RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Cavanaghs on Tuesday 08 October 19 13:48 BST (UK)
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So, applied for my probate documents on 29 July at the grand charge of one pound 50 each.. and I am STILL waiting! Other documents, ordered in the middle of September have arrived.
Probate service now ignoring my requests for an update on what has happened to my July order though they claim to respond within 2 days.
I think it's outrageous that customers are not treated on a first come first served basis.
Has anyone else waited this long? 10 WEEKS +!!??
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There is quite a lengthy post on people who are still waiting
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=816033.0
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No, I've not received any that I ordered on the 27th. Is this a competition??
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30th July for me. I'm seeing a pattern here. Like I said in the main thread on this - I wonder if we've been given up on in order to clear the bigger backlog, like how a late train is made more late to ensure the next one is on time?
Anyway, at least "We are sorry for the inconvenience and the frustration that this delay is causing. Please be assured that we have your request and understand how important this is to you.
We are working hard to get the service back on track and to provide a more realistic timeframe for responding to requests for copies of wills when there is very high demand." ;D
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I ordered two on 24th July - one of them arrived a couple of days ago, I'm still waiting for the other.
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Thanks for the link Rosie.
I suspect you're right Cakey. I bet if we put in a new request for the same probate records, each with a separate application, ie not asking for many wills at the same time, they would arrive before our July requests. I am regretting applying for 5 wills at once now. The staff are probably monitored according to the number of orders they process so the more time consuming orders are put on the bottom of the virtual in-tray >:(
Anthony is winning with the 24 July so far then. You might get your prize in the end Anthony ;D
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Mine are still rolling in from an order on July 26th. I got another one today.
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Orderered one on Thursday 3rd Oct and it was available on Saturday 5th Oct. It was a very recent one and I suspect it was already digitised hence the speed with which it became available.
Older probate documents have probably to be located and digitised. When you think of the thousands of boxes/files or whatever they must have and the present demand for pdf copies, I am not surprised that they are having problems fulfilling orders.
Where are all these wills stored? Is there a warehouse in some out of central London location?
Ray
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It has been suggested the recent orders may be put in the 'in trays' on top rather than beneath i.e. latest being dealt with 1st?
Annie
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Ordered my one on 27th July,due on 12th August,finally arrived today,learnt nothing new though ;D
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Nearly the same here, ordered 10 on July 29th, two came very quickly and then just one came today of the remaining.
No great surprises but nice to have, a very last document of a favourite relative ... I actually get a mention in todays one! :D.
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No, I've not received any that I ordered on the 27th. Is this a competition??
Gov.uk must be reading this thread, the first of mine arrived today!
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Implying that gov.uk reads. Funny. Kidding aside, that's a weird coincidence. haha
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Kidding
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As I have said on other threads, I have chosen to wait until the rush dies down before ordering the wills I want. There was bound to be a flood of orders when the price dropped, other websites have crashed under similar circumstances.
As someone has previously mentioned, the more recent wills can be dealt with more quickly because they are already digitised, the older ones have to be done individually.
I know it is frustrating, but I believe the main problem was caused by greedy people ordering twenty or thirty wills at a time, this was bound to cause problems. The situation is further exacerbated by people then sending in queries about the delay. If everyone exercises a little more patience, and refrains from sending in further orders for a little while, it would give them a chance to catch up with the backlog and normal service would soon resume.
:D
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Deleted
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Deleted
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I ordered 2 on July 27th, one arrived late Friday the otherI'm still waiting for. Both are early 1800s. At least the one that arrived confirmed I was following the correct family.
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I've received the last of the three will's I ordered on the 27th July with an estimated delivery date of 11th August today. The first two arrived on Monday. These have taken just under two month's to arrive. :o
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I know it is frustrating, but I believe the main problem was caused by greedy people ordering twenty or thirty wills at a time, this was bound to cause problems. The situation is further exacerbated by people then sending in queries about the delay. If everyone exercises a little more patience, and refrains from sending in further orders for a little while, it would give them a chance to catch up with the backlog and normal service would soon resume.
:D
Absolutely - and it's possibly the fault of someone on RootsChat for publicising the price change :-\ :-*
Sorry, I didn't mean that it was solely the fault of a RootsChat member - but it was possibly/probably exacerbated :-[ :-[
Let's face it, we're all after a bargain ;D
This 'someone on RootsChat' you're talking about is me, as you well know. You've made similar comments on the thread I started. Kissy/blushing faces and the like do not cut it; if you don't mean what you've posted, edit it. You have 24 hours to do so.
To be clear - my only role in this was to spread useful information, which I thought was the main purpose of RootsChat.
Carol
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Does it really matter why there were high volume orders?
The backlog seems to be clearing now, so we can all get back to reading and enjoying the wills we receive. I just found a missing great aunt using one of the delayed wills that I received this week :)
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To confirm - I have now deleted all my responses to threads related to Wills.
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I ordered 5 on 29th July. Two recent ones arrived vey quickly. A third one, 1895 arrived today. Two are still outstanding.
Martin
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I put in an order for five wills on 29 July, and then for two more on 7 August. Still looking forward to receiving any of them. Maybe they'll arrive on the next business day . . . .
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Actually the delays with the probate registry go back to when the government changed the IHT rules. A great many people submitted applications for probate to beat the deadline which left the registries with massive backlogs. It's been causing issues at work and I've seen house sales fall through because buyers have lost patience waiting on sellers to get probate. While it's true we're only asking for a copy of some historic paperwork I cant imagine they'd be deemed a priority compared to people actually dealing with an estate.
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I ordered one on 6th October and received it on 8th October...
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The first of my five wills ordered on 29 July has just arrived! Hoping the others will be following soon.
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Actually the delays with the probate registry go back to when the government changed the IHT rules. A great many people submitted applications for probate to beat the deadline which left the registries with massive backlogs. It's been causing issues at work and I've seen house sales fall through because buyers have lost patience waiting on sellers to get probate. While it's true we're only asking for a copy of some historic paperwork I cant imagine they'd be deemed a priority compared to people actually dealing with an estate.
I don't think the issue is anything to do with legal applications but the fact they advertise a specific time frame which in the majority of cases is not true...there lies the problem.
Still no sign with an extended waiting time, not much to ask/expect.
Annie
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Well, today's the 3rd "luniversary" of when one of my wills should have been delivered. It's going to be such a thrill when it does arrive, even if it's not got much in it.
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My Reply #22 still stands.
Martin
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I am still waiting for one more will, ordered 24th July. Would it make a difference that the person lived in Scotland? All my others were from England. Not that they came in a hurry...
Grisel
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I'm still waiting for 2 of the 4 wills that I ordered on 24 July. It will be (hopefully) a joyous day when they finally arrive!
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The final of 5 wills I ordered on 29 July has just arrived! Maybe they are on a roll now, I hope so for those still waiting..
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I'm still waiting for a 1929 will which I ordered on the 29th July. One for 1862 ordered at the same time arrived 5 weeks ago.
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My 29th July will arrived today. The subject died intestate leaving a net estate of £27. Admin to his daughter.
Boooooorrrrrrrrrrrrring.
Martin
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Ha ha! I got very excited today when I got an email for my 30th July order. Turns out (they claim) I filled in the details incorrectly, entering London instead of Manchester for the registry. :'(
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Martin, I had understood that unless it's clear that there is a will in the probate index, there is no point in requesting the probate documents. Was the info you received the info that was already in the probate index or did you get something extra?
Just trying to work out if it may be worth applying for documents for someone who was intestate or if you were unlucky.
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I did get slightly more than I already knew. You have raised a valid point though. People should be careful.
Martin
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I'm ordering administrations as well as probates because you never know ..................
Two arrived last Friday. One told me what my great-uncle was worth - more than I thought! - and that admin was granted to a daughter I'd forgotten about at a hitherto unknown address.
His widow died a few months later, and I now know where she went after his death. She'd had to leave the pub they'd run for many years.
Three quid well spent in my opinion :D
Carol
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That's the thing Carol,
Those little extras mean so much to us who are genuinely interested whereas there are others only interested in names/dates & getting back to Adam & Eve with no real interest in the in-betweens yet missing out on so much.
Annie
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It's always sensible to invest time and money where there is the greatest chance of getting a return isn't it?
It's good to know that you got an address out of your administration Carol, that alone can set someone off on a new trail. I think I'll take a chance and apply for one or two administrations I'm curious about.
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They do seem to be good at supplying recent wills, I ordered 3 on Tuesday and they all arrived as promised on Thursday.
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I am still waiting for one ordered on 27th July. >:(
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I am still waiting for one ordered on 27th July. >:(
I received the one I ordered then last Friday. It says they cant send the will as there wasn't one, but the first page they did send mentioned a will. As it was just a distant relative and I only sent for it out of interest, I cant really be bothered to waste any more time following that up. I did trace the person who applied for probate and it was a cousin.
It says on the first page that the person mentioned in the will, her uncle, had pre deceased her, but that wouldn't have meant she died intestate would it, as the estate would have passed to his children?
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There have been a few of those where the probate says will attached (and doesn’t says ‘intestate’) but then the attached page says ‘no will......’ I have chased mine up as it’s a close ancestor of my husband’s with a number of children (Davies), some of which we can’t find.
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At first I did miss the fact that you have to download the admin and will separately, I thought I was going to be one of those people chasing up another page.
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I checked that having missed one earlier.... but mine just says ‘download document’
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There have been a few of those where the probate says will attached (and doesn’t says ‘intestate’) but then the attached page says ‘no will......’ I have chased mine up as it’s a close ancestor of my husband’s with a number of children (Davies), some of which we can’t find.
Did you do that by email or by phone?
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[quote author=groom link=topic=819837.msg6854021#msg6854021 date=1575800140
It says on the first page that the person mentioned in the will, her uncle, had pre deceased her, but that wouldn't have meant she died intestate would it, as the estate would have passed to his children?
[/quote]
That is not necessarily the case, the estate would only have passed to his children if the Will stipulated it should.
I received a legacy left to my mother, only because the relative stated I should do so if my mother predeceased her. Other family members named in the Will also predeceased her, their share reverted to the estate because no alternative provision was made for their share.
In your example, if the uncle was the only legatee, then the Will may have failed and come under intestacy rules.
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Thanks Jebber, that's what I think may have happened. The strange thing is that the person who predeceased her, and his son who applied for probate, were both solicitors and she herself came from a long line of solicitors You'd have thought that they would have made sure that everything was drawn up correctly.
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For some reason known only to the people involved, the experts often seem to be the ones who fail to cover all eventualities, and it is not just in the legal profession. ::) ::) ::)
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There have been a few of those where the probate says will attached (and doesn’t says ‘intestate’) but then the attached page says ‘no will......’ I have chased mine up as it’s a close ancestor of my husband’s with a number of children (Davies), some of which we can’t find.
Did you do that by email or by phone?
By ‘contact support’ as it linked to the order. Had the standard ‘very busy’ reply so have replied to state - again - that the will is not included. This was from 1957 so not an old one. Clearly says the will is attached, and it was only ‘download document’ in the summary.
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Mine is this, so it does look as if there should be a will
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Agreed 😀
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Dear Deirdre,
Have you had a response from the probate service via your query re your missing will. I also got a similar message that there was no will though there are 2 references to the will in the annex!
Or could it be that the problem is that the missing "wills" were judged invalid and set aside? That might explain it..
Thanks.
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Sadly nothing more, but as the wills are still taking ages (a friend has just had 2 from August), i thought i’d wait and contact them again when things had quietened down (hope they will eventually, though there doesn’t seem to be any pattern in delivery - i ordered wills for 2 deaths within 6 weeks of each other, same area, one arrived within 2 weeks, the other a month later).
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Well I had a response which said
"Good afternoon,
We apologise for any inconvenience created.
We are arranging to send requested copy will to you asap. "
That was the 19th December and I'm still waiting.
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Thank you Deirdre, Thank you groom!
I will query my document then and try to learn some patience! ;D
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I can beat you, groom, on that score - I had that same message on 16 December, AND I had to ask the same question twice to get that far (3 and 10 December). That was after ordering the same will twice and been refused. The second time I had taken a snip of my order so I knew that I hadn't mis-ordered, and when I received the second refusal I contacted them and quoted exactly what I had ordered.
I do know that if all else fails then I can get the copy from Wakefield, but it will cost me £10.00.
Added: I've just looked at my list - I first ordered this will on 7 August 2019 and was told that it was not available on 23 October 2019. Re-ordered 30 October 2019. ::) ::)
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Well I had a response which said
"Good afternoon,
We apologise for any inconvenience created.
We are arranging to send requested copy will to you asap. "
That was the 19th December and I'm still waiting.
Guess they rather underestimated the family historians who’d be interested in the wills 😀 I’ll probably wait a bit to query mine.
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I can beat you, groom, on that score - I had that same message on 16 December, AND I had to ask the same question twice to get that far (3 and 10 December). That was after ordering the same will twice and been refused. The second time I had taken a snip of my order so I knew that I hadn't mis-ordered, and when I received the second refusal I contacted them and quoted exactly what I had ordered.
I do know that if all else fails then I can get the copy from Wakefield, but it will cost me £10.00.
Added: I've just looked at my list - I first ordered this will on 7 August 2019 and was told that it was not available on 23 October 2019. Re-ordered 30 October 2019. ::) ::)
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!! ;D ;D ;D
I've finally received it
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A friend has just had one from late August. She only ordered two and the first one arrived a few weeks ago. I have now had all mine so maybe the backlog is clearing at last.
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Great news BumbleB :D :D
I'm still waiting :(
5th October - ordered
19th November - I was advised they could not send the will due to incomplete information, I emailed them to say I had provided the correct information.
27th November - I received a similar email to you and Groom, I would receive requested copy ASAP.
16th December - I emailed chasing my will - no response
14th January - I emailed again chasing my will, I received an automated response thanking me for my message
Still waiting ::)
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Will ordered in July. In December two pages were emailed; one page referred to people mentioned in the Will but second page stated that no Will was found!
Immediately contacted them but just standard, automated response.
Nothing yet.
This is not the first time this has happened. >:(
I am now reluctant to order any more; I had hoped things had improved........obviously not!
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Apologies - have you contacted them via their system - via the order number. I did, and confirmed exactly what I had ordered. I did have to re-iterate my request. Maybe I was lucky, but it is worth a try.
Also this was the only problem I encountered, in my orders for 12 wills.
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Yes, contacted via their system; it was not the first time. Will try again next month.
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I'm still waiting :(
5th October - ordered
19th November - I was advised they could not send the will due to incomplete information, I emailed them to say I had provided the correct information.
27th November - I received a similar email to you and Groom, I would receive requested copy ASAP.
16th December - I emailed chasing my will - no response
14th January - I emailed again chasing my will, I received an automated response thanking me for my message
Still waiting ::)
Excitement today when I received an email telling me that my will was ready to download, I logged in only to find there was nothing in "My Wills" >:(. I have emailed them yet again expressing my frustration.
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Maybe they will get fed up with all the complaints and just put price back to what it was.
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finally one I ordered Aug 7th and many emails to them it arrived today attached to an email only thing is the bottom appears cut off ???
It may only be one line but will never know so here goes another email I guess ;D