Probate timeline

[Inspire96]

We have agreed on property which is sold under probate.

The probate has been filed last week by the sellers solictiors

Please could you advise how long the probate would take .

Our buyers of the property need to know the timescale we should aim for exchange.

You can look it up online but it’s usually about four months. There’s a tracking system so it should give the applicant some details over the coming month or so.

I would have thought they’d have applied/been granted probate before selling so the timeline I’ve stated may be wrong

it can take ages...friend has been waiting 2 years now to settle the estate but it was a bit complicated with debts all over the place.

there is no set timetable as it is impossible to know how smoothly an individual estate will go. A minimum of many months would be reasonable.

During Covid Probate was taking six months plus but my friend just completed probate on her father’s estate in less than 2 months, from the date it was filed. She did probate herself and it included a house (but there was no IHT to pay).

My dad passed away early January 2020, his house was SSTC at the time and due to complete a couple of weeks later.
Buyers were happy to hold on for us to sort probate, we did it ourselves online and had the grant of probate back within around 4 weeks, the sale completed towards the end of Feb 2020.
We also had to get a grant of probate after my mum passed away in 2014, I can't remember how long that took, was longer than dad's but not that long, maybe around 6-8 weeks.

Edit to add, both my exs parents passed in 2020 aswell, one feb then one may (was a bad year!).
I helped him apply for the letter of administration (like probate but for situations with no will).
This also came through within a few weeks and they were able to sell the house after that, it often doesn't have to take that long if everything is straight forward. In my mum's case her will left everything to dad. With dad it left everything to me and my sister.
With my exs parents there was no will but their 3 children applied jointly and split the proceeds 3 ways so they were all uncomplicated situations, which maybe helped with the timing.

We had a bit of a time with a relative, 4 years it took, howevefr it was during covid, with tens of beneficiaries all over the world and no will

We couldnt sell the property until HMRC said we could though so that bit of it went through like clockwork and then the proceeds of the property went into the estate to be finalised off, it took another 6 months after the property was sold.

8 weeks. This year.

Three weeks, very recently. We were shocked.

Took four weeks for us in August this year. Search the property board, quite a few people recently have had probate granted in 3/4 weeks. Do check though that it is probate and not inheritance tax which must be completed before applying for probate. Again it's taking about it 4 weeks currently.

We were granted probate in 2 weeks earlier this year.

Took 3 weeks before covid and 10 weeks during covid.
But we put house on the market as soon as we applied for probate which we did ourselves.
Does not seem to be any set time frames.

Probate took two years on my brother's property and it was not complicated. No communication from solicitors.

I heard of 3.5 weeks this year from when the application was made, simple estate but including a property , everything to the deceased children. They did it themselves .

to add, the delay often seems to be with solicitor not getting on with it, so if they have got to the stage of submitting it on the government website I would be hopeful as lots of stories of it being quick this year but I guess it depends on how much they have to check

My probate took less than 14 days.

the whole process, including submitting IHT forms and payments, started on 16 August and ended on 25 September.

so far less than four months, including the IHT.

I don’t know but I am in the exact same position. Good luck!

4 weeks for probate in October.

To sell a property you need to wait for a grant of probate to be issued not for the administration to be finalised like someone on here suggested. There are delays at the Probate Registry but equally I’ve heard of grants being issued incredibly quickly recently, within couple of weeks. I’d prepare myself for 16weeks max anything less than that it’s just a matter of pot luck even the probate solicitor won’t know and they can’t chase/enquire before 16 weeks have passed

In the same position. Offer accepted October. We were told probate had been applied for-it hadn’t. Was submitted the week before Christmas, heard it’s been granted today. Just wanted to give a positive story-might be quite quick.

Hopefully our buyer doesn’t pull out now!

I was advised at least 26 weeks by the probate office in November 2023. It actually took 48 weeks.

We are SSTC and have been since march last year, was told probate would take 2 months. Found out through solicitor the owner had died in July the year before (2023) and they STILL don't have probate sorted.

We are actively looking for other houses but its been a nightmare.

We have been told that they havenow recevied HMRC probate code to apply for probate

how long probate will take if they apply next week

We are hoping to complete in march as mortgage all approved would that be possible

Mine was back within ten days after applying with the code That was an online probate application.

Thanks did your property had to pay inheritance tax would that make a difference

Please could you advise when did u made the application