Why does probate take so long, and how do you speed it up?

Why does HMRC come first?

On an estate where inheritance tax is payable, HMCTS will not issue a grant until HMRC has been paid and has confirmed it. So the tax has to be found and paid before the grant exists to unlock the money, which is the part executors find maddening.

The way through is the direct payment scheme: banks and building societies will pay inheritance tax straight to HMRC from the deceased's accounts, before the grant. Not every provider is quick about it, so ask early. Where the tax relates to property, it can be paid in ten annual instalments, which gets the grant moving even when the house has not sold.

What are the delays nobody can remove?

Two waiting periods are built into the job and no amount of chasing shortens them. Advertising for creditors in The Gazette runs for two months and protects the executor against debts they did not know about. The six months from the grant is the window in which a claim can be brought under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

An executor who distributes before both have run is taking a personal risk, so most wait them out. This is usually the real reason beneficiaries have not been paid, rather than anything going wrong.

What causes the avoidable delays?

These are the ones worth working on.

• Applying with estimated figures, which triggers a query and puts the application to the back of the queue
• Paper forms instead of the online service
• The original will not reaching HMCTS, or arriving damaged with staple holes or attachments removed
• Names that do not match exactly between the will, the death certificate and the application
• Waiting for one slow provider's date-of-death balance before starting anything else
• Foreign assets, which need their own process in each country and run to their own timetable
• A contested will or a missing beneficiary, which can add six months or much more

How do you actually speed it up?

Four things make a measurable difference.

• Write to every provider for date-of-death balances in the first fortnight, in parallel rather than one at a time
• Get a proper property valuation early, because it holds up the tax figure and the tax figure holds up everything else
• Apply online, with complete figures rather than estimates, and send the original will the same day
• Use the direct payment scheme so the tax is paid from the deceased's own accounts without waiting for the grant

What can you get on with while you wait?

Plenty, and doing it in parallel is what separates a six-month estate from a twelve-month one. You can register the death, arrange and pay for the funeral, claim on life insurance written in trust, deal with joint accounts, close small accounts under each bank's limit, notify everyone through Tell Us Once, put the property insurance onto an unoccupied policy, prepare the draft estate accounts and agree with the beneficiaries what happens to the house.

What you cannot do before the grant is sell the property or close sole-name accounts above the provider's limit.

When should you chase, and who?

Give HMCTS the full 16 weeks before chasing the grant, then contact the probate helpline with your application reference. Chase HMRC after around 20 working days from payment if no clearance has come through. Chase banks weekly, in writing, because bereavement teams work from written queues.

If a professional is acting and you cannot get an update, ask for the firm's complaints procedure. That usually produces a response, and unreasonable delay can be taken to the Legal Ombudsman.