared by the Inland Revenue, the sole beneficiary will receive the code to proceed with the release of the probate. The executor will inform the solicitors who will draw up the probate papers and then inform us and the executor that probate has been granted.

As soon as I hear from the executor, we can then chase the solicitors to expedite these procedures. I will let you know as soon as I have the information from the executor. '

I did both my dadas and my late mothers d
Mums in Dec 2019 got it back first week of Jan 2020
Dad’s Sept 2021 got it back in Nov 2022. ( did use Farewill - probate company as part of the house was in a trust and I wanted to get it right )

both times it was less than 7 weeks but a lot of that is down to me being incredibly organized and having everything to hand.

my parents had a “death box “😂 so all accounts and stuff were in there

My Mums Probate was very simple and it took from March to October last year.
We were in no rush though

We are buying a house in which the owner has just sadly died. It has apparently been marked urgent as we were already far along in the purchase and should apparently take weeks rather than months due to this as mentioned upthread

We have chased 4 times now. Last time we chased was six weeks ago. We were told we would hear within three weeks.

The IHT owing was paid over a year ago.

It is in some cases. We paid the money over a year ago. Still waiting.

'I was informed by the executor to the Estate and the sole beneficiary that the inheritance tax has been paid to the Inland Revenue. As soon as the money has been cleared by the Inland Revenue, the sole beneficiary will receive the code to proceed with the application for the Grant of Probate. The executor will inform the solicitors who will draw up the probate papers and then inform us and the executor that probate has been applied for.

Just corrected the EA's advice in bold.

OP, please understand that the EA doesn't have legal or probate qualifications, any more than you do. If you want accurate information, you have to speak to your solicitor, who will ask your questions up the chain. It will take longer, but the EA is not helping you here.

Haha. Maybe..

Apparently it's with HMRC to wait for a code to be released and there is talk of an inheritance tax 'cheque'.

The process is to pay any tax due, then apply for probate and wait. It takes as long as it takes snd there is no known way to influence how long it takes or speed it up.

Probate will not be granted until any tax due is paid or an arrangement has been agreed about when the tax due shall be paid.

It really is not fair for people to market property until probate has already been granted. Sorry, you would be wise to start making other arrangements

There is a reason why probate houses often sit empty for ages.

Those having long waits for probate - can I ask are you using solicitors or doing the probate yourself?