For anyone who has gone through this process in recent times you will probably understand what a nightmare it is. This no doubt pertains to any inter-action with a government department due to Covid. My wife and her sister are the executors so I was doing the donkey work.
From my point of view it appears something that most people can do themselves rather than paying solicitors or any third parties. The online process is fairly simple, although with any online process the system needs to be up and running 24 hours a day. I am sure I am not the only person who has started an online application for it to disappear when you look for an additional piece of information.
As regards probate you need to initally ascertain the value of the deceased's estate. Unless they have an extensive portfolio of investments that should generally be a fairly easy process. We did get a couple of valuations on my mother-in-laws flat but I could have just looked at what was on sale locally and come up with a number.
Given the flat was cleared there was no value on the contents. Intrinsic things (gold / jewellery) were clearly a bit more difficult to value although as there was a mention in the will we had to put some value down. The whole idea is to get under the inheritance tax threshold, but with current house prices that is difficult for the lucky ones. Fortunately there was a carry forward of IH from the father-in-law so that put us well under. Also if the property goes direct to the deceased's children that can be used to offset IH.
Presumably once in a while the powers that be may ask you for some evidence of your valuations but if you are well under the IH threshold I am sure they have bigger fish to fry.
Once inheritance tax is confirmed you can then complete the rest of the process online. Once acknowledged you need to send them the original will. Do not take out any staples when you photocopy it and make sure you pay to get the letter tracked. So for me this was all completed in February but in the knowledge that we shouldn't chase for at least 8 weeks.
A few weeks later we receive a message that we haven't sent the will. Rang and e-mailed and sent them Post Office confirmation that they had received it two days after they asked us to send it. They then queried a change of one of the executor's surnames which was instantly sorted as they had re-married. A couple of weeks later we receive a message that the codicil was missing an attestation clause. Basically that the codicil was signed and witnessed by all parties at the same time. Admittedly the codicil problems were all my fault as I drew uo the document to save on any solicitor's fees. All it did was to leave a lump sum to each of the grandchildren, so hardly a major change in the overall scheme of things but a lesson learned.
To rectify this they needed confirmation from the witnesses. One was dead but fortunately one was still living. I was able to contact them and pass on their details to the Probate Office. After 2 weeks I rang the witness and they had heard nothing. So back to e-mail and trying to ring them. It seems early in the morning is the bext time otherwise it is a war of attrition hanging on for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Eventually my wife made contact to be told they would update the file and send a letter to the witness.
This was all done and sfter a few more weeks my sister-in-law, who is one of the executors, decided to become involved. She eventually realised that my tales of woe were all true so she put in a complaint. She was told that the Probate Office was only dealing with files received prior to 22 March so 'we were in the system'.
Subsequent chasing by my sister-in-law failed to get us anywhere so this week I decided to write a letter on their behalf which I was going to copy into the Daily Mail (I know!!). I asked the wife to ring the Probate Office one last time. After almost giving up she got through. It seemed that no one could actually pull up the file and tell waht the latest postion was. After almost 2 months they were now dealing with applications received prior to 29 March. What counted as an application we have no idea. Was it the original online one sent in February or the subsequent witness statement sent in April.
So the wife says that she wants to make another official complaint. After some delay she is aked various question including; what impact has this had on you? - 6 months to sort out a probate is unacceptable - we have a young lady wanting to buy the mother-in-laws flat who has now missed out the stamp duty holidya costing her several thoudsand pounds. How can we resolve this issue? - the wife lost it at this point. Do your f'ing job, but she was much politer.
This morning she received an email; saying that the matter would be investigated but this would need time. This afternoon she received confirmation that probate had been granted.
I can perhaps understand their initial message that you shouldn't chase them until 8 weeks after confirming that they have received your initial application. After that it would appear that you have to do all the running and be prepared to hassle and chase them all the way through the process.
From my point of view it appears something that most people can do themselves rather than paying solicitors or any third parties. The online process is fairly simple, although with any online process the system needs to be up and running 24 hours a day. I am sure I am not the only person who has started an online application for it to disappear when you look for an additional piece of information.
As regards probate you need to initally ascertain the value of the deceased's estate. Unless they have an extensive portfolio of investments that should generally be a fairly easy process. We did get a couple of valuations on my mother-in-laws flat but I could have just looked at what was on sale locally and come up with a number.
Given the flat was cleared there was no value on the contents. Intrinsic things (gold / jewellery) were clearly a bit more difficult to value although as there was a mention in the will we had to put some value down. The whole idea is to get under the inheritance tax threshold, but with current house prices that is difficult for the lucky ones. Fortunately there was a carry forward of IH from the father-in-law so that put us well under. Also if the property goes direct to the deceased's children that can be used to offset IH.
Presumably once in a while the powers that be may ask you for some evidence of your valuations but if you are well under the IH threshold I am sure they have bigger fish to fry.
Once inheritance tax is confirmed you can then complete the rest of the process online. Once acknowledged you need to send them the original will. Do not take out any staples when you photocopy it and make sure you pay to get the letter tracked. So for me this was all completed in February but in the knowledge that we shouldn't chase for at least 8 weeks.
A few weeks later we receive a message that we haven't sent the will. Rang and e-mailed and sent them Post Office confirmation that they had received it two days after they asked us to send it. They then queried a change of one of the executor's surnames which was instantly sorted as they had re-married. A couple of weeks later we receive a message that the codicil was missing an attestation clause. Basically that the codicil was signed and witnessed by all parties at the same time. Admittedly the codicil problems were all my fault as I drew uo the document to save on any solicitor's fees. All it did was to leave a lump sum to each of the grandchildren, so hardly a major change in the overall scheme of things but a lesson learned.
To rectify this they needed confirmation from the witnesses. One was dead but fortunately one was still living. I was able to contact them and pass on their details to the Probate Office. After 2 weeks I rang the witness and they had heard nothing. So back to e-mail and trying to ring them. It seems early in the morning is the bext time otherwise it is a war of attrition hanging on for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Eventually my wife made contact to be told they would update the file and send a letter to the witness.
This was all done and sfter a few more weeks my sister-in-law, who is one of the executors, decided to become involved. She eventually realised that my tales of woe were all true so she put in a complaint. She was told that the Probate Office was only dealing with files received prior to 22 March so 'we were in the system'.
Subsequent chasing by my sister-in-law failed to get us anywhere so this week I decided to write a letter on their behalf which I was going to copy into the Daily Mail (I know!!). I asked the wife to ring the Probate Office one last time. After almost giving up she got through. It seemed that no one could actually pull up the file and tell waht the latest postion was. After almost 2 months they were now dealing with applications received prior to 29 March. What counted as an application we have no idea. Was it the original online one sent in February or the subsequent witness statement sent in April.
So the wife says that she wants to make another official complaint. After some delay she is aked various question including; what impact has this had on you? - 6 months to sort out a probate is unacceptable - we have a young lady wanting to buy the mother-in-laws flat who has now missed out the stamp duty holidya costing her several thoudsand pounds. How can we resolve this issue? - the wife lost it at this point. Do your f'ing job, but she was much politer.
This morning she received an email; saying that the matter would be investigated but this would need time. This afternoon she received confirmation that probate had been granted.
I can perhaps understand their initial message that you shouldn't chase them until 8 weeks after confirming that they have received your initial application. After that it would appear that you have to do all the running and be prepared to hassle and chase them all the way through the process.
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