Today’s Wills and Probate caught up with the Probate Office to get an update on the online probate service.
Stephen Burgess at HMCTS recently spoke about the progress that has been made by the probate office.
We are working closely with HMRC to align our processes and improve and streamline the way we share information. Following a service update probate practitioners using MyHMCTS to submit applications will now be asked to confirm that 20 working days have lapsed since sending their IHT400 form to HMRC. This will ensure that IHT421 is available to us when your information is received and will mean applications can be processed with fewer delays and stops.
More guidance can be found here.
There has also been a further update on ‘MyHMCTS : How to apply for probate online’. We have added an additional ‘Case Progress’ tab. Guidance on using this has been added to MyHMCTS and practitioners will notice a different view on their dashboard in that they will be able to see the progression of their cases and will also be advised if any of their cases have been stopped or escalated.
HMCTS produce and publish weekly data (on a monthly basis) on the number of receipts and disposals which can view here.
5) Family data is especially subject to revision due to late data recording, and disposals for the most recent weeks in particular are likely to be revised up and outstanding cases down.
The mandation of solicitor probate applications started on 2nd November but the grace period was extended to 11th January to allow more time for a small number of users to set up their accounts. Since the start of the year we have added over 300 PBA accounts to Probate Practitioners MyHMCTS accounts, to ensure that users do not experience any issues when an improvement is made to the way HMCTS process PBA payment for Probate applications. MyHMCTS administrators are asked to check that their PBA number is visible on their account by visiting https://manage-org.platform.hmcts.net/ and to contact MyHMCTS if they require support.
Stephen confirmed that there are further plans to digitise probate applications by Trust Corporations in March/April. We will be updated on this in due course.
Stephen reiterated that professional users should continue to use the article ‘5 steps to a successful Probate application’, which provides them with guidance to help prevent applications being stopped.
Probate professionals can contact HMCTS on the following emails –
MyHMCTS account queries – MyHMCTSsupport@justice.gov.uk
Technical issues and feedback – probatefeedback@Justice.gov.uk
We are unable to provide case updates if you send a request to these emails.
Today’s Wills and Probate will update you next month on further progress made.
