STEP is a member of the Probate User Group, which brings together His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS), professional bodies and charities to address issues with the probate service.

During a meeting on 5 September, we received the following updates:

HMCTS has created a new email address for advisors who have a case that is older than 20 weeks and are struggling to secure progress. Practitioners should email HMCTS via NSfamilybmt@justice.gov.uk and they will arrange a surgery appointment for you to progress the application.

This new email address is monitored by three people, and HMCTS requests that it is only used if your application is more than 20 weeks old.

Phone lines are still only operating during the morning, and calls are being answered within an average of 12 minutes.

More generally, HMCTS is still issuing more grants per month than the number of applications it receives. Digital applications are on average taking five weeks, while paper applications delays have reduced to 17 weeks, which HMCTS intends to reduce further.

Advisors can track paper applications via the myHMCTS dashboard. They need to ‘claim’ it using the case reference, deceased’s name, etc. We understand that guidance will be published on the gov.uk website to explain how this works.

The number of applications stopped due to inheritance tax (IHT) issues has reduced dramatically since HMRC introduced the code system in January 2024 (whereby the probate applicant receives a code to use in their probate application, which confirms the IHT400 form has been submitted and processed). This has meant that more staff can work on issuing probate grants. HMRC has recently agreed to email these codes to people (until now this has been done via a letter). This is expected to start on 16 September.

HMCTS’ next priority is to tackle the next biggest reason applications are stopped, which is when the named executors have not all been accounted for.

From 13 September, the hologram on the grant will look slightly different as HMCTS has a new supplier.

HMCTS is also planning to expand the number of online intestacy applications, focusing on the simple ones (e.g. when siblings inherit). It does not intend to cover every intestacy scenario, so some applications will still need to be paper ones.

HMCTS does not intend to make ‘international’ applications online, so reseals, non-dom issues, etc., will still be done on paper. HMCTS hopes that the ability to track a paper application online will help with international applications.

HMCTS plans to provide STEP with regular updates, which we will share with members once we receive them. It is also considering running local workshops for practitioners. We will provide more updates on this once we have further information.

Jo Summers TEP, STEP representative on the Probate User Group