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31 March 2023 / Ann Stanyer
Issue: 8019 / Categories: Features , Profession , Wills & Probate
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Probate: finding a way around delay

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Is a grant of representation necessary? Ann Stanyer advises on some alternative options for avoiding the probate process
  • Alternatives to requiring a grant of probate are now proving more popular with both practitioners and others.
  • Bank balance releases, jointly held assets and lifetime gifts are all examples of how probate can be legally sidestepped.

Private client practitioners are beginning to despair at the significant delays and problems associated with obtaining probate in England and Wales. The Ministry of Justice brought in radical changes for the probate service in November 2018, to facilitate and expand online probate applications, introduced with less than a month’s notice by statutory instrument (the Non-Contentious Probate (Amendment) Rules 2018, SI 2018/1137). Ever since, it has been a lottery as to how long you would need to wait for a grant of probate or a grant of letters of administration (‘grant of representation’) to be issued.

As has been seen in other contexts, such as the registration of lasting powers of attorney by the

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