Solicitor slow over probate

D1zzy

Can I just recommend to anybody
that if you have a straight forward estate that you do it yourself - there is no need to involve solicitors. I handled my Mum's estate with absolutely no experience. There was IHT to pay and her estate involved shares, bank accs, savings accounts;pensions foreign property, a foreign bank account and foreign Taxes. I did employ a fiscal representative in Spain to deal with Spanish IHT etc- but then it was all very straight forward. All relevant forms were available on line and the IR were extremely helpful

ljs_3

D1zzy wrote: »

Can I just recommend to anybody
that if you have a straight forward estate that you do it yourself - there is no need to involve solicitors. I handled my Mum's estate with absolutely no experience. There was IHT to pay and her estate involved shares, bank accs, savings accounts;pensions foreign property, a foreign bank account and foreign Taxes. I did employ a fiscal representative in Spain to deal with Spanish IHT etc- but then it was all very straight forward. All relevant forms were available on line and the IR were extremely helpful

I've done this too and it is quite straight forward. You would have to give the solicitor so much information that it is quicker to do it yourself.

Trix2

Any news. We are still waiting - now for the tax overpayments to come back. Will it never end!

How about yours?

Best wishes - Trix

DdraigGoch

I really do feel for everyone who's suffered in this way. I too was taken for a ride by my parents' solicitors. The solicitor my parents appointed retired just as my father died - I think he would have done a marvellous and fast job. The replacement? No.

She mismanaged things to the extent that I had to take an auditor WITH ME to a meeting to get her to go through the accounts.

Short hint to anyone: the phrase, "Where's the money?" is one that seems to light a fire under most legal eagles .....

To put it briefly, the whole exercise took over 3 years for a simple "everything to my child" [I am only child] and they charged me, in 2006, £7,000 AND had the nerve to mention in the letter accompanying the final accounts that a] they'd already taken the money and b] that the delay, and therefore a lot of the expense, was due entirely to my [words to the effect of] "astounding tardiness". Yes, I was late and slow with replies - family life gets in the way some times, but I can't quite understand why it causes an incredibly high fee - after all, it was just sitting in their danged files until something turned up from me ... they weren't babysitting it every night and day, were they?!

So, in a nutshell - don't trust them unless it's complicated [and even then check up on them] and make sure that everything is double-checked before you send it off to them and do it promptly.

If all else fails, find a solicitor who has treated a friend of yours well and transfer it across WITH THE INSTRUCTION FOR THE RECEIVING SOLICITOR TO ONLY PAY OUT "REASONABLE EXPENSES" to the first "unsatisfactory" solicitor. That way the receiving solicitor will check up on the work the first one's done [will do it any way to ensure it's all ok] and then you only have to pay for what is reasonable, not just what the "unsatisfactory" ones want.

If there are any legal problems with anything I've said, I'm sorry and although ignorance is no defence in law, apparently, please would someone point anything out to me if appropriate as I have no interest in being sued by solicitors ...

Biggles

Rather than a solicitor (who Will be slow and Will be expensive but May not even be experienced in probate!), consider a probate broker, like this guy http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/apr/18/probate-writing-a-will. There are also several other alternatives mentioned at the foot of the article.

localhero

DdraigGoch wrote:

If there are any legal problems with anything I've said, I'm sorry and although ignorance is no defence in law, apparently, please would someone point anything out to me if appropriate as I have no interest in being sued by solicitors ...

I wouldn't worry too much about being sued, as I and many others have said far more uncomplimentary things about solicitors.

Unfortunately the competence of a solicitor undertaking Wills and probate work is a real lottery as only members of STEP, Solicitors for the Elderly and the IPW must demonstrate their expertise by undertaking compulsory exams on the subject.

There is a simple solution to prevent being fleeced by probate solicitors - and that is don't appoint them as your executors in your Will in the first place.

Your executors should be someone sensible and trustworthy, who can and should where required obtain the appropriate advice on ad hoc basis. Unless your estate is particularly complex, the process of obtaining probate is very straightforward - albeit a little time consuming.

Trix2

Hi Localhero, Biggles and DdraigGoch

I agree with everything you have said, but the problem is, (or it was with me, and seems to have been with Maggie), that you need to know all this in advance. If you have never used a solicitor other than for house purchase, you are unaware of the delays and excessive payments they involve. You foolishly imagine that after looking after your aging parents with devastating diseases, that it will be easier and more reliable to employ a solicitor to oversee the administration.

It is not until some time later that you realise they aren't doing the job properly and are demanding huge amounts to do it. Added to this they have tangled everything up so badly you don't know what has or hasn't happened, and you are afraid to sack them because they may entirely screw things up before you get your hands on the paperwork, if in fact it is available, since they seem to spend a huge amount of time not answering your questions, and avoiding sending you anything you have asked for.

I have never felt so disempowered as I have dealing with our solicitor. And after all of this and the massive amounts they have charged - they have the nerve to tell you that if you ask questions, they will need to INCREASE the bill.:mad:

But that's just my experience. I hope others have had a better time. I would also add that the solicitor in question had dealt with a friend's probate in a timely and reasonable manner. Perhaps it's the admin then? I don't know. But I do know that once you are in, it's difficult to get out.

Also would agree with reading Biggles article. More information can only help.

DdraigGoch

I am hoping that someone who is in the sad position of dealing with a deceased loved one's will will see this and learn from our mistakes.

Does anyone else think that starting up a new, specific advice thread and referring people to this one is a good idea?

Trix2

Hi DG
That sounds like a good idea to me.

ukmaggie45

Hi there Folks,

I promised an update on another thread a while ago, but Life just keeps on happening! :rolleyes:

Had a significant payment from S2, so have been paying my debts (loan from daughter to help get new to us caravan, money to OH).

Had confirmation this week that the government bonds and stock has been transferred to my name.

Some problems with the equities as there are a number of missing certificates, which S2 is trying to sort out.

S2 is hoping to work from home next week and is going to try and do a preliminary accounts for the estates.

We made an appointment a few weeks ago and S2 drew up wills for us. We've had the draft copies, and obviously have put them in a very safe place as we can't find them now! :rolleyes: Same with the Enduring Power of Attorney forms.

We are still in chaos here, piles of paper that we need to hang on to "just in case".

Plus yesterday we put in an offer (subject to survey) on a 2 bed bungalow that needs EVERYTHING doing, and heard yesterday evening that our offer has been accepted! :eek:

We'll hopefully get the work done before we put our current house on the market. We've been here since 1973, and our second daughter was born in our bedroom here, so it's going to be a wrench.

Trix, have you had any more luck with things?

My apologies for not updating more regularly, will try to do so in future!

Maggie