As of Monday 14th October 2019, the proposal to increase probate fees has been withdrawn. Click here to read our latest blog post on the matter. Probate Registries in England and Wales are currently reporting severe delays on Grant of Probate and Grant of Letter of Administration applications. Due to the rollout of a new IT case management system, the process has been dramatically slowed down. This means that it’s taking longer for the Registries to process applications for Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration.

According to the Law Society Gazette, the Ministry of Justice plans to close local probate registries and move the work to just one central location in Birmingham. Currently, there are ten remaining regional probate registries in England and Wales and staff have reportedly been informed of plans to scale back operations and shut down the sites in due course.

On 17th January 2019, HM Courts & Tribunals Service announced that their online service for probate applications would be expanded to make applying for probate simpler and easier. It is claimed that this updated service will enable people applying for probate to do so from the comfort of their own home. The system allows up to four joint Executors to apply, pay and even swear a statement of truth online. This reduces the need for Executors to visit a probate registry or solicitor’s office.

On the 5th of November 2018, an update on probate fees was provided by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice, Lucy Frazer QC MP. It was announced that new legislation to implement a new, banded structure of fees for a Grant of Probate (also known as Grant of Representation) has been presented before Parliament.

Ordinary individuals inheriting assets from overseas could risk criminal charges if they miscalculate the tax owed, reports The Telegraph.

Recent changes to the legal profession have meant that certain activities in the industry are currently being reviewed for deregulation, the Solicitors Journal notes – something we are very interested in keeping up-to-date with. Probate has since become the latest activity to be deregulated; according to a statutory instrument issued in parliament this August, chartered accountants are now allowed to undertake probate if they have passed the required exams, are properly licensed and it is not a contentious case.

Probate Registry fees are set to rise from 22 April 2014. All Grant applications received from this date onwards will be subject to the new fees.

Kings Court Trust (KCT) was delighted to welcome so many of its existing partners as well as new faces to seminars held this October in Newbury, Haydock and Coventry.

The Law Society will contest the application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to regulate probate services and alternative business structures (ABSs), Legal Futures has reported.