Solicitor slow over probate

Trix2

Many thanks Sloughflint. Your comments and UKMaggies postings have kept me going during the bad times. When I posted - I thought we were nearly at an end, as the revised (twice) set of accounts for my MIL had been sent to HMRC 4 weeks ago.

Just heard from the solicitors secretary, (who said last week she had checked) that they have not arrived - yet again. My solicitors must be the unluckiest on the planet as their post is always going missing!

What is the drill with the Legal Complaints Service. Anybody gone down this road. Who do I complain to first.

a11waysindebt

Trix2 wrote: »

Many thanks Sloughflint. Your comments and UKMaggies postings have kept me going during the bad times. When I posted - I thought we were nearly at an end, as the revised (twice) set of accounts for my MIL had been sent to HMRC 4 weeks ago.

Just heard from the solicitors secretary, (who said last week she had checked) that they have not arrived - yet again. My solicitors must be the unluckiest on the planet as their post is always going missing!

What is the drill with the Legal Complaints Service. Anybody gone down this road. Who do I complain to first.

Snap:mad: I had a case going for nearly 3 years,Firstly have you tried making a complaint to the solicitors company.

shinybabe

Hi, i just thought i would let you know how we dealt with a slow solicitor.

A few years ago we were selling our house and it took him months to close the deal (this was at the height of the housing boom so every month wasted was money we could have added to the house value). Eventually i spoke to my brother who was doing a law degree and he told me to threaten them with the Law Society - apparently, they have the power to close them down or something!

Anyway, i phoned the solicitor (for the 50th time) and told them i couldn't understand what was taking so long, so i was going to speak to the LS to see what they thought. We received a letter to go in and sign, the very next day!

I know my situation was nothing compared to yours but threatening them worked. Give it a go and good luck.

Trix2

Hi Allways and Shinybabe, Thanks for the advice.

I have been onto the Legal Complaints Service who say they will send out a pack that will give me information on how to make a formal complaint. They were very nice, but obviously can't go into specifics until you make the complaint. They said the issues I had raised were all things they could address (see my post above). I will await the pack, but need to finish the probate process and then write a formal complaint to the 'complaint handling partner'. If I go this route I will start a new thread as I don't want to mess up UKMaggie's thread. It has been so helpful to me.

Regards - Trix

sloughflint

Trix2 wrote: »

Who do I complain to first.

Internal complaint first.

Complain about your solicitor – first steps

You should complain to your solicitor about poor service or their bill before you contact us.

http://www.legalcomplaints.org.uk/complain-about-your-solicitor.page

localhero

I'm afraid you have to keep on top of them from the start. Just the threat of a complaint to their regulator should almost certainly get them to take you seriously.

For, as soon as a complaint materialises the law firm have to spend hours dealing with it, which they absolutely loathe as it's time that they aren't billing out.

It is just a bit unfortunate that it should get to that stage, and even more unfortunate that many people don't realise that the professional that they have put faith in aren't fit for purpose.

uk1

Just as an aside - but I hope it encourages others.

I was the named executor to my father-in-law's will. I handled probate myself for an estate worth roughly £150k which included cash and insurance plus a few odds and sods. I used the on-line guidance and forms. From registering the death to final distribution was around 4 weeks and was very straightforward. The probate official was complimentary about my completion of the forms and said he wished others would "do it themselves" and avoid the expense and delay of solicitors.

localhero

uk1 wrote:

The probate official was complimentary about my completion of the forms and said he wished others would "do it themselves" and avoid the expense and delay of solicitors.

Well done to you - and yes you are quite right, the Probate Registry really are extremely helpful and seem to prefer dealing with the public rather than solicitors.

moongarden

chesky369 wrote: »

I would ask for a bill up to 'today's date' and ask for everything to be listed. The thing is, you can do probate yourself - it just takes time and sometimes I think it can't really take any longer than these so-called experts take.

Totally agree. If you are not working and have access to a telephone and a computer its not a difficult thing to do. I am going through the process at the moment and have found it reasonably straightforward so far.

ukmaggie45

Hello again everyone! Happy New Year!

Sorry haven't responded to posts the last few weeks - both husband and I were ill, and then it was time to try and get organised for Xmas. Currently am recovering from new car breaking down in Wales (after New Year away at caravan for first time ever) and having to have Recovery Service bring us home on Monday, then taking delivery of hire car from Motability yesterday while (only 3 months old) car goes back to dealer to be fixed.

Had a phone call from husband this morning to say he'd heard from solicitor (this is the partner of S1) to say contracts were exchanged on my parents' flat this morning, deposit paid, completion on 30th January.

Have no idea what will happen with the proceeds... Originally when the IHT papers went in, we deferred payment of IHT on the value of the flat. But if the DoV goes through I don't think we'll owe it. Guess it'll have to be paid initially, as we're still waiting on hearing about the Deed.

We live in hopes that we might find out about if the Revenue accepts the DoV sometime this year, but I have to say I am not exactly holding my breath!

It would be nice to get everything done and dusted this year! But in the short term it would be nice to be able to pay our daughters the rest of their inheritance.