I have sent the following email to the probate registry and would be interested to hear from others who are experiencing these ridiculous delays.
“I am finding that the acknowledgements which you are sending following the submission of paper applications for grants is misleading. You say “you’ll usually get probate within 16 weeks of receiving your application.” However, that does not seem to be the case. For example, in case reference xxx deceased where, the application, which was sent by DX on 22 November 2022, was acknowledged on 2 December and the grant received by us on 17 April. Based on your 16 week period, the grant should have been with us by 15 March, which would be 16 weeks from 23 November the likely date you received the application. There were no queries raised by you and even allowing for a week off Christmas, it should have been with us well before 17 April. It seems to me that the 16 weeks runs from the date you acknowledge receipt of an application, which in some cases is as much as 2 months from the date the application was sent. Why is it taking so long for you to acknowledge receipt of a case? Surely it does not need a specialist to send such acknowledgements”
I agree completely with the sentiments in your email to the Probate Registry. It is completely ridiculous that the acknowledgement emails are being sent up to several weeks after an application has been received and indeed also several weeks after my cheque in any particular application has been presented. I too have found that the sixteen week period seems to be running from the date of the acknowledgement email, not from the date of receipt of the application.
A colleague queried this on the phone (after waiting the usual 40mins+) and was told that the 16 weeks starts when the forms are uploaded not when received!
If that is the case Nigel, then they should amend the acknowledgement, but it really is not right that it should take two months to load the application and indeed there is no reason why they could not acknowledge it as soon as they receive it or at least within a week of that. They are trying to stick to the 16 weeks when really, they should be saying 24 weeks, but that is not politically attractive!
Yes, Cliona, waiting for cheques to be presented is not fair, and what if by chance the enclosures such as the Will was missing would it take them two months to tell us that they hadn’t received it?
I attended a Webinar hosted by HMCTS in December when they sought to address this. The said that all applications (paper or online) would be acknowledge on the day they were received - for a short time in December I did received acknowledgment emails from HMCS within 72 hours of submission. This timescale has slipped significantly since the new year and I have a couple of cases where it has taken in excess of 6 weeks to acknowledge.
I have started to complete the following online complaint form 16 weeks after submission - it does seem to get results! www.complain-about-a-court-or-tribunal.form.service.justice.gov.uk
I have also noticed that online applications which were being processed in some cases in 2-3 weeks around the turn of the year are now taking significantly longer.
Thank you Sarah. I will review my outstanding cases and take the line suggested by you and hopefully it will have some success but I’m not that confident. Of course doing this means that HMCTS staff time will be taken up addressing the complaints, but I suppose it’s now every woman/man for themselves!
Just An update. I have received an email from CTSC probate saying “the cases are taken from the date they are submitted onto the system. At the moment there is a high demand”
It seems therefore, that it can take up to 2 months for them to imput Applications on their system!
My bank’s recorded telephone message invariably tells me that they are currently experiencing high demand. Curiously this is the position at whatever time one telephones.
I agree with your complaints, but obtaining a sealed and certified copy of the Grant is taking 2 - 6 months to be received. As some countries have time limits on how long between the date of certification and the date the foreign country receives the S&C Grant, this can also be very upsetting as we have had a couple of cases where it took so long to receive the S&C Grant, it was deemed expired before we could even send it off!
To issue an S&C Grant is something that should take less than 30 minutes at the Probate Registry - and does not require any decision making - what is going on, or are they protecting their backsides and promotion by simply doing nothing, passing the buck and not making any decisions?
We even had a letter from the Probate Registry asking for our PBA Number when form PA1S says we can send a cheque. We asked months ago for details as to how to obtain a PBA Number and why it was even necessary when we had sent a cheque, but of course have never received a reply.
The whole situation is a disgrace.
Yours Sincerely,
Peter Double / Probate Resealing Services
I rang the helpline this week on a matter submitted online (and documents posted to Harlow) in early April. The online portal is still showing as ‘awaiting documents’. I was concerned that they had gone missing in the post and I might have to complete a legal statements requesting a grant on a copy Will. I was told by the call handler that they have had several calls of this nature - and that it is likely the documents have been received but the system not updated (they could equally have been lost in the post). It was suggested to me that a wait another couple of weeks to see if the portal had been updated! I’m not sure what I will do if it hasn’t, other than to learn a lesson to send things recorded delivery. The system is a shambles.
Yes Sarah, but I’m afraid we’re all in the same boat. I’m constantly being asked by clients why it is taking so long and to give them an indication when we should receive the grant.
I send all documents by recorded and print off the receipt following delivery. I then allow for two months for us to receive an email confirming receipt of documents and I estimate that the 16 weeks in which HMCTS say we should receive probate, will run from that date, not the date they got the documents and sent the automatic acknowledgement of the online application. Overall therefore I estimate it will take six months, but I say that we might be lucky and get the grant earlier. What a farce!