His Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) have announced that they have reduced the backlog of applications for Grants of Probate by 49% over the past year.

This is most noticeable where applications have been submitted online via the HMCTS portal, where the applications are now being processed within 5 weeks.

However, if an application needs to be made ‘on paper’ i.e. where there is no Will or there is a problem with the Will, then the timescales are still quite considerable, taking up to 13 weeks. Having said that, this is still an improvement on the 23-week timescale that was previously provided.

What is a Grant of Probate?

A Grant of Probate is the document issued by the Court to confirm the Will and to confirm the Executor’s authority to administer a deceased person’s estate.

Where someone has left a Will, a Grant of Probate is needed, and this can usually be applied for using the HMCTS portal.

However, not everyone makes a Will, and if that is the case then Letters of Administration will need to be applied for using the paper application process, which can take far longer.

Although there is a legal distinction between these two documents, they often referred to interchangeably as ‘Probate’ or ‘the Grant’.

Who has authority?

The authority of an Executor comes from the Will, so usually the Executors will be able to make a start of the administration of an estate i.e. closing bank accounts and putting a property on the market, before the Grant of Probate is issued. This is helpful as it can speed up the administration process and ensure that the beneficiaries get their entitlement under the Will much sooner.

However, if there is no Will then no one has authority to administer an estate until the Letters of Administration have been granted to appoint an ‘Administrator’. This means that the family are usually very limited in what they can do whilst the Letters of Administration is being applied for. The people who can apply for Letters of Administration have to do so in an order of priority set out in legislation, so naturally there are situations where this wouldn’t always be who you would want to deal with your affairs.

Making a Will

There are many reasons for making a Will, but it does appear that having one also offers the added benefit of ensuring a timelier administration of your estate. Of course, other issues might arise during the administration i.e. fall outs etc. but having a Will that sets out your wishes and who you’d want to administer your estate can still help in these situations.

Next Steps...

If you’d like to make a Will, please contact me on 01283 214231 or email c.day@timms-law.com

For more information about Wills & Probate, please visit our webpage here.