I’m at my wits end with Newcastle and would be grateful for any advice.
I submitted an agreed application for rectification of a Will in June 2025. We had earlier this year some queries via email about the application which were answered immediately. We have called the Probate “Helpline” weekly since September. We were told last week that the helpline can’t help and we need to email to get contact with Newcastle. We have a week later get an email saying it will take four but possibly eight weeks to review our correspondence. We have made a complaint which took months for them to reply to but no resolution of our application. We have made a second complaint with currently, no response.
Other than driving from Devon to Newcastle I don’t know what else I can do to get any kind of update on this matter. Any help or tips would be appreciated.
My other gripe is that I recently submitted a paper application (the one for Probate Practitioners) and they sent the Letters of Administration to my client saying it was personally extracted!
Hi there. HMCTS have recently added an escalation form you can fill in. It did help recently with one of my matters and hopefully it will help with yours. The link to the form is under escalating probate applications.
I submitted a paper application to Newcastle in May 2025. Like you, I got so fed up with chasing the probate registry I submitted a formal complaint, which didn’t resolve the application. Then, out of the blue, the grant was issued at the end of July 2026. If that is the sort of timescale Newcastle are working to, they should be looking at June 2025 applications about now. Good luck!
I am waiting for over thirty Grants, some of them submitted as long ago as 2024. They are all in Irish-domiciled estates. In UK domiciled estates I have been receiving Grants within about three months.
I have been told by several complaints handlers at HMCTS that the ordinary “caseworkers” cannot cope with non-UK domiciled estates, so those applications have to be sent to a specialist team who have a large backlog. While I realise that some non-UK-domiciled estates may present problems, there is nothing particularly difficult about an application in an Irish-domiciled estate. The only additional document that has to be submitted is a sealed and certified copy of the Grant and of the Will (if there is one). Prior to the change to the current shambolic system, I submitted all my applications to the Oxford DPR who issued a Grant within two to three weeks. Irish-domiciled estates never presented a problem to the Oxford DPR, so I cannot understand why those applications need to be sent to a specialist team.
Thanks Rachel. The Complaint’s process is an absolute waste of time. It has no impact on how they process the work. Glad you eventually for your Grant!
I understand that there is the equivalent of two full time registrars in the country who presumably are the only people who can deal with anything “not standard”. Despite the recent increase in the Court fee I don’t think there will be an improvement in service!