HM Courts and Tribunals Services are set to streamline and reduce their face to face probate services.
Following the statement regarding a centralised call centre for all probate practitioners released at the start of December, an email has been sent informing clients and practitioners of the face to face services offered to consumers.
HMCTS claim the changes will increase efficiency in the processing of probate applications by prioritising the resources available to them, according to a recent email submitted on behalf of HMCTS.
Furthermore, creating digital resources has also saved the consumer time and helped to speed up the legal process.
Visits to many probate registries will be limited to specific clients and circumstances.
Caveats, deposits of Wills, Swearing an Affadavit and inspection of Wills will continue to be considered processes which will need to be dealt with in person.
As probate registries begin to centralise, the email, sent on behalf of Probate District Registries, informed recipients that Newcastle Probate District Registry will cease processing routine work which does not require face to face communication with clients.
All work from this area will now divert to alternatives ‘already in place such as online services, telephone, email and post.’
All calls will now be dealt with by the Birmingham Courts and Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC) where legal professionals should not contact their local registries if they require updates on applications.
The CTSC will be able to confirm and provide the following details:
- if the application has been received
- where the application is being processed
- the current service level in the registry where you have lodged your application
- when they expect the grant to be issued
- whether a ‘stop’ is in place and the reasoning for this
Following a recent meeting with HMCTS this week, Ian Bond , Chair of The Law Society’s ‘Wills and Equity Committee’ confirmed that they are:
“Working on a contact strategy for applications that are currently stopped in the system to get those cleared. Key to this is commutation from HMCTS to the applicants.
“The contact centre in Birmingham can now deal with all enquiries and so everyone is encouraged to call or email them with queries as opposed to local registries. The intention from HMCTS is that from December they will be staffed from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings 8am until 12 noon.”
All legal practitioners are encouraged to use the 0300 303 0648 number for all enquires instead of calling the registry that their application was sent to if they require updates.
Furthermore, professionals should use probatefeedback@justice.gov.uk, for queries, instead of individual registry email addresses.
