Grant of Probate

[Prosper]

Not sure if solr has to attend meeting with Probate Office and if they do I'm nor sure if a solr would get the appointment sooner than a personal applicant but when I was in the Probate Office a few days ago I think they said that a solr would not get the appointment sooner and they definitely said that it would be about 6 months from time they receive the application/correctly completed forms to when they call you for the meeting/interview. We used a solicitor for my mothers affairs two years ago and from memory it was many months, maybe even a year before the funeral directors were paid. I got this done by dealing with Dads bank myself to set up the executor account and the funeral director was paid within weeks. I think a solicitor would take a lot longer to get all the preliminary fiddly stuff done than executors would themselves.

 

[stiofan85]

Thought I'd weigh in with my experience of Probate while buying a house in Dublin.

Went Sale Agreed 20th July.
Signed contracts 1st week of September.
Seller's solicitor requested to expedite Probate last week of September.
Received notice that Probate was granted earlier this week (5.5 weeks after request submitted)
Expecting to have keys by end of November

All in, it will have taken 4 months from Sale Agreed. We probably could have shaved 2 weeks off if we'd gotten our loan offer together sooner but we had a few delays with documentation due to various parties being on holidays in August.

 

[elcato]

Went Sale Agreed 20th July.
Signed contracts 1st week of September.
Seller's solicitor requested to expedite Probate last week of September.
Received notice that Probate was granted earlier this week (5.5 weeks after request submitted)
Expecting to have keys by end of November

Interesting that the solicitor only asked for the expediency on the date the contract was signed as oppose to the sale agreed date but it seems that this speeds up the grant very sharpish. I'm guessing that you signed the contract but the seller did not in September.

 

[JohnJay]

On the house I am buying, the probate office received the paperwork in Mid-July and grant is expected in 2 weeks time, so this is 4.5 months. This is without the solicitor asking to expedite, but she says that she can if she wants. I only signed contracts this week so she hasn't asked to expedite. She says she needs a signed contract to get it done faster, but my own solicitor says that she often gets them done faster just with a Sales Agreed notice from the EA.

 

[Busyla]

afaik a signed contract is required by the Probate Office before they will expedite the application, they will not expedite on a sale agreed notice. Personal applications generally take longer than applications lodged by solicitors and the probate fees charged by the probate office are doubled for personal applications. I know many solicitors who will deal with probate applications for considerably less than the 8-10K quoted earlier.

 

[stiofan85]

Interesting that the solicitor only asked for the expediency on the date the contract was signed as oppose to the sale agreed date but it seems that this speeds up the grant very sharpish. I'm guessing that you signed the contract but the seller did not in September.

I should also clarify, Seller's Solicitor only applied for GOP 6th of August. Solicitor told us the Probate Office won't expedite without signed contract.

 

[Curlywurly]

Elacto, I was in the Probate Office to get the forms to fill and so start the process of applying for Grant of Probate without using a solicitor. I was told that the waiting time for an appointment was 6 months from when they receive the correctly completed forms (CA24) and a further 5 months after that before Grant of Probate. I asked them about putting the house up for sale before GOP and would this shorten the process. The clear answer is no. The implication was that in the past a sale agreed on the property would expedite GOP but that they have taken a decision to discourage it now. I asked if I used a solicitor to handle the GOP application would speed things up and again it appears not to be the case where the estate is simple. So as a result I'm not going to put the house on the market until GOP or until I get a clear indication that it's imminent.

I think you have misunderstood the time frame for probate in a personal application. The Grant should issue within 2 weeks of the appointment if all is in order at the appointment. The waiting time for the appointment is currently approx 36 weeks from date of lodgement of the application.