Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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214. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of probate cases being processed; the expected turnaround time for dealing with probate cases; the number of residential homes in the probate system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47947/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Probate Office is an office of the High Court and management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions under the Courts Service Act 1998. Probate functions are also carried out by County Registrars at District Probate Registries in 14 provincial court offices.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that the Probate Office together with the various District Probate Registries issue between 16,000 to 17,000 Grants of Probate per annum.

The Courts Service has advised me that waiting times in the Probate Office in Dublin for a Grant of Probate are currently 17 weeks for applications made by solicitors on behalf of clients and approximately 11 months for personal applications. All applications are assessed on the basis of the date on which they are lodged, an approach which provides fairness and equity to all applicants. Priority is given to probate applications where there is a particular urgency or in extenuating circumstances. In such cases, it is open to applicants to bring the matter to the attention of the Probate Office.

As the Deputy will appreciate all applications for Grants in deceased persons' estates are made on foot of a number of mandatory legal documents which must be furnished by the applicants. These require detailed checking by the Probate Office to ensure that the estate of the deceased person is administered correctly and in accordance with the law. Where a person opts to apply for a Grant personally, without the assistance of a solicitor, the process requires significant extra support from the Probate Office. 

The average waiting times in the District Probate Registries from first receipt to issue of Grant are set out in the table.

The Courts Service is also aware of the variance in waiting times across District Probate Registries which is due to the volume of applications received at the Registries, the skill sets within the Registries and the operational priorities within the offices. It is currently finalising a full review of the probate system and it is anticipated that a report with recommendations for the modernisation of the process will be presented by the end 2017.

The Courts Service has also informed me that its statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide the number of probate applications which relate to residential homes. This information could only be obtained by the examination of each individual application, which would require the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time which would not be warranted.