Probate solicitors this week criticised the Inland Revenue’s handling of changes to the excepted estate regulations that will see them lose a key advantage over other professionals and members of the public when applying for probate.

New rules that come into force on 1 November will take away solicitors’ exemption from the requirement to complete a form when applying for probate for an excepted estate worth less than £240,000.


Revenue; rules to stop fraud

> The rules have been introduced to prevent suspected fraud by some solicitors, who the Revenue believes have been wrongly claiming the exemption.

However, the relevant form will not be on the Revenue’s Web site until mid-October and will not be available in printed format until the end of the month.


> Charles Gordon, a member of the Law Society’s wills and equity committee, said: ‘This is going to involve extra work for solicitors, and therefore extra cost… It is extremely poor that the forms are not yet available for solicitors to begin completing them and send them out to be signed.’


He added: ‘The lack of availability of these forms will lead to a backlog at probate registries.


Richard Grosberg, former chairman of the Law Society’s probate section, added: ‘The new system will reduce the Inland Revenue’s workload, but will vastly increase the workload for probate registries. Solicitors will no longer be able to offer a service akin to taking their client through the green route at customs.’


> Anne King, assistant director at the Capital Taxes Office, said the late availability of the forms would prevent them being used before November. She added that the additional step for solicitors would ensure the process was not abused.


l The government announced this week a delay to plans to open up probate work to non-lawyers until the Clementi review reports in December, after pressure from the Law Society (see [2004] Gazette, 23 September, 1). It is to push ahead with allowing legal executives and licensed conveyancers to handle the work, however.


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