Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the backlog within the Probate Registry; and what steps his Department is taking to expedite the processing of applications for Grants of Probate, including in cases involving lost wills.

Applications for Probate can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant, a caveat is in place or where cases are more complex. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is investing in more staff, alongside system and process improvements to improve timeliness and further build capability for the more complex cases, which include cases involving a lost will.

The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness in our regular quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.