Currently, solicitors and other probate practitioners make applications for about 180,000 of the annual 260,000 grants of probate where the deceased left a will or letters of administration where the deceased died intestate. The rest of the applications are made by individuals.
The MoJ launched a consultation this week, ‘Non-contentious probate, mandating online professional applications’. Certain exceptions will continue to apply, for example, in the small number of applications where there are multiple applicants entitled under intestacy.
According to the consultation paper, the online process ‘represents a more secure and reliable system which offers cost savings and a range of efficiencies―for example, a reduction in returning erroneous forms, dealing with fewer queries from practitioners on the arrival or progress of individual cases’.
To read and respond to the consultation, which ends on 10 September, visit: bit.ly/3fOXTtG.
