Compare · probate administration

When a probate case goes quiet: your options — with any firm

Estate administration is slow by nature, and the quiet stretch after the grant is the part families are least prepared for. This page is what to do when weeks pass without an update — whoever your provider is.

Facts checked · 13 July 2026

At a glance	The short version
What you're entitled to	To know who is handling your matter, what it costs, and how to complain.
The escalation ladder	Written case plan → formal complaint → Legal Ombudsman after 8 weeks.
Can you switch firms?	Yes — the matter belongs to the estate's personal representatives, not the firm.

§1

What you're entitled to.

A probate file is not a favour — it's a professional service with rules attached. If a solicitor firm is administering the estate, the SRA's client-care standards entitle you to know who is handling your matter, to a costs estimate and updates when costs change, and to a published complaints procedure. Executors and administrators are also entitled to estate accounts — the running record of what has come in, gone out, and remains.

If the firm doesn't resolve a complaint within 8 weeks, you can take it to the Legal Ombudsman. None of this requires confrontation. It requires a letter.

§2

The polite escalation ladder.

Ask for a written case plan

Not a phone reassurance — a dated letter or email listing what remains to be done, who is doing it, and by when. Most stalled matters restart here, because writing the plan forces the file to the top of someone's pile.

Make it a formal complaint

Use the word complaint and the firm's published procedure. Regulated firms must log and answer it — this is the step that creates the paper trail.

Go to the Legal Ombudsman

Once 8 weeks have passed without resolution, you can escalate outside the firm — no need to wait longer than that.

Change provider

Less drastic than it sounds — the matter belongs to the estate's personal representatives, not to the firm. You are entitled to move it; the outgoing firm can charge for work properly done, and the file follows the estate.

§3

What actually happens after the grant.

The grant is the visible milestone; collection and distribution are the long labour after it. Valuations, institution-by-institution claims, property sales, tax clearances, final accounts — none of it is glamorous, and all of it is where the months go. Third parties set much of the pace: banks, the Land Registry, HMRC and buyers all have their own queues. A long stretch is not by itself evidence that anything has gone wrong — which is exactly why a written plan with dates is worth asking for.

§4

Getting the estate to run properly.

Whichever firm holds the file, the estate runs better when the family holds the map. Most post-grant delay is really information-latency: nobody has the complete list of assets, accounts, policies and contacts in one place, so every step waits on discovery. That is fixable from your side of the table.

Executor's First Hour

One-off · sequenced brief

£179

One-off

Turns the estate you describe into a sequenced plan: what to secure, who to write to, in what order, with what evidence.

See the Executor's First Hour Pack→

Neither replaces your firm. It makes you the best-informed client the firm has — which is, in practice, how files move.

§5

Choosing a provider: what actually differs.

Honest-scope note

Deferred payment from the estate matters when there is no cash up front, and several national providers — Co-op Legal Services among them — offer it. A national brand with in-person heritage matters to many families, and membership benefits are real. Weigh those against fixed-fee scope, who actually handles the file, and how often you are updated. None of that is a judgement about any firm — it is the set of questions worth asking whoever you instruct.

Figure watch · checked weekly

The figures on this page change.

Court fees rise, thresholds move, deadlines shift.

This card watches the same way your Valoren records would — leave an email and we'll tell you when one changes, once, then stop.

FAQ

Common questions, answered.

The grant itself: GOV.UK's benchmark is 12 weeks from a complete application, and HMCTS data shows most grants now arrive in around 5 weeks on average — though a minority of stalled cases take as long as 14 weeks.

Full administration is a different timescale: 9–18 months is the honest norm for a typical estate, longer with property chains, foreign assets or disputes. A firm should be able to tell you which stage yours is in, in writing.

Yes. The personal representatives instruct the firm, not the other way round.

The outgoing firm may charge for work properly done and can hold the file until fees are settled — but you are not locked in.

The estate typically bears the properly-incurred costs of both firms — which is why the escalation ladder comes first: a written plan is free, and often enough.

It solves a real problem — no money up front — and that can be decisive.

Weigh it knowingly: ask any provider, before you sign, for their post-grant milestones in writing, whatever their payment model.

Make the estate easier to run, whoever holds the file.

The Executor's First Hour turns what you already know about the estate into a sequenced plan — the single most useful thing you can hand a solicitor, or manage without one.

See the Executor's First Hour Pack — £179→

No case files handledInformational, not adviceEngland & Wales

Informational, not advice. Confirm current fees and time limits with the relevant body — the SRA, the Legal Ombudsman, or HMCTS — before acting. Facts checked 13 July 2026.