wills and probate

[glenis]

why do wills need to go to probate? and why does it take so long?

[kempie]

Probate - The process of legally establishing the validity of a will before a judicial authority.

[willow74]

The executer of the will has one year to complete matters.  i guess the probate allow them time to organise valuations and the hand out of items.

[acw]

It can take a long time if documents and records need to be searched.  It is longer if there is a dispute about the will, e.g., who gets what, or a query over legal ownership of something by the deceased,e.g., a land registry query.  Questions of parentage can also cause problems if the will says something like "My bank account is to be split evenly between my children" and someone pops up claiming to be Dad's "other" child. 

 

To some extent also, delays will be caused by simple bureaucracy and form filling. 

Have pateience, I hope the process goes ok if you are involved in it at the moment. 

[tgon]

Not everything needs to go into probate - it depends on the circumstances.  My uncle recently died intestate and because his savings were under the limit and he lived in rented accomodation, it was not a matter for probate attention. (Even so, its still taking ages to sort all his financial matters out - banks and social security/pension being the worse!)

 

[Didwot]

When someone dies their executor needs to be able to deal with their assets. Now you can not have just anyone saying "Uncle Tom has died" and selling his house. He might not be their Uncle, He might not be dead. Obtaining a grant of probate gives the executor the legal authority to deal with the deceased's assets. As has been already reported it is not always necessary in the case of small estates, but whether or not a grant of probate is required in those circumstances will depend on what assets there are, and the attitude of any institutions (eg banks etc) where those assets are held.