Grieving families plunged into probate hell by bureaucratic chaos

‘Let down’: Peter West waited over a year for probate approval

The sorry saga of thousands of bereaved families waiting up to a year for the probate office to approve vital documents needed to deal with their late loved one’s affairs is growing more shameful by the day.

Grieving families already wait up to an hour to speak on the phone to a civil servant and must wait 16 weeks before asking for an update on an application.

Now documents seen by The Mail on Sunday show the extent of the meltdown at HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) as it tries to get a grip on the enormous backlog of probate applications. These suggest the system is no longer fit for purpose.

A dossier submitted by law firms and trade bodies to the Justice Committee reveals:

• Fourteen weeks is the average wait for a probate application to be approved – double the length of time in 2023;

• Applications made on paper –rather than the alternative, online – take up to 23 weeks to be granted;

• More than one in four probate applications are not issued on the first attempt as HMCTS demands more information from the applicant – which can result in weeks of further delays;

• The Ministry of Justice admits that it ‘has not always been able to secure sufficiently well trained staff to make sure that more complex applications would be dealt with in a timely manner’;

• In extreme cases, applicants are being pushed into debt as they wait more than two years for probate to be approved and are forced to pay for tax and legal expenses out of their own pocket before receiving probate.

In evidence submitted to the Justice Committee, retired solicitor Anthony Tahourdin said probate delays meant, in one case, the sale of an investment portfolio worth £1.8 million could not go through.

By the time the probate was granted and the investments were sold, their value had plummeted by £300,000.

Delays mean many suffer financial hardship as they are forced to cover essential costs needed to put their loved one to rest.

Emily Deane, of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, says: ‘Beneficiaries have had to pay for funerals, debts and other expenses out of their own pocket and they are unable to reimburse themselves until the grant of probate has been issued. We have heard that some beneficiaries have been forced to take out loans to pay for inheritance tax, and of house sales falling through.’

If the deceased’s assets are worth more than £325,000, their estate is liable for inheritance tax, which needs to be paid within six months of their death. After this point, interest is charged at 2.5 percentage points above the Bank of England’s base rate, which is currently at 5.25 per cent.

Reduced phonelines

In a bid to tackle the backlog, HMCTS has temporarily reduced the service on its phoneline from 9-5pm to 9-1pm, which it says will free up staff to help process applications faster during a busy period.

The decision comes after the Justice Committee launched an investigation into probate delays last November, with a consultation expected in the next few weeks.

Bob O’Neill, chair of the Justice Committee, says: ‘Reducing the phoneline opening times will make it even harder for bereaved people to get advice or find out what is happening to their application and risks making what is often an upsetting process even harder.’ An automated message on the helpline now says that ‘due to high demand it’s taking longer than usual to process applications’ and directs users online.

HMCTS also suggests that applicants use its webchat service, which says ‘all our advisers are busy. Try again in a few minutes’.

25 hours on the phone

Dozens of Mail on Sunday readers have written to us to voice their frustration over year-long waits for their probate to be granted.

Peter West, 79, a retired consultant engineer, says he has spent around 25 hours in total trying to get through to staff for updates about his application.

Peter has been trying to apply for probate for his brother-in-law Graham’s affairs since December 2022. Graham’s estate was worth £530,000, when he passed away, including a property valued at £440,000 and £70,000 in savings.

But delays at HMCTS mean that Peter has had to reduce the asking price of the property to £410,000. Meanwhile, the prospective buyer’s mortgage offer has expired twice.

Peter has also missed out on around £8,000 in interest from Graham’s savings.

‘The probate office is a total shambles,’ says Peter. ‘Every time I ring up, I can’t get through to anyone who can help and I can’t understand why no one will ring me back. I feel totally let down by the service.’

Jade Gani, of probate and estate planning specialist Circle Law, says the situation is only going to get worse as applicants make more mistakes on forms and cannot chase HMCTS for updates.

‘It’s going to be harder to get through to staff during the short window that the phoneline is open. Lots of calls are going to go unanswered, which is going to lead to even longer delays,’ she says.

‘We’re already seeing property sales fall through and the delays are having tax implications as the value of a property has changed,’ she adds.

You can apply for probate online or via post but paper-based applications are likely to take longer to be processed. There is no fee to apply for probate if an estate is worth less than £5,000.

Above this threshold, it costs £273 to make an application.

An HMCTS spokesman says: ‘People should continue submitting applications in the usual way and can make calls to us in the morning or all day on our webchat, Monday to Friday. They can also track the progress of applications on GOV.UK at any time.’

Peter West’s probate application was approved last week.