Probate delay.

N

niallck

Registered User
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My partner died intestate nearly two years ago, and since then I have been dealing with her affairs. I left a lot of documentation with our solicitor concerning bank, pensions and various other issues. The solicitor has contacted the Probate office but we are still waiting for them to finalise the process. Has anyone have any reason why it is taking so long? The pandemic was put to me last year, but I believe it should be a fairly straightforward case.
 
Hasn't the solicitor and/or probate office been able to explain the reason for the ongoing delay?
 
I'd say you're Solicitors are dragging their heels,, I'd start there by putting the pressure on them to do the job you are paying them for.
 
ClubMan said:
Hasn't the solicitor and/or probate office been able to explain the reason for the ongoing delay?
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Lack of staff due to Covid at various banks, service providers etc. Any calls I make to solicitor gets the same response.
 
Lack of staff due to Covid at various banks, service providers etc. Any calls I make to solicitor gets the same response.
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Solicitor says it's out of their hands, all the delay coming from Probate Office.
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But all you need to do is show you are the right person to be taking out probate, give revenue information, have valuations for assets.
How can that take a solicitor 2 years.

My SIL has taken out probate herself for her fathers house/land in about 8 weeks start to finish in summer of last year and that included the extra step for an individual application have presenting yourself to the probate office.

I'm not sure what could be taken your case so long, as others have said I would definitely deal with this myself or through another solicitor
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll put pressure on the solicitor again and "threaten " to take the case elsewhere or do it myself.
 
Ive just had similar bad experience with Probate process.
In each case it was the Probate office who delayed things.
Constant queries back and forth with the solicitor.
They do not live in the real world, not answerable to anyone.
Yes, a 2 year turnaround.
But hey, the property concerned increased in value in that time.
Also, I spent 5K on painting and carpets, adding about 80K in value to the sale price.
 
Come to think about it there was one instance where the solicitor sent in the wrong form. Apparently they didn't know there was a new form in place. That would put back the process a month or two I suspect.
 
That's a ridiculous excuse. You're paying the solicitor good money to keep on top of what forms and other documents are required to extract a grant of probate; not knowing about a new form or a new step in the process but billing for a professional service is scandalous.
 
And did the estate pay the tax on the increased value ?
 
niallck said:
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll put pressure on the solicitor again and "threaten " to take the case elsewhere or do it myself.
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I suggest that you write to the solicitor expressing your "serious concern at the inordinate delay in completing this application".
Ask for a summary of what work has been done to date and what remains to be done.
Also ask for an indication of a likely date for completion of the process.

As far as taking the file back and completing the matter yourself goes I would advise against that for two reasons ;

1. If you discontinue your instructions to the solicitor that will probably generate a hefty bill and your papers / file will probably be held to ransom
until it is paid. You are going to be paying a bill anyhow so you might as well get the best value that you can.

2. Be aware that if you make a personal application for a Grant of Probate the Probate Office can, at any time and with no requirement to justify themselves, direct you to discontinue and to lodge the application via a solicitor which would rather defeat the object of the exercise.
 
Probate office is saying 4-6 months due to a backlog, I presume a legacy of Covid which they are still working through. It shouldn't take 2 years unless your solicitor is a chancer, incompetent or an utter moron (or all 3)
 
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