HM Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) have released three new online probate guidance service documents to assist legal professionals applying for grant applications.
The step-by-step guides set out how to sign up for the service and how to use the online services to obtain grants.
The new online guidance documents for legal professionals:
Online Guidance for Legal Professionals: Grant of Representation (Grant of Probate)
Online Guidance for Legal Professionals: Grant of Representation (Letters of Administration)
Following the Government announcement last week, that from 2nd November it will become compulsory for probate professionals to submit applications using the online probate system, some professionals reacted on social media to give their views.
The Government’s promise of a ‘quicker and more reliable’ probate service has spurred HMCTS to encourage legal professionals to use the online services by creating a ‘MyHMCTS’ account.
The service “provides a single place for legal professional and other organisations to issue, pay for and manage applications within civil and family courts and tribunals.” And allows users to have access to “all of their live cases from a single case list, receive notifications of status changes (such as an order having been made) and allow access to others within their organisation. Nominated users can also view their Payment by Account transactions.”
Legal professionals are to use the online system in most cases from 2nd November. But, where cases are complex, HMCTS has confirmed paper forms will still be allowed to ensure that proper manual checks are carried out.
