Delays in Irish probate system causing financial hardship

Delays in Ireland’s probate system are causing financial hardship for families of the deceased, Royal London Ireland has claimed.

A position paper by the mutual life insurance and pensions company states the average time taken to complete probate last year was 16 months.

It makes a series of recommendations for Government action, including the “opening up” of services “to companies that are not registered solicitors” in order to address the exclusivity of probate service.

It also calls for a review of fees for personal applicants, simplified processes for small claims or claims without payable inheritance tax, and fewer additional requirements for personal applicants.

Joe Charles, head of proposition at Royal London, said: “We embarked on this research project because our experience showed that the time currently taken to process probate in Ireland is having a detrimental knock-on effect on the timeframe for processing life assurance policy claims. For example, our analysis of claims in 2016 found the average time to complete probate was 489 days (16 months).

“Our research findings supported this contention, and show that it can take months for probate to be processed by the Courts Service of Ireland’s Probate Offices. This delay can result in significant financial hardship for the family and estate of the deceased policyholder, as they wait for the proceeds of the life assurance policy.

“We have been in contact with TD Colm Brophy on this issue and we hope that our position paper will have some impact on policy in this regard.

“We are now calling on the Government to consider our proposals for improvements, which are aimed at increasing efficiency and speeding up the probate system. Not to do so will allow the growing probate delays to continue placing unnecessary financial hardship on many Irish families.”