I would be interested to know what is the average additional time which HMCTS takes to issue a grant of representation where it has placed a “stop” on its issue. I appreciate that such action can be for a multitude of reasons but it would be interesting to have those statistics.
Currently I have two cases which I think I have mentioned previously but which still remain “stopped“ and I cannot find out the reason. I have telephoned and hung on for up to 50 minutes in one case where the application was made last October, but could not find out why the “stop” had not been removed and could not get the person to whom I spoke to give me an estimate of when I might receive the grant. This “stop“ which was in fact the second time it had been stopped had been made in March, the first one having been made last November. The sole reason the “stop” was made was because the executor (spouse of the deceased) had written “old Will” on one of the pages, this was done by him after we released the Will to him following his wife’s death when he was intending to make a personal application but then decided to instruct us instead. All of this was explained to HMCTS and at their suggestion we sent them a copy of the Will which we had retained and which had no such words written on it. The other case simply had a “stop” placed on it because HMC TS said they had not received page one of the Will but as we had sent them the complete Will fastened by a cornerpiece with the pages being printed back to back, their scanning people had clearly omitted to scan page 1! That application was made in early February and we still await the grant and cannot find out why they have not issued it. Perhaps they’ve lost the original Will! In fact In an effort to help, we sent them a photocopy of the completed Will but then we had an email asking us to send them the original Will. What a comedy of errors! Incidentally both executors have contacted their MPs and in the “missing page 1” case a letter was received on 14 June from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State responsible for HMCTS which as might be expected referred to disruption caused by the pandemic but otherwise did not give one much confidence that anything will happen soon but I can only hope. Incidentally one of the executors is in his mid-90s and not very well which isn’t helped by this delay. As all this has undoubtedly added to the time spent on the matter I feel HMCTS should foot the bill for the additional costs but I expect I will be wasting my time.
Sorry for going on too long with this but I really am annoyed about it all.
We have been down the ‘stop’ route on four cases now. In the end we rang every week. First thing in the morning or last thing at night were the best times. Best of luck! To their credit one guy sorted it all out on the phone while we held and issued the grant immediately
I have a case which was stopped on 29th March as HMCTS did not have the IHT421. HMRC Insists they sent it on the 24th February! A duplicate IHT421 was issued and uploaded to HMCTS in the middle of April.
When I spoke to HMCTS 5 weeks ago I was told that they were working on stopped solicitor cases from the end of January. Yesterday they told me they are working on stopped cases form 8th February. At that rate it will take months to get to mine.
I have encouraged the family to complain but realistically I am not sure if that will help. Very frustrating when the cause for the stop is a breakdown between HMRC and HMCTS.
I have had two cases stopped recently - one last September which took four months to resolve (a page of the Will not scanned as you have experienced) and another in April where the IHT421 had apparently not been sent by HMRC; even though HMRC themselves confirmed they had emailed it a week before I submitted my application and on the HMCTS system it also stated that the IHT421 had been received and the figures matched.
I find emailing rather than telephoning more useful and less time consuming - the two times I have got through on the telephone I have found the information vague and unhelpful, at least with an email there is a paper trail.
In both cases I ended up raising a complaint online with HMCTS and both mysteriously sorted themselves out within 10 days of the complaint being raised (I received the Grant for the application which was stopped in April today even though I was told they were still dealing with stops from the beginning of February).
I had the same experience IHT421 not tallied with the Probate application - raised an online complaint which was added to the online ‘Event’ list for the case. Within a week I had the Grant on my desk.
I’ve had two stops on a PA1P recently, couldn’t apply online as the sole executor had renounced and there were two residuary legatees applying. I complained as both Stops were covered in the PA1P, the response to the complaint was that Statements of Truth were still required. Given that the PA1P is signed as a statement of truth I will be escalating the complaint. It’s frustrating enough that we cannot estimate a timescale for applications with any degree of accuracy at the moment without issues like this causing unneccessary delays.
I have had two stopped in May and June - the latter because I put £325,000 instead of the actual gross estate figure. I was also told that they were dealing with solicitor enquiries from February. I had 3 separate e-mails on the same application which I replied to each time. I find it annoying that we have to put on that declaration too after all our word is still our bond. I don’t know why they couldn’t have a similar system to the land registry portal where all documents can be uploaded together once we have the wet signatures on the Legal Statements (very bizarrely worded by the computer in my opinion) The original Will would still be sent in by post (a copy uploaded) to enable them to work on the application fully but this half and half system where they have to marry it all up and throw HMRC IHT 421 in the mix too just seems a disaster to me.