The Lemon Fool

Has anyone applied for probate recently? I have a letter dated 22 December 2022 from HMRC saying that they have emailed the IHT421 to HM Courts and Tribunals Service. It is a straightforward Will with everything going to the spouse, should that make any difference.

Applied online 19th October 22
Email granted 28th October.
Paperwork arrived 1st November.

Gryff

Thanks. I will be very pleased if it came that quickly. The last time I applied, in 2019, it took over 6 months.

I'd like to ask the same question. Did you get it yet, hiriskpaul?
I'm told that the solicitor handling my dad's estate just paid the IHT (dad died in December, so they're squeaking in under the 6 months - more billable hours, I guess) and will apply for probate in a week or so. Then it could be anything from 2 to 16 weeks for grant of probate. Then the drama starts, I expect.

I previously reported 10 days for my dad's probate. Subsequently found out the property is still half owned by my mum who died in 2016. Applied for probate for mum 23-March. Still waiting. So they don't seem very consistent.

Gryff

I applied last year I think it took around 6 weeks or so.

I used the post office tracked service or whatever it was that it recommend. After chasing, there was no signature and it was thought everything was lost in the post.

In hindsight there are better options for postage and tracking. I'd started the admin to deal with the new circumstances, loss of will etc when out of the blue there was some positive news on the probate side.

The documents had in fact arrived. I checked the tracking which still had no signature!

6th February : Probate applied for online. Registry then request that Will be posted, which I did the same day.

15th February : Receipt of Will acknowledged online

27th March : Registry requests ‘further information’ online: why wasn’t an IHT400/421 submitted?
I replied online with a copy of HMRC’s IHT checker output confirming that no IHT was payable (net estate is in seven figures but under £2.5M and all goes to spouse); specifically the estate is ‘exempt’ and the ‘Net qualifying value’ of the estate is then £0.
I also reminded them of HMRC’s current guidance: “If there’s no Inheritance Tax to pay and the person died on or after 1 January 2022… you’ll need to report estimates of the estate’s value as part of your probate application. You do not need to also report it to HMRC.”

25th May (today) : waiting… and passing the time doing the deceased's SATR and estate's SATR

I see at gov.uk:
"You’ll usually get the grant of probate or letters of administration within 16 weeks of submitting your application. It can take longer if you need to provide additional information."

Also:
"If there’s Inheritance Tax to pay, you must start paying it and wait 20 working days after sending the tax forms to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) before applying."

So in our case the solicitor can't even apply for probate until 4 weeks after paying the IHT. Maybe 20 weeks till grant of probate. October.

I think employing a solicitor to do it helps with speed.

When my Dad died in 2015, trying to get any sort of response at all was like shouting into an empty canyon. After several months of radio silence and in desperation, we engaged a solicitor for proper advice on how to get some response. They said let them take over as they have separate communication channels not available to us as DIYers. This turned out to work as they got us probate in about a week and it wasn't even expensive. I suspect all they did was make one phone call!

Mind you this was seven years ago now, things may have improved

Paperwork sent this week for recently departed MiL. IHT400 plus about 10 other supporting/calculation IHT forms, will and other legal docs.

Mike4

The cynic in me says you did all the work and they knew it would be sorted shortly and jumped on the bandwagon just in time to claim victory.

I shouldn't think like that really, no let's go with the back channel idea instead.

I suppose it might depend on a number of factors include wills, IHT or other things outside the ordinary.

These days it might be more to do with how the post office feels about fitting in a working day between strikes.

Mike4 wrote:I think employing a solicitor to do it helps with speed.

When my Dad died in 2015, trying to get any sort of response at all was like shouting into an empty canyon. After several months of radio silence and in desperation, we engaged a solicitor for proper advice on how to get some response. They said let them take over as they have separate communication channels not available to us as DIYers. This turned out to work as they got us probate in about a week and it wasn't even expensive. I suspect all they did was make one phone call!

Mind you this was seven years ago now, things may have improved

I agree that having the bumpf submitted by a solicitor likely speeds it all up. HMRC are less likely to query/detail check things if submitted by a solicitor (possibly particularly if by a substantial firm). I have both times used a solicitor to submit the IHT forms and chase probate (but limited their involvement to that to minimise costs)

AdrianC wrote:I'd like to ask the same question. Did you get it yet, hiriskpaul?

gryffron wrote:I previously reported 10 days for my dad's probate. Subsequently found out the property is still half owned by my mum who died in 2016. Applied for probate for mum 23-March. Still waiting. So they don't seem very consistent.

Aha! Email just landed from probate office. 12 weeks! Not nearly as impressive as last time.

Gryff

If a Will had the common "if he/she survive me by thirty days, then..." clause, the Registry might, I guess, hiccup if the probate application was made sooner!
I deliberately waited until the 30 days had elapsed (then submitted online)

stewamax wrote:If a Will had the common "if he/she survive me by thirty days, then..." clause, the Registry might, I guess, hiccup if the probate application was made sooner!
I deliberately waited until the 30 days had elapsed (then submitted online)

I doubt they would 'hiccup'. After all the Will can be fundamentally changed, in effect, by a deed of variation up to 2 years after death.

stewamax wrote:If a Will had the common "if he/she survive me by thirty days, then..." clause, the Registry might, I guess, hiccup if the probate application was made sooner!
I deliberately waited until the 30 days had elapsed (then submitted online)

There really is no need to wait. The Probate Registry merely check that the Will is legally valid and that the executors applying for probate are those named in the Will. They don’t read the contents of the Will.

hiriskpaul wrote:Has anyone applied for probate recently?

Yes, and they seem to be useless at the moment.

My wife applied for probate for her mother on 24th May online and posted the documents to them the same day. The website, despite saying that the receipt of documents should be indicated on the progress bar within two weeks, is showing nothing.

Calling yesterday and eventually finding a route that didn't result in a 'go away we don't want to talk to you' message and an automatic hang up resulted in three agents hanging up before they picked the phone up, and the fourth with an answer of 'dunno, probably in a queue to be scanned, call back in a week'.

Wow AF62, that is a poor experience.

My docs were thought lost as the postal tracking showed nowt but they had reached but we're still not signed for.

Hopefully things will improve from here on.

They say it can take 16 weeks for them to grant probate and you should not chase them earlier as that simply diverts their staff from working on cases.

Maybe it should be privatised

Gerry557 wrote:My docs were thought lost as the postal tracking showed nowt but they had reached but we're still not signed for.

We didn’t use a tracked postal method as there seemed little point.

If the documents reached them they reached them, and if not, well tracking to know they hadn’t wouldn’t help recover the only copy of the will.

Gerry557 wrote:Hopefully things will improve from here on.

Thanks, so do I.

There isn’t actually that much to do with the probate, as it’s not as if it is holding up a property sale, but just closing down a few bank accounts and investments. But it would be good to get it all wrapped up.

I wish the UK government would implement the same system as the Irish government does for documents sent to it - when you complete an online form their system generates a reference number (as the probate system does) but then it instructs you to write that reference on the *outside* of the envelope you are posting to them.

Then when they receive the envelope someone in their mail room can simply type that number onto their system so you know straight away it has been received, and then it doesn’t matter so much if they don’t open it to deal with the contents for a month.