Probate Service

Debate between Lord Keen of Elie and Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

Monday 27th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (LD) [V]]

Are any of the temporary measures adopted during lockdown under consideration for becoming permanent—for example, signed statements of truth replacing affidavits or HMRC accepting estimated values and then subsequent corrected values?

[Lord Keen of Elie [V]]

Certainly, it is intended that permanently replacing affidavits with statements of truth will be considered, as will electronic signatures on probate forms—albeit that the whole issue of electronic signatures should be considered more widely. Going forward, we will seek to learn from these changes what permanent improvements can be introduced to the service.