The Kings Court Trust Blog

At Kings Court Trust we’ve always been passionate about helping families at the difficult time of dealing with a bereavement. We achieve this by taking care of the practicalities after death so you can focus on life’s important moments. We’re pleased to announce a group of new estate solutions that will allow us to help even more families.

On 22 July 2019, HM Courts & Tribunals Service released revised probate fees including costs for applications and additional copies of the Grant of Representation. Although the cost of the application has not changed, any additional copies will now be charged at £1.50 per copy, rather than the 50p that was previously charged.

Back in May 2019, we wrote about how probate registries in England and Wales were suffering from processing delays on Grant of Probate and Grant of Letter of Administration applications. We’re now a couple of months down the line and the backlog continues. Therefore, we wanted to provide our clients and business partners with another update.

Following a bereavement, there are a number of tasks to be considered and completed. These tasks are not always straightforward and can include dealing with difficult legal and tax affairs. We understand that this can make an already difficult time even more stressful. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you understand your responsibilities and options, as well as what needs to be done.

Probate Registries in England and Wales are currently reporting severe delays on Grant of Probate and Grant of Letter of Administration applications. Due to the rollout of a new IT case management system, the process has been dramatically slowed down. This means that it’s taking longer for the Registries to process applications for Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration.  

According to the Law Society Gazette, the Ministry of Justice plans to close local probate registries and move the work to just one central location in Birmingham. Currently, there are ten remaining regional probate registries in England and Wales and staff have reportedly been informed of plans to scale back operations and shut down the sites in due course.

On 17th January 2019, HM Courts & Tribunals Service announced that their online service for probate applications would be expanded to make applying for probate simpler and easier. It is claimed that this updated service will enable people applying for probate to do so from the comfort of their own home. The system allows up to four joint Executors to apply, pay and even swear a statement of truth online. This reduces the need for Executors to visit a probate registry or solicitor’s office.

On the 5th of November 2018, an update on probate fees was provided by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice, Lucy Frazer QC MP. It was announced that new legislation to implement a new, banded structure of fees for a Grant of Probate (also known as Grant of Representation) has been presented before Parliament.

The death of David Bowie last month caused a generation to mourn the loss of one of the world's most charismatic musical stars.  The man associated with numerous wild and wacky on-stage personas was perhaps one of the last people you would associate with planning for his death and making sure that his financial situation was left in a highly organised manner.