Based on feedback from probate practitioners, HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is making improvements to the MyHMCTS online probate service, effective from 19 August 2021.

Changes to MyHMCTS

The Law Society has issued a press release detailing changes and improvement that will be made to the MyHMCTS online probate service, which will come into effect on 19 August 2021. Changes include:

• you can amend all parts of a probate application before submitting it, including the probate practitioners’ details
• where only a notarial copy or a court sealed copy of the will is available, you can apply through MyHMCTS
• trust corporations can apply for a grant of probate using MyHMCTS

Executor details

• new prompts will clearly identify the title of the executor, including partners, members, shareholders and directors in a firm or successor firm
• other prompts provide clearer options to account for executors that are not applying for probate, reducing the potential for cases to be stopped
• you no longer need to send a death certificate of any pre-deceased executors

Legal statement

The legal statement will automatically contain the names of the applying executors and practitioner. It will also have an improved title and clear wording. 

The legal statement can be:

• signed by practitioners on behalf of their client and any of the applying executors (including with a digital signature)
• uploaded to an application through the MyHMCTS dashboard or sent by post

A system error that led to practitioner details being overwritten in the application has also been fixed.

Important next steps before 19 August

Any applications that are not submitted, or cannot be submitted, before the change on 19 August will not be able to progress and you’ll need to create a new application.

Users should check their MyHMCTS dashboard and either:

• submit cases, or
• read the guidance on deleting unsubmitted cases for those that are no longer valid

If you cannot fully submit your application to HMCTS before 19 August, you should wait for the change to go live before starting your probate application on MyHMCTS.  

Performance issues update

In the June professional user group meeting, HMCTS stated that during April and May it experienced performance issues which were caused by an increase in receipts and an unexpected loss of staff.

The HMCTS team say that they have recovered from this by recruiting and training replacements as well as rebalancing resources to improve call handling. This means, however, that they predict they may not tackle the outstanding caseload until August.

Stopped cases

HMCTS states that timelines on non-stopped digital cases and non-stopped paper cases are very good.

It has therefore diverted resources to stopped cases to speed up how quickly these are resolved.

Calling HMCTS

You should continue to wait eight weeks before calling HMCTS for an update on an application. Calls will be answered promptly. 

Coversheets

Every piece of evidence sent to Harlow should have a cover sheet. This is pivotal to make sure the documents are added to applications and presented to examiners. 

These act as a direct link between the evidence and the application.

Download the cover sheet (Word 50 KB)

If there is no cover sheet – even if the case reference number is on the correspondence or document – the information will be added to the exceptions queue, which must be checked manually every day. 

Feedback

If you have any feedback that would further improve the online probate service, email probatefeedback@justice.gov.uk.

Feedback could include:

• thoughts on the changes
• suggestions for further areas that need enhancement
• any technical issues – provide screenshots where possible

For issues relating to a specific probate application, email contactprobate@justice.gov.uk directly to avoid any delay in resolving your enquiry.

If you have other queries or concerns about the probate service, email hmctscourtreform@lawsociety.org.uk.

See also

Place a Deceased Estates notice

An introduction to the new Non-Contentious Probate Rules

How much are probate fees?

The duties of an executor: what to do when someone dies

Find out more

Apply for probate with MyHMCTS (GOV.UK)

Image: Getty Images

Publication date: 3 August 2021

Any opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and the author alone, and does not necessarily represent that of The Gazette.