There is an interesting article in the “Money” Section of Saturday’s Times (October 10th) about delays in obtaining Grants of Probate.
Probate is the term used to describe the legal process whereby the Probate Registry (a division of the Civil Courts) officially validates a person’s Will after they have passed away. A Grant of Probate is essentially a form of Certificate which enables the Executors to deal with the Deceased’s person’s assets.
Where a person dies without having made a Will the process is similar but the end result is referred to as a Grant of “ Letters of Administration”.
2020 has seen a Perfect Storm of issues which have caused considerable delays in the ability of the Probate Registry to process Probate Applications. Coinciding with the inevitable disruption caused by Covid 10 factors including changes in procedures and staffing arrangements at the Registry not to mention ongoing digitisation of systems have all conspired to produce lengthy delays .
A process which once took 2 weeks from submitting an application is now taking 3 months or even longer, as the article describes.
There has never been a time when bereaved families have been more in need of support through the Probate process.
At HSW our experienced Probate Team are on hand to help at this difficult time. We can talk to bereaved relatives on the ‘phone, remotely on Zoom or Skype and other means. We can also offer a Covid safe environment for face to face meetings at our Offices.
If you require additional advice contact our team on 01270 212000 or contact us via email here today to arrange a free, confidential and no obligation appointment to discuss with one of our solicitors any issues which you may have.
