'Warning' and 'Appearance'

[Titan77]

We registered a Warning with the Probate Registry 8 days ago today and believed it would expire today. My husband rang the Registry this afternoon to ask if an Appearance had been submitted but they said the 8 days does not include weekends so it expires on Tuesday. Our solicitor and the District Judge say that it does include weekends. You would think the Probate Registry would know but I am not so sure. Does anyone out there know who is right?

[Barmaid]

I think that your solicitor is correct. Trouble is at the moment, I can't provide you with any authority for that view. Under the Civil Procedure Rules if a time period is 5 days or less it does NOT include weekends - more than 5 days and it does include weekends. Unfortunately, the CPR does not apply to practice in the probate registry. My gut feeling is that the CPR and Probate rules will be the same, but I can't find anything in the Non Contentious Probate Rules about computation of time and haven't got time to read the RSC at the mo.

[Titan77]

Thanks for your opinion Barmaid. Our solicitor did mention about the NCP Rules and he believed he had interpreted them correctly. It would make it clearer if the Probate Registry stated 8 working days instead of just 8 days if they insist that weekends are not included.