The Ministry of Justice is moving most applications for grants of probate to MyHMCTS, its online case management service for legal professionals.
It is making the change for most probate applications where there is a will on 2 November, although it will continue to accept paper applications until 30 November to give users time to move.
A consultation on the change over the summer found general support for online probate applications, but with reservations over making it mandatory in all cases. Some more complex grants of probate will continue to be accepted outside the MyHMCTS system, including those concerning second applications for the same estate and foreign wills.
Adam Lennon, deputy director and Probate Service owner, said that Covid-19 had demonstrated the importance of providing an online service to manage the 180,000 annual applications for grants of probate.
“We have been pleased by the feedback that we have received so far on the service and we believe the time is now right to mandate the use of MyHMCTS,” he added. “It’s secure, reduces errors and improves processing times allowing us and probate professionals to provide members of the public with a high quality service at challenging times in their personal lives.”
MyHMCTS is also used for divorces, financial remedies, family public law and immigration and asylum appeals.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
