Navigating Probate Delays: How to Gain Control Over an Estate

Probate delays are causing stress, disruption, and emotional anguish to bereaved families trying to unlock loved ones’ finances, warn lawyers. Applying for probate is a vital step to gain control over an estate after someone dies, and law firms say house sales can collapse and investments turn volatile during the process, piling pressure on waiting families. Accessing bank accounts, settlement of debts, and sorting out bequests can also go on hold for months, they say.

The probate service is run by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, although controversially some work such as scanning wills has been outsourced. The latest official figures reveal the average wait time for both paper and digital applications from submission to granting of probate was 10.6 weeks in February, down from 11 weeks the previous month. Carrying out the whole process online is quicker at 7.5 weeks, down from 8.4 weeks in January.

But lawyers report seeing probate delays of five or six months, and one says she is struggling to sort out a complicated case which has been stuck in the probate process for a year so far. Fiona Dodd, a private client partner at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, says probate delays are causing ‘huge disruption and emotional anguish to bereaved families’, with queues at the courts leaving buyers walking out on house sales and investments losing value during stock market volatility since the war in Ukraine.

Dodd also says, ‘It is basically a waiting game – there is no shortcut or way to avoid the delays when applying for the grant of probate. Despite these types of applications being daily bread and butter for probate practitioners, legal teams up and down the country are experiencing the same problem.’ She adds, ‘In the past few months, we’ve seen clients losing out on property sales as buyers have been unwilling to put up with the long wait times for a grant of probate to be issued.’

Jade Gani, chief executive of Circe Law and a director of Solicitors for the Elderly, reports seeing an average wait time of 20 weeks for probate, which is ‘tremendously stressful’ for families. Gani says delays are often caused by ‘stops’ in the process caused by human error and something getting missed when wills are scanned. She believes if the Government wants to save money on scanning of wills and do it more efficiently, it should create a ‘green list’ of lawyers and licensed probate specialist firms who are permitted to upload the documents.

Ben Bell, government affairs manager at the STEP body of inheritance professionals, says, ‘Probate delays can be extremely stressful for grieving families who may be relying on probate to be granted to access funds, dividends, rental income, or to sell a home left to them by someone who has passed away. In some more complex cases, grieving families are waiting up to six months for probate to be granted, and this is causing serious financial struggles.’

HM Courts and Tribunal Service is reforming how professional users can apply for probate, including improvements to response times. STEP welcomes the additional resource allocated to HMCTS staffing levels, but it is concerning that improvements to probate service timeframes are not yet coming through, causing unnecessary frustration and distress.

A This is Money reader shared their family’s experience of probate delays, saying, ‘Our probate application was submitted in January and our solicitor contacted the Probate department by phone on 17 March, only to be told to send an email instead. The solicitor sent out the email the same day and is yet to hear anything back from them. The Probate department’s phone lines are now laden with automated messages, mostly telling you they have no desire to speak to you. We have a property sale delayed as a result of this saga. No private business would get away with operating in the manner the Probate department is. The government needs to step in and get a grip on this.’

Jo Summers, partner with law firm Jurit and a member of STEP, says, ‘It’s clear that HMCTS have been trying to do what they can, bringing in and training additional staff. However, we are still seeing lengthy delays, particularly for any applications that cannot be done online. It is also a struggle to get through to the probate registry, and being put on hold for 45 minutes to an hour is not unusual. Understandably, grieving families are frustrated with the whole system. They do not need the added distress caused by these delays.’

Summers suggests acting in advance to avoid loved ones waiting months for funds to come through after probate, such as nominating to whom insurance policies or death benefit payments should be passed. She also recommends considering a joint bank account, as it is not frozen when one of the account holders dies.

The Government points out that the vast majority of probate applications are dealt with within seven weeks on average, and more than 90% of applications are completed digitally, which is faster than doing it on paper. However, probate cannot be granted until inheritance tax is settled with HMRC, which can also cause delays. Waiting times information includes applications which have had to be stopped due to errors on the form or missing documents such as the inheritance tax form or the original will.

If you’re handling the probate process yourself, Solicitors for the Elderly chair Michael Culver suggests seeking out an SFE member to review your application before you submit it. He also recommends waiting 25 working days from sending the inheritance tax paperwork to HMRC before applying for probate if tax is payable, ensuring all names match those within the will, explaining why one executor isn’t applying for the grant if appropriate, ensuring all documents including the original will are included when sending documents to HMCTS, and explaining why you are entitled to apply for the grant if there is no will.