Bereaved face 8-month wait to deal with wills

Families of people who die in Waterford are being forced to wait up to eight months before they can begin to deal with relatives’ wills due to waiting lists at the district probate office.

When a person dies, their house, money or land is inaccessible by their next-of-kin until they receive a grant of representation document from the High Court in Dublin or one of its 14 district probate registries.

The variation in waiting times range from two to four weeks in Wexford to a 30-32-week wait in Waterford. The Waterford probate registry dealt with just 307 cases last year while the Wexford office dealt with 452.