Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reform the probate system.

A well-functioning probate system is essential to providing certainty for bereaved families and supporting the timely administration of estates.

The Government is continuing to modernise the probate service to improve efficiency and accessibility. This includes the digitisation of probate applications, enhancements to case management systems and wider operational improvements to support quicker and more reliable processing. The President of the Family Division has established a working group to look at the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 with a view to identifying improvements.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has improved processing times, with the majority of applications now completed within published service standards. Where cases take longer, this is often due to the complexity of the estate or the need for further information from personal representatives. The Government keeps the operation of the service under regular review to ensure it continues to meet users’ needs.