My stepdad died in October and we engaged a solicitor to handle probate. They said it would take 4 weeks. As yet they don't seem to have done anything and they have not communicated with us in any form.
Everything was left to my mum in a mirror will who has now died. Do we have to go through all the probate from my stepdad before we can do anything with my mum?
We haven't signed anything with the solicitors, can we just walk away from them without paying as 7 weeks in they haven't even applied for probate?
Sorry to hear about your mum and your stepdad before that. I think that 4-5 weeks is the current estimate for the period between a digital application for probate and a grant of probate, but it can be much longer if not done online - and that doesn't cover the time needed to prepare the application.
Yeah, would have thought that you'd have to go through probate for both, firstly for your stepdad's estate to be disbursed to your late mum's estate, and then again according to her will to subsequent beneficiaries.
I take it you're an executor for both wills? I imagine everything is quite raw, so I wouldn't necessarily walk from the first solicitor, obviously they need to be informed about the change in circumstances, and you are entitled to ask for an update, and I'd suggest holding tight until they've responded. They may well have done billable work, or even applied for probate, and not informed you. Solicitors can be absolutely rubbish. They may be waiting for a particular piece of information to be supplied, so check your mum's mail.
My brother is acting for our stepdad and me for my mum. Mum was also an executor but physically unable to do it. We are still waiting for the form for the doctor to sign absolving her. We really have no faith in them.
It's just one more thing to worry about when you have loads of other stuff to sort out. Like I say, if the solicitor has given you the impression that the whole process would take four weeks, then that's sadly not likely to be the case, but they do need to update you with some signs they are working, or you can simply instruct a new one to handle both estates. Good luck.
Probate for my mum took 12 months. Solicitors said that from the start and were very good at communicating (and charging for communicating, of course).
We've been in the process since May. Six months and counting and that is with it going smoothly!
If you've not signed anything and been given a quote for the solicitors work.. Seems like nothings happened yet and they are not technically instructed yet?
Yes, make sure you get an estimate/quote* before engaging, most will want a signature & deposit before starting anyway. 4 weeks for probate is very unlikely, unless that's just how long solicitors will take before submitting to HMRC. I've just about tied up the last few loose ends of my friends estate, so it can all take a while, about 12 months of that time was all down to HMRC - he died in Dec 2022 😞
* Some charge specific rate & others charge % of estate as I understand it.
As above, 4 weeks is unrealistic. I was told 12 weeks. After about 16 I asked why it was taking so long and they said I should never have been told 12 weeks as that was unrealistic.
It took about 8 months in the end and I was chasing the solicitors every few weeks.
I received some paltry compensation after each of three complaints. It would have been easier to do it myself in the end, but I was mentally drained after covid lockdowns, job/career loss, covid, Mums death, covid#2 and then long covid so appointed a solicitor to take the strain.
My mum died almost exactly 3 years ago. We still haven't quite finished wrapping up her estate. Probate itself took about a year.
Ours was mega complicated and during covid. It took years. The solicitors were well paid for their work. But we never felt that we wanted for communication or that we were waiting for them to make ax start in the next step
I think it took 12 months for MIL and we (my wife) did it. HMRC and the hoops you need to jump through.
Ours wasn't as complicated as yours as my mum died 6 years ago - everything went over to my dad's side then. It took about 8 weeks to get probate for my dad but I was on top of the paperwork and sorted out most of it. It all depends on how much info you can give to the solicitors - I had everything well prepared to avoid delays.
Probate law seems to be a bit like conveyancing. It recently took roughly 10 months from engaging a solicitor to getting grant of probate for us. I think from application to grant took ~14 weeks of that. From grant to actually receiving the proceeds is ongoing. I'm expecting up to a year to be honest which would means a total of up to 2 years from the death.
Ours took 18 months and legal work came in at 50% over estimate. Same solicitor doing a friend's and charging same over budget. Peed me right off as there's little explanation but no co executors wanted to query it like me.
It depends on the size and complexity of the estate and how much inheritance tax is likely to be due.
If Covid hadn't happened there would be a shiny HMRC service in place now for even the more complicated cases, that would reduce the need for solicitors to get involved, rather than the 40+ PDF-based process that scares most mere mortals.
Hmcts put probate online in about 2018. Before that it was paper docs presented in person at a court house.
We've been in the process since May. Six months and counting and that is with it going smoothly!
In my experience over the last few years 6 months seems to be the standard timescale at a minimum.
Even good solicitors are a bit shit, you have to keep on at them. Ours are lovely people, but take a bit of nagging to get stuff done. Handily they are only a few mins walk away.
Probate takes an age, it's all a tedious ball-ache frankly. That's life, or rather, death and taxes.
Even good solicitors are a bit shit, you have to keep on at them. Ours are lovely people, but take a bit of nagging to get stuff done. Handily they are only a few mins walk away.
Probate takes an age, it's all a tedious ball-ache frankly. That's life, or rather, death and taxes.
All good points but it sounds like the solicitor hasn't even officially taken the job on yet?
It's not my first rodeo dealing with probate but I've always had a firm quote from the solicitor prior to engagement and I've never paid a penny up front as executor of estate.. If it's relatively straight forward the solicitors simply take thier fee from the estate prior to distribution before any beneficiaries, as it's an expense against the estate like any other debt against the estate such as pension overpayments that will have to be returned etc.
Hmcts put probate online in about 2018. Before that it was paper docs presented in person at a court house.
Correct, but you need to understand the inheritance tax position before you can apply, and that can be complicated.
Hmcts put probate online in about 2018. Before that it was paper docs presented in person at a court house.
Correct, but you need to understand the inheritance tax position before you can apply, and that can be complicated.
This is what makes me think the solicitor in question hasn't submitted the probate application yet, how could they?
OP has no quote, so presumably the solicitor isn't technically 'instructed to act' yet, as they would need all the details, before they could even quote for the job, never mind submit the probate application, that's generally what the free consultation is for, for the solicitor to get a good idea of the amount of work required before giving a quote.
Then the executor says, 'yes that quote is ok, please proceeed', or 'no, it's not, I'll do it myself or hire a different solicitor'.
Once the probate application is sent off, then the time scale between application for probate, and grant of probate is a 'how long is a bit of string' question, depends how busy the probate office is and how complex the estate is, it will be in a queue along with all the others.
But it sounds like it's not got that far yet?
My brother is acting for our stepdad and me for my mum. Mum was also an executor but physically unable to do it. We are still waiting for the form for the doctor to sign absolving her. We really have no faith in them.
Your brother has questions to answer, has he hired a solicitor or not?
If he has, he will have a written quote from the solicitor outlining what they will charge... that's standard.
Quotes in this scenario are always with caviats, such as 'if complications come to light that were not initially apparent' our extra time will be billed at £xxx per hour.
But that's why you have a consultation, as there shouldn't really be any complications unless there a contest of the will or other such shenannigans that were not realistically forseable.
If he can't produce a written quote you have to assume he's either been sitting on his hands or he's telling lies.
Spoke to them yesterday, they haven’t done any work, so I said I was going to use someone local to me.
I get the feeling our job wasn’t really worth their time and they were glad to see us go.
Spoke to them yesterday, they haven’t done any work, so I said I was going to use someone local to me.
I get the feeling our job wasn’t really worth their time and they were glad to see us go.
Probably a good call.. they (the solicitor) should email and/or write a letter to the executors with a written quote within days of the initial consultation, really, assuming they have enough facts to give a quote.
Awaiting call back from solicitors. Can we proceed with probate without my mum's death certificate?
Hope not!
Bit potentially awkward for the rest of us if people are allowed to do that.
"Yes, of course he's dead, give me his house."
"Ok, I trust you..."
This year we had to unfortunately apply for Probate for both my Dad & Mum (2 months apart).
We (my sister mostly) applied for probate ourselves - the actual application for probate only takes a matter of a few weeks, as long as your application has no errors or anomalies & is registered first time. If there are issues with the application they contact you, but you are unable to speak to someone for weeks & weeks if you need to point out an error that the Probate Office have made.
It is the time needed to contact all financial institutions, await their responces etc & collate everything that takes the bulk of the time - also complicated if there is IHT payable. Doing it ourselves meant we knew who to chase & who was delaying the process - I suspect using a Solictor will add significant cost & delay to the process as they will not be chasing up responces.
You will also need to wait for the first deed of probate to be issued before applying for the second if some / all of the estate was passed onto the second person to die.
You will need a Death Certificte to apply for probate & also certified copies to send to all financial institutions etc.
I hope that helps - I would just call the solicitor to find out where they are in the process.