{"id":19634,"date":"2019-09-19T08:50:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T08:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=19634"},"modified":"2023-02-15T13:39:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T13:39:19","slug":"probate-delays-as-uncertainty-persists-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/probate-delays-as-uncertainty-persists-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Probate delays as uncertainty persists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>There are currently long delays in gaining <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wills-probate\/probate-estate-administration\/\">probate<\/a><\/span> on the estates of the recently deceased. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Late in 2018, the government issued a\nwritten statement announcing its intent to go ahead with controversial\nincreases in probate fees for England and Wales. Instead of the current flat\nfees of \u00a3155 for applications through a solicitor and \u00a3215 for individual\napplications, draft legislation was issued with a sliding fee scale that rose\nto \u00a36,000 for estates valued at over \u00a32m. To many, the measure looked more like\na new tax than a fee increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A start date wasn\u2019t set, but the\nlegislation was widely expected to come into force around the end of April 2019.\nHowever, the statutory instrument to bring about the change has not yet been\npresented to the House of Commons. HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS),\nwhich administers probate, has recently told the Law Society that it does not\nknow when, or if, any fee changes will happen. The delay could be due to Brexit\ndominating parliamentary business, the near universal criticism of the measure\nand\/or a possible election coming up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside this uncertain legislative\napproach, HMCTS has launched a new probate administration regime that has already\nencountered teething problems. This, in turn, has run into an acceleration in\nprobate applications as solicitors and executors have rushed to pre-empt the\nplanned fee increase and pushed through the paperwork.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result has been a backlog at probate registries throughout England and Wales. HMCTS is now advising solicitors not to chase any applications until at least eight weeks have passed. However, HMRC has said it will make no concessions on when it will start charging interest on <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wills-probate\/estate-tax-planning\/inheritance-tax\/\">inheritance tax<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (IHT), which is due by the end of the sixth month after the month of death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bereavement is already a difficult time for many families, so these delays could cause more stress and remind us that winding up an estate can be painfully slow. If you have life assurance policies, one way to sidestep that delay \u2013 and potentially save IHT \u2013 is to place the policies in trust. Alas, trusts also have complications, so do seek professional advice before taking any action to change policy ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To discuss your individual circumstances with one of our legal executives please contact our <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wills-probate\/\">Wills &amp; Probate<\/a><\/span><\/strong> department on <strong>0114 266 4432<\/strong> or <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"mailto:wills@smhca.co.uk\">wills@smhca.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are currently long delays in gaining probate on the estates of the recently deceased. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[358,11,12,13,8,15,63],"class_list":["post-19634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills-probate","tag-bereavement","tag-hmrc","tag-iht","tag-inheritance-tax","tag-probate","tag-wills","tag-wills-probate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - 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