Probate 30 Years after Death

Re: the following probate entry dated 28 April 1961.

MOORBY Percy of Causway House Cartmel Lancashire died 6 May 1932 Administration London 28 April to Elizabeth Jessie Pillinger married woman. Effects £240

Elizabeth Jessie Pillinger was the wife of Percy Moorby, and remarried in 1939 to Ernest Pillinger.

Why could this process have taken nearly 30 years to have arrived at probate. Any ideas?

 

Could it be that Percy died shortly after marrying Elizabeth, did he leave a will?

 

Since this is an administration, with no mention of a will being annexed, or a former grant, I’m guessing Percy Moorby died intestate, and his widow saw no need to apply for a grant of administration at the time. Were there any children involved?

Any one of a number of things may have happened to make a Grant necessary a good many years later. Maybe more assets came to light - a savings account or insurance policy - and funds would only be released to Elizabeth if she could provide evidence of her entitlement. Or maybe she wanted to sell something that was still in his name and needed proof that it had passed to her when her former husband had died.

It’s unusual for a grant to be applied for so long after a death, but certainly not unheard of.

 

My uncle’s estate was subject to probate twice. The first time was soon after he died, to his widow. The second time was almost 30 years later and 12 years after his widow had died. The reason being that although his widow’s probate left everything to their only son, it emerged much later that she had omitted to put their house and mortgage (among other things) in her name after her husband died. My cousin discovered that he was not the legal owner of his home!

 

The second grant was presumably an administration (with the will, if there was one) to allow your cousin to administer the parts of the estate his mother left unadministered - such as the house.

 

All three grants were administrations and there were no wills as both of my cousin’s parents died unexpectedly at relatively young ages. Yes, the final grant was to enable my cousin to take ownership of the house and all of the associated bills, which had all been left in his late father’s name. My cousin only realised when he wanted to make alterations to the house!

 

Percy married Elizabeth January quarter 1932 and probably died intestate. I'm wondering maybe Elizabeth became aware of her inheritance many years later through the Gazette or similar.

 

It’s likely, as discussed above, that she had inherited assets that she didn’t realise weren’t automatically hers until she wanted to realise them in some way … cash in savings or investments, sell or bequeath property. It sometimes happened that when one partner in a marriage died the probate wasn’t initiated until it was needed because the other partner had died or wanted to transfer some assets to someone else - a child, another family member, or a business partner, for example.