Positive probate stories please!

[luckycat888]

In a chain. I exchanged on my sale (chose to break the chain…don’t ask), but vendor further up the chain died today (before exchange) so now we are homeless and buggered.

Was the deceased the sole owner of the house or was it in joint names? If joint, there's still the possibility that the surviving owner could still sign it over depending on whether it was owned as joint tenants or tenants in common, but there'll be a delay.

If it was solely owned, then the executors/personal representatives can't sell it until it's gone through probate which may take 2/3 months as the minimum if everything is straightforward (i.e. simple estate) and probably 6-12 months realistically if it's a more complicated estate.

To be entirely honest, if I were you, I'd withdraw and find something else.

My DF died very late November, probate was granted mid January and I completed on his flat the day after.

Doesn’t take 6-12 months to get a grant. You can exchange contracts once a grant of probate has been obtained. Technically unless any IHT is payable, this can be obtained in just a few weeks.

Read my post. I said 6-12 months for a "complicated" estate. Unless the OP knows the estate is simple or not, six months plus is something they need to be prepared for. Remember that the OP has no control nor influence over the executors/personal representatives. If they are motivated and get on with things quickly, then yes, 2/3 months is realistic if everyone else also moves quickly, i.e. banks, HMRC, probate office, etc. People keep saying a couple of months, which yes, is possible, but only if those applying are motivated to move quickly. Once you get, say, a solicitor acting as the formal executor (as specified in the will), or family members acting as joint executors who aren't particular close or local, then timescales expand, even moreso if family members do it themselves and don't research properly and end up with HMRC and probate applications being rejected for being incomplete or containing errors. It's very poor advice to give the OP hope and expectation that it may be ready to complete in just 2/3 months - yes, it may happen, but the likelihood is that it will take longer.

I literally work in trusts and estates and deal with estate administration daily! It’s possible is what I said…

I seem to recall that it is/was possible to speed probate up if there is a specific reason...is it?
I wondered if being part way through a transaction would constitute a reason if anything did.

Yes, I agree it's "possible", but from my experience it's not "likely". As I said, you need everyone involved to be motivated and efficient.

There are certain circumstances where the probate registry will push it through. Once a grant has been applied for, it generally comes through within 2-3 weeks now. So the executors need to be proactive in obtaining date of death balances and make the application. We are often instructed at work and can have a grant within 2 weeks of being instructed. Like I said above, it’s possible and the comment of it being 6-12 months is just ridiculous and scaremongering. I’m sure the family or executor who have been appointed will want to push the sale through. The only delay will be if there is no will and it’s an intestacy and then it could take up to 12 weeks. Just depends on the circumstances.

My mum passed away when I was in the process of selling her house. She and her former husband weee tenants in common and his solicitors held his share of the house in trust after he died many years earlier. I used a solicitor to make the probate application. My late stepfather’s solicitors were keen for the sale to go ahead, and probate took about eight weeks to be granted.

Thank you all for all your input. Hoping it’s a quick one as we now technically homeless and children are going back to school soon