Probate application fees will increase from 155 to 273 for all estates over 5,000 from 26th January 2022.

This represents an increase of just over 76%.

My Thoughts

We live in difficult economic times, rising inflation, impending rising income tax and National Insurance rates, we keep hearing that there is a cost-of-living crisis. I cant help but think of this as a cost-of-dying crisis.

The Government introduced a new system for applying for Probate which is a digital system designed to increase efficiency and save costs. As part of the changes, many Probate Registries were closed and experienced and highly skilled staff laid off. The new system is not working any better than the old system and often worse, with massive ongoing delays and inexperienced staff doing their best but without the body knowledge which was previously available on tap.

In relation to deaths after 1^st January 2022, the inheritance tax reporting has been simplified and restored to the position prior to 2005. This means that there is less work for the Probate Registry to carry out, and yet their fees are increased.

Summary

There is no choice about paying the new fee, and it is better than the proposed hikes just a few years ago (upto a maximum of £20,000!) but its still another cost-on death and an increase of 76% is amazing. Just think what the PM would say if solicitors fees were rising by 76%!

Naomi Pinder, 7.1.22

I have the privilege in helping many families after the passing of a loved one, it is always particularly sad where there are young children under 18 who have lost mum or dad.

It is extremely important for there to be a Will in place, without a Will the estate passes under the law of intestacy and this can mean that all or part of the estate passes to the child and the procedure for obtaining the Grant of Letters of Administration (probate) is more complicated.

Unfortunately, there are massive and unpredictable delays in the new system for applying for probate following the centralisation, partial digitalisation and closure of some district probate registries which were a font of knowledge and experience.

The applications where there is no Will and the beneficiary includes a minor child are being delayed with the consequence to the family of not being able to liquidate the assets of the estate.

The answer to this problem is for parents to make Wills, they dont need to be anything complicated but need to include the executors, trustees and legacies. This should not be delayed and Wills are normally completed within two weeks of instructing us.

Stay safe, Naomi

I think that the consequences of the Government’s apparentlack of respect for the Rule of Law and those who administer the legal system are extremely serious. I have no doubt that Mr Johnson and Miss Patel don’t mean their words to be used to justify the use of violence in any way at all. I work on the basis that the PM and the Home Secretary have difficult jobs and do their best. We all make mistakes and hindsight can be a cruel mistress. However, words have power, their meaning can often be used and abused so that the listener can hear what they want to hear, to justify their beliefs and actions.

I cannot fathom why the PM thinks that to call someone (Leader of HM Opposition) a “lawyer” is an insult?nor why he deems it ridiculous to approach a serious matter raised in Parliament in a legal manner. After all, Parliament’s function is to legislate, in other words its function is to make the law, it isn’t a tea party with cake and ice cream. It is a serious, a deadly serious business.

Solicitors dealing with immigration matters have been labelled by HM Government as being activist and lefty with an implication that they are somehow the baddies and are supporting behaviour which is detrimental to society’s greater good. The apparent lack of understanding is terrible. The Rule of Law underpins all areas of society, it is the set of rules which provide a framework for the functioning of a society and when the system goes wrong, there can be dreadful consequences , the most extreme example is Nazi Germany.

I am a solicitor of 32 years, I have spent just about the whole of my adult life in the law- firstly as a student, then Articles and then as a solicitor and sometime teacher. There is a system of rules combining statute and case law, developed over time, constantly evolving and administered with fairness and justice by impartial actors, may they be solicitors, barristers, judges and the other unsung heroes and heriones working hard in the law.

Once the administration of the Rule of Law breaks down, a society is in serious trouble and can lead to anarchy.

In the current climate, I wasn’t surprised to read in the news that an immigration law firm had been identified and targeted by a man with far right views. He has been charged with offences under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and also of threatening to kill the solicitor’s receptionist and the solicitor, and abusing other members of staff because of their racial or religious background. He is reported to have had equipped himself with a knife, handcuffs, a Nazi flag and a Confederate flag. (Source BBC News Website).

I ask if this man had felt encouraged in any way that his views were justified and to carry out the alleged acts of violence by the words of the Home Secretary and the constant ridicule of lawyers by the PM. I ask if he didn’t feel positively encouraged to take action, if he had felt that it was acceptable to attack in person those whom the powerful have attacked in words.

I read about the USA and a similar situation happening there, the law being derided by the powerful and extreme groups feeling justified into taking the law into their own hands. Except it is not The Rule of Law, it is their own subjective rule of law which is not shared by society, has no checks and balances and which is simply someone’s view of life.

Legal rules and their administration is a complex matter, there is an official?tendency to portray that it all as unnecessary and that lawyers don’t need to be involved in its development and administration. There is a portrayal that it has all been made unnecessarily complicated for no good reason, that it is for the benefit of lawyers and the so-called legal industry. This constant drip-drip erosion of respect for the Rule of Law is deeply damaging to our society.

Why has it become like this What benefit is there in eroding the Rule of Law? Who benefits

I’ll stop now and ponder upon these matters further, we live in worrying times indeed.

Stay safe, Naomi