The waiting time for probate applications has slightly increased in the number of weeks from submission to grant issue for all probate applications – increasing from 8.8 to 9.6 weeks, according to HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
Last month marked the shortest waiting time since the past year, which stood at 8.8 weeks. This was a significant difference from October 2023 when the waiting time was 15.2 weeks.
For the grants of probate issued in October, the average timeline from submission to grant was 9.6 weeks – showing an increase from September which was 8.8, according to the data.
Of the 27,592 total number of grants issued, 21,596 were digital which shows that the number of digital applications is still increasing – revealing the popularity of digitisation. For non-stopped applications, the average wait was 3.2 weeks, which shows that it has slightly increased from 2.9 weeks in September.
For stopped digital applications, delays sat 15.2 weeks in October – a waiting period which has remained unchanged since the previous month. Yet this is still a decrease from the 21 week wait seen in March which showed the longest wait for stopped digital applications since November of last year.
What’s more, the remaining 5,392 probate grants in October were issued via paper. The average wait between submission and grant for a paper application was 15.4 weeks, down slightly from 15.7 in September. For stopped applications, the 24.1 week wait in October is down slightly from the 24.6 weeks in the previous month.
