I
14 weeks
Stopped grants — average time to issue
Probate grants stopped between January and March 2026, Ministry of Justice figures.
A stop is HMCTS putting your application on hold until you answer something. It is not a refusal, it does not end the application, and it does not mean you have to start again. The Ministry of Justice defines it plainly: a case is stopped when there's a dispute about either who can apply for probate or where there are issues with a will or proposed will, or if an error is identified and a request for further information made.
You find out one of two ways. Postal applicants get a letter or an email. Online applicants can see the status change in the probate service itself — and in practice that is sometimes the first anyone knows, which is why it is worth checking the application every fortnight rather than waiting on the post. GOV.UK's own line is that you should usually have the grant within 12 weeks of applying and that it can take longer if you need to provide additional information — "additional information" is the stop, described gently.
Two different things share this phrase.
If you are here because you want to prevent someone else's application, that is a caveat, not a stop — a separate procedure using form PA8A. A caveat lasts 6 months and can be extended for another 6 months. It is a formal block on a grant being issued to anyone, and it belongs to contentious probate rather than to anything on this page. If that is your situation, this page is not the one you need.
The distinction matters because the fixes are opposite. A stop is cleared by sending HMCTS the thing it asked for. A caveat is cleared by a process between two parties, and the file does not move until that is resolved. Everything below concerns the first kind.
Not a rejection.
Your application number stays live. You are answering a question inside it, not resubmitting.
Not a second fee.
The £526 application fee is paid once, when you apply. Clearing a stop is correspondence within the existing application.
Not a fault finding.
Several of the most common stops are caused by HMCTS being unable to match two records that are both correct — a name spelled differently on a will and a death certificate, for instance.
Almost every stop can be traced to one identifiable box. The table below maps the stop reasons HMCTS and the Ministry of Justice have publicly identified to the exact question on form PA1P — the probate application where there is a will — or to the specific document that answers it. Question numbers are from the current PA1P. The online service asks the same questions in the same order, in different words.
| Stop reason | The exact box | What HMCTS is actually asking | The fix | What sets the clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family A — the inheritance-tax stops | ||||
| Applied before HMRC's letter arrived | PA1P 7.6 — "Have you received a letter from HMRC with your unique probate code?" | It cannot match your application to an IHT400 it has no confirmation of | Wait for the HMRC letter, then supply the code | HMRC's letter is sent up to 20 working days after you submit the IHT400 |
| Unique probate code missing or wrong | PA1P 7.6, first sub-box | The code is the only link between HMRC's file and the court's | Send the code exactly as printed on the HMRC letter | Queue-governed |
| IHT figures do not match HMRC's record | PA1P 7.6 gross/net from the HMRC letter, checked against 7.5 gross/net for probate | Two different values, deliberately, and people transpose them | Re-enter the HMRC letter's figures in 7.6 and the probate figures in 7.5 | Queue-governed |
| Excepted-estate route used where IHT400 was needed | PA1P 7.2 — "Which form did you complete?" | You have declared no HMRC forms on an estate that required them | Submit the IHT400, wait for the code, then answer the stop | Restarts at HMRC's 20 working days |
| Transferred nil-rate band claimed from more than one earlier death | PA1P 7.4 | An excepted estate may claim from one earlier death only | The IHT400 route with IHT402 | Restarts at HMRC's 20 working days |
| Family B — the people stops | ||||
| An executor named in the will is unaccounted for | PA1P 3.6 — "Name any executors who are not making this application, and explain why" | Every named executor must be accounted for, including those who died first | Name each one and give reason A–F | Queue-governed |
| Renunciation stated, form not enclosed | PA1P 3.6 reason D | A renunciation is only effective on the signed form | Enclose the signed PA15 | Your turnaround — the executor must sign it |
| Power reserved, no written notice given | PA1P 3.6 reason C + 3.7 declaration | The declaration says notice has been given; it must be true | Serve written notice, then confirm | Your turnaround |
| Executor lacks capacity, no medical evidence | PA1P 3.6 reason F | Capacity must be evidenced, not asserted | PA14 medical certificate, signed by their doctor | The doctor's turnaround |
| Applying as attorney without the attorney form | PA1P 3.6 reason E + Section 5 | Authority to act for an executor must be documented | PA11 (will) or PA12 (intestate) | Your turnaround |
| Applicant's name differs from the name in the will | PA1P 1.2 — "Is your name different in the will and codicil?" (and 1.8, 1.12, 1.16 for further applicants) | It must be able to show the applicant and the named executor are the same person | Give the name as it appears in the will, in the box provided | Queue-governed |
| Deceased's name differs across will, death certificate and assets | PA1P 2.1 / 2.2 (as they appear on the Death Certificate) and 2.6 / 2.7 (other names in which assets were held) | The grant must carry every name an asset is held in | Declare the alias at 2.7 so it appears on the grant | Queue-governed |
| Minor beneficiary and no executor applying | PA1P 3.5 | Two applicants are required in that situation | Add a second applicant in Section A | Your turnaround |
| Family C — the paper stops | ||||
| Original will not received, or a copy sent | Section 3 preamble — "You must submit the most recent original will" | The court retains the original; a copy proves nothing about revocation | Send the original | Postal turnaround |
| Original will cannot be found | — | Whether the will was destroyed with intent to revoke | PA13 lost will questionnaire | Queue-governed |
| Staple holes, pin marks, tears, stains | PA1P 3.8 — "Did you separate the will for photocopying purposes?" and 3.9 | Whether a document was ever attached and removed | Explain who separated it, when, and why, at 3.8 | Your turnaround, then queue |
| Unexplained alteration, obliteration or interlineation | PA1P 3.9 | Whether the alteration was present when the will was signed | Evidence under rule 14 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 | Your turnaround, then queue |
| No attestation clause, or an insufficient one | — (the will itself) | Whether the will was properly witnessed | Evidence of due execution under rule 12, usually from a witness | Depends on tracing a witness |
| Codicil referred to but not enclosed | PA1P 3.2 | Every testamentary document must be produced | Send the original codicil | Postal turnaround |
| Marriage or civil partnership after the will's date | PA1P 3.4 | Marriage generally revokes an earlier will | Declare the date; the estate may be intestate | Queue-governed, and may change the whole route |
Read the “what sets the clock” column honestly. Where a real published figure exists — HMRC's 20 working days for the code letter, the 6 months a caveat runs — this page gives it. Where none exists, it says queue-governed, and the number that governs is the one in §VI: stopped probate grants took 14 weeks to issue in the most recent published quarter. No official per-reason wait times are published. Anyone quoting you "adds 4–6 weeks" for a specific stop reason has estimated it.
Where there is no will, the equivalent form is PA1A and the grant is letters of administration. The executor questions do not apply; the entitlement questions replace them. Those applications are slower to begin with — see §VI.
The largest single family of stops is inheritance tax, and it is almost always a sequencing problem rather than a tax problem. HMCTS cannot issue a grant it cannot reconcile against HMRC's record of the estate. Since 17 January 2024 that reconciliation runs on a code, and the code arrives on HMRC's timetable, not yours.
You send HMRC the IHT400.
Not the court. The court has no part in this yet.
Then you apply to the court.
Entering the code and those two values at question 7.6.
Applying between step 1 and step 2 is the single most avoidable stop there is. The application arrives with nothing to match against and waits. The IHT421 probate summary that used to do this job was withdrawn for deaths where the IHT400 is filed on or after 17 January 2024 — which is why so much guidance still circulating online describes a form that no longer applies.
These are two different questions asking for two different pairs of numbers, one screen apart. Copy the HMRC letter's figures into 7.6 exactly as printed — to the penny, without rounding, without recalculating them because you think you have found an error. If you believe HMRC's figure is wrong, that is a conversation with HMRC, and it has to happen before the court application, not during it.
If the estate is excepted — no IHT400 required — you answer question 7.2 to say you sent HMRC nothing, and give the estate's values at 7.3 instead: gross, net, and net qualifying value. Two things stop applications here.
Claiming a nil-rate band the estate doesn't qualify for.
Claiming a deceased spouse's unused nil-rate band at 7.4 when the estate does not qualify for the excepted route at all.
For deaths on or before 31 December 2021, Section 8 of PA1P applies instead of Section 7, and IHT205 and IHT207 are still live there. Do not use those forms for a later death. IHT205 was abolished for deaths on or after 1 January 2022; excepted-estate information now goes on the probate application itself.
HMCTS has to know what happened to every executor named in the will — including the ones who died first. It is not enough to leave them off. Question 3.6 exists solely to account for them, and its own note is blunt: We need to know why any executors aren't included in this application. This includes any executors who have pre-deceased. If you do not provide all of the information this will delay your application.
They died before the person who has died.
They died after the person who has died.
Give the date of their death next to their name.
Power reserved.
They have chosen not to apply, but keep the right to apply later.
Renunciation.
They have chosen not to apply and give up the right entirely.
Power of attorney.
They have appointed someone to take the grant on their behalf.
They lack capacity to act as executor.
Where C, D, E and F each need a second document —
C · Power reserved → written notice
D · Renunciation → PA15
E · Attorney → PA11
F · Lack of capacity → PA14
Three names have to reconcile: the name in the will, the name on the death certificate, and the name assets are held in. PA1P gives each its own box, and stops follow when one is left blank.
Question 1.2 asks whether your name is different in the will — a married executor named under a maiden name, a middle name the will includes and your passport does not. Answer yes and give the will's version; the form's own note is that the names you provide must match the names provided on your formal ID.
Questions 2.1 and 2.2 want the deceased's names as they appear on the Death Certificate — not as the family wrote them, not as the will has them. And question 2.6 asks whether they held assets in any other name. If the answer is yes and you say no, the grant issues in one name and the bank holding the account in the other name will not accept it — a stop avoided at the cost of a second application later.
The original will goes to the court and stays there. It becomes a public record, and before it is admitted the registry examines its physical condition. That examination is a fraud control, not a formality: the question behind it is always whether something was once attached to this document and has since been removed.
HMCTS's own published guidance on avoiding delays names the marks it stops for: staple holes, rips or stains. (HMCTS, 2022) New staple holes cost the most time, because the innocent explanation and the serious one look identical on the paper: a will unstapled to be photocopied, or a codicil attached and later removed.
PA1P gives you the box to say so before anyone has to ask. Question 3.8 is "Did you separate the will for photocopying purposes?", and if you answer yes it wants who separated it, when, and why. Question 3.9 asks you to confirm the will consisted of the pages now submitted and that nothing else of a testamentary nature was ever attached. Answering 3.8 honestly and fully is faster than being asked.
Do not tidy the will.
Do not remove a rusted paperclip, do not re-staple it, do not flatten it into a new binder, do not send a photocopy "so the original stays safe". Send it as it is, and explain any mark you can account for. Every intervention adds a mark that someone then has to explain.
Two neighbouring rules in the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 catch two different problems. One is about the mark on the page; the other is about who was in the room when it was signed.
Two more things stop applications for reasons that have nothing to do with the paper's condition.
The original will cannot be found.
A photocopy will not do, however carefully certified. If the original genuinely cannot be found after a real search, PA13 is the lost-will questionnaire — but understand what is being decided: a will last known to be in the testator's possession and not found at death is presumed to have been destroyed with the intention of revoking it. That presumption can be rebutted. It has to be argued, not asserted.
Marriage or civil partnership after the will was made.
Question 3.4 asks whether the person married or entered a civil partnership after the will was made. Marriage generally revokes an earlier will in England and Wales, unless the will was made in contemplation of that marriage. If it did, the estate may be intestate, and the application is not a stopped PA1P — it is the wrong form.
Answer the exact question asked, once, completely. The most expensive mistake after the original one is a partial reply, because a stopped case that returns incomplete goes back to the end of the same queue it just came from.
Read the stop letter for the question, not the tone. It will name a box, a document, or a discrepancy. That phrase is what you are answering.
Find the box in this page's §II table. Identify what HMCTS is actually trying to reconcile — it is usually not what the sentence appears to ask.
Assemble everything the answer needs at once. A renunciation needs a signed PA15, not a promise of one. A condition query needs the explanation and the person who can give it.
Quote the case reference on everything. Every page, every enclosure, every email.
Reply by the route the letter specifies. Personal applicants: contactprobate@justice.gov.uk or HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QE. Practitioners: through MyHMCTS, on the case.
Then allow time before chasing. HMCTS asks that you allow time before chasing, once the information has been supplied. Chasing earlier does not move the file and costs you the phone call.
Those are Ministry of Justice figures for January to March 2026, published in the Family Court Statistics Quarterly. The gap between 2 weeks and 14 weeks is the entire cost of a stop, and it is why the pre-flight checks in §II are worth more than any amount of chasing afterwards. In that quarter there were 65,254 applications and 62,261 grants issued, with 42,490 cases open at the end of March. Seven grants in ten were digital applications that were never stopped — that is the group behind the two-week average. The rest were paper, stopped, or both.
One thing a stop does not do is cost you money. The application fee — £526 for an estate over £5,000, nothing at or below it — is paid once with the application, and extra sealed copies ordered at the same time are £2 each. Order more copies than you think you need at the point of application, because ordered later they are £16 each. That is not a stop, but it is the same species of avoidable cost, and the moment to fix it is the same moment.
Every stop above is a question someone could have answered on the form. The reason they didn't is almost never carelessness — it is that nobody knew, at the moment of filling the box, which name the bank held the account in, whether a codicil ever existed, or why there were staple holes in a will they inherited in a folder.
A brief built around this specific estate
What applies, which forms in what order, what can run in parallel, and the deadlines that are actually load-bearing. For the person in it right now.
See more→Free · no account requiredThe blank executor checklist
The time-phased list, 0–7 days through 6–12 months.
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