Probate Registry Delays in England and Wales Update

Probate fees

The Ministry of Justice has now confirmed that it has abandoned its proposal to change probate application fees from the current fixed fee to a sliding scale with a maximum fee of £6,000.

It is very welcome news that the current fee of £155 (for solicitor applications) will remain in place for the time being.

Source: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/inherently-unfair-probate-fee-hike-scrapped/5101797.article 

 

Probate Application delays

If you haven’t read our original update regarding the delays from May 2019, please take a read before continuing.

STEP met HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) on 9^th October. Key outcomes of the meeting were as follows:

• HMCTS is now issuing almost 7,000 grants a week. It is inputting information received within three days.
• It is still receiving 700-800 applications a day, and has processed 98,000 grants since April.
• It has had a backlog since March.
• HMCTS has increased staffing levels by 20% to deal with the backlog.

HMCTS confirmed that it is striving to get back to its pre-March level of service, which was a 28-day turnaround for personal applicants and ten days for professional applicants. It acknowledges that performance has not been acceptable but anticipates that delays will reduce over the coming weeks.

HMCTS continues to apologise for poor service.

Source: The STEP Blog: https://blog.step.org/2019/09/10/ew-probate-delays-september-update/

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The content of this page is a summary of the law in force at the date of publication and is not exhaustive, nor does it contain definitive advice. Specialist legal advice should be sought in relation to any queries that may arise.