Anybody know how long probate is likely to take

Lovetopaint can you explain please? What you wrote doesn’t make sense.

???

Hope you have considered that if both husband and wife have died the beneficiaries of both can be claimed.

One of the bond companies released some money before probate was formally granted to pay my Mums IHT which was thousands Franbern. No property involved in her case either.

Can I also add to the conversation that when I did the probate for my father the probate office was very helpful. It was 20 years ago though so that may have changed.
It only took a few weeks.

JackyB

Our mother died in July 2019. We only recently got the ends tied up. The solicitor was totally incompetent. Would have been much quicker to do it ourselves.

That is dreadful! I hope you haven’t paid their bill. I would be having a word with them if it was me.

I did my Mum’s probate with no prior experience and the forms really were self explanatory.

The actual Probate was the easy bit. Collecting all the information took months. Dispersing , including selling items is taking forever.

Our mother died in July 2019. We only recently got the ends tied up. The solicitor was totally incompetent. Would have been much quicker to do it ourselves.

If IHT cannot be paid in full until a property or other assets are sold payment can be deferred for up to ten years but the outstanding amount will attract interest.

MY son, who is the Executor for this probate, received a number. But, the total amount of IH had to be paid in full, before probate could continue.
This was okay for this as there is no property involved, just cash, so the IH (a large amount) was taken from that.
However, if the IH is because of a property. I do wonder how people can pay over big amount of money, when they cannot actually get this money until probate is granted and the property sold.

He is still hoping for it all to be completed sometime in the summer, and the share out between him and his siblings made.

Recently filed my mams it took 8 weeks for it to complete but we still have property to sell … I’m in uk

I did it myself for my Dad - the estate was reasonably straightforward but there was property involved along with various savings instruments. It took 4 weeks from start to finish and cost a little over £400.

I seem to have been quite lucky, I was executor of my husbands will and did probate myself. Although it took over 6 months to collate all the information from submitting the probate application to approval took 5 weeks. The Grant of probate was received 6 days later.

In fact the probate documents arrived within 5 working days. I can't complain about the service at all.

Ours took nearly a year, similar scenario apart from the inheritance tax part. There was a discussion on the radio about probate the other day, and it seems this is not unusual. Apparently the government is partly to blame for it taking so long because there used to be regional probate offices and then it was centralised. Plus you have staff working from home. People were complaining that it is almost impossible to get through to them on the phone. Another example of nothing working in this country.

^Severe delays that currently see clients being advised that probate will take at least nine months, will not improve without adequate resources, The waiting time for probate almost doubled from April 2022 to April 2023, says CILEX (the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.
www.cilex.org.uk/media/media_releases/probate-delays-causing-stress-loss/

Date of link: 23 Jan 2024

The documents may well arrive in under ten days but it depends on Royal Mail. They don’t come by Special Delivery or Signed for, just ordinary post,

Grantanow

I've just heard from the Registry that my probate application has been approved. That was after 8 weeks. When I applied I was told it would be 16 weeks so I'm pleased. I need to wait 10 days for the documents to arrive.

You will probably receive them tomorrow! That’s what happened to me.

I think it partly depends on where you live. When my husband died it was very quick and efficient. We are in Devon.
But with my sister who died last September and lived near London, her son is still waiting.

I've just heard from the Registry that my probate application has been approved. That was after 8 weeks. When I applied I was told it would be 16 weeks so I'm pleased. I need to wait 10 days for the documents to arrive.

haighsue

Primrose 53, What is a caveat?

Yes, to be sure google it but in my own words it is something that spiteful, jealous or troublemaking people can put on your probate application for just £3 and it causes endless stress and worry.

The caveat stays on for 6 months during which time you can try to get them to remove it but if they are pigheaded they can renew it again for just another £3. What a ridiculous outdated amount that is! What do you get for £3 these days, especially in the legal world. Maybe if it was considerably more it might make them think twice.

Because I had done nothing wrong whatsoever and had provided the caveator with everything they asked for (actually more than they were entitled to legally) the application was approved but it took nearly two years. They on the other hand refused to reply to my letters or requests just so they could string things out as long as possible. I got the last laugh though because they had to pay the legal fees! 🤣

Best to google it haighsue
Although, in general speech, it means beware - there’s a slightly different meaning in law, especially with regard to Probate.

Primrose 53, What is a caveat?

My stepmother died in March last year, having lived for 35 years in a house belonging to my father, who died 35 years ago. The house was left to me and my niece ( my brother died some years ago). She is executor. Probate was applied for late in April. The house was found to have some boundary issues which needed to be solved. In all it has taken almost nine months - probate was granted this week. The house has been sold, subject to all the required checks, so we hope all will be done within, hopefully, another month. Good luck!

Took nearly 2 years for us as someone put a Caveat on the application and it was a nightmare.