A elderly relative has just died - she is a widower with two children. There is a will which was drawn up by a solicitor leaving 50 percent of the estate to each of the two children.
There is no house or stocks and shares - there is about one hundred grand in a deposit account. This is the only asset.
The executors (the two children) are thinking of applying for probate themselves.
Any idea of how long this will take from the will plus forms being sent off to Probate Office?
Should take no longer than 6 weeks - depends on how busy your local probate court is.
Bitstring , from the wonderful person Harold said
Typically a couple of weeks until the interview, then another couple after that to get the required probate forms back to distribute the estate. This assumes all the paperwork is hunky dory, and they actually know who/where all the relatives are.
Phone them and ask.
They told us it would be three weeks from the appointment at the probate office, and that was correct to the day, (It was about this time of the year).
Obviously as Eric says the figure you get quoted will vary depending on how busy they are.
But they are very approachable and sympathetic. IME About the only official public service that is.
DG
In message , GSV Three Minds in a Can writes
" "What has this got to do with granting of probate? Who is 'they'?
Bitstring , from the wonderful person John Boyle said
You need to fill in the probate request form. This requires numbers of such things as offspring (easy, unless there are some illegitimate ones), siblings, uncles/aunts, cousins, etc.
Even the deceased would sometimes struggle to fill the data in.
The people filling the form in.
just going through this now, same circumstances except value is just above the limit. Its taken 3 months of exchanging forms, and now the probate office has said it will take 8 weeks to wait for the interview. IME they werent sympathetic either, when asked how long to wait for the interview (after the two week period the forms mentioned came and went with no notice) the person at the other end said '8 weeks and it would be quicker if we didnt have people phoning us to ask'. So if its 3 weeks after that it will be 23 weeks! This for a completely sraightforward case, will in place, no disputes.
Your experience is unfortunate and, I think, unusual. It's been said here many times (and was it was my experience, too) that the Probate Registry is the most helpful and easiest-to-deal-with Govt. department.
Sorry to hear of your bad experience. Which venue did you request for your interview? When I worked in the Personal Application Department of the Principal Probate Registry, people sometimes asked why it took so long to get an interview at one of our sub-offices. Quite simple - they're only open one, maybe two, days a week, whereas the PPR does interviews five days a week. So if you're in the London area and want a quicker appointment, specify the PPR for your interview.
Similarly, when my mother had to get probate for my father, she was told there was a long wait for an interview in Dorchester (a sub-office of Winchester), so we went across to Winchester and were seen within two weeks.
Susan
"Tumbleweed" wrote
Did you say: "Well, you wouldn't have people phoning you to ask, if you said 8 weeks on the forms instead of 2" ?
Not an acceptable response, it is a consequence of them failing to meet their own standards. People need to know, hence they have to ask.
Individuals behave like that when their organisation is failing to cope. It sounds like they are short of staff.
Was it in a part of the country where this famous labour shortage exists ?
I would definitely make a complaint.
winchester ! Apparently there is a general 8 week delay there at the moment.
Wasnt me so I dont know. Apparently they are meant to be putting a notice in saying about the delay, but perhaps they were too busy ?
GSV Three Minds in a Can writed in news:LO+ snipped-for-privacy@from.is.invalid:
The local probate office to me (Leicester) were quite happy when we explained that filling in this section of the form was almost impossible (due to an overseas family connection with the deceased) and were contect with 'not known' as the entry. The probate office was unfailingly helpful, and professional in the short dealing with them - our business with them was settled within 3 weeks of the death. More than I can say for the Department of Work & Pensions and the Inland Revenue who are almost incoherent in their communications and seem to be downright difficult in the information they are requiring.
Bitstring , from the wonderful person Mike the Unshavable said
I've no complaints with them, except the difficulty of getting some of the data they ask for (it isn't obvious from the form that 'not known' is an acceptable answer!).
Amen to that. Has taken 5 months so far to sort of my father's estate (well under the limit) and tax/pension affairs. This includes several requests to those departments to 'show your working', rather than just telling the widow that 'your new pension will be X'.
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