Solicitor slow over probate

sagalout1954

localhero wrote: »

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.

The solicitor we employed to draw up our first Wills said it was 'common' and 'normal' to appoint a solicitor (themselves of course) as one of the estate executors. We fell for it (well, we were quite young at the time) but some years later after reading a story just like a lot of these we had a codicil added removing him and putting in a family friend instead.

Have subsequently written new wills & they don't name a solicitor either - if our executors need any help they can employ one. If he/she is rubbish they can give them the elbow and get another one. Can't be done if they've been named as executor in the will.

On reading this thread it seems the best advice has already been given by localhero. Don't leave a load of grief for your surviving family and a great chunk of your estate going into a greedy, lazy solicitors coffer. If YOU have a will naming a solicitor - GET IT CHANGED.

mary-op

Sorry if this may be a bit off topic - my mother died in Feb this year and we are still waiting for the estate to be settled. Been given various 'possible' final dates up to now but that's all on hold now due to dept of works and pensions thinking they may have overpaid mum for the period of 2003-2005 . This was prior to her having a stroke and being in a care home which they were informed about and no query was raised then.
Why now I don't know and they need bank statements which we don't have and they'll have to be applied for, all of which takes time.
I'd hoped by now to have been able to clear out the mountain of paper work of mums I've hung on to 'just in case' and until I can do that I don't feel I can move on with my own life.
Has anyone else had this sort of problem?

(sorry if I'm in the wrong place for this post)

localhero

Hi Mary-op

If the deceased was in receipt of benefits/pensions it is quite common for the the DWP to send a questionnaire for the executors to complete and return.

At first glimpse it may look a bit ominous - and is generally nothing to worry about.

I'm not sure if this is what you've received - it may be.

mary-op

localhero - my Mum died in February and I let the Pensions office know the next day. They sent a form out for me to complete - did that and returned it straight away. I don't seem to remember any questions about her finances -mind you I was running on auto pilot at the time. Every year I heard from them when pension credit was increased and I always had to send back a statement of her outgoings and whether anything had changed. She'd had a stroke four years ago and had been in a care home since then.
This latest enquiry has been to the solicitor who said they have to see grant of probate and normally just check that assetts haven't changed.
What I don't understand is why they are checking so far back - I remember taking my Mum to apply for pension credit in the first instance. She did everything by the book, always did. The amount she got was very small but it did open doors to other benefits for her.
When she had her stroke and I was named as the person to deal with any correspondence from the DWOP ( Mum got very worried if a lot of of post arrived and she couldnt deal with it ) I was seen by someone from the pensions office, completed a form required and that was that.
I'm mind boggled by it all I have to say and can't speak to the Pensions office as its all being dealt with through solicitors -;least thats what solicitor told me.

Sorry if I hadn't made all this clear in previous post and many thanks

Biggles

I don't understand that, either, especially as their policy, I understand, is not to apply to recover overpayments under these circumstances.

My mother was overpaid (their error), probably more recently than yours, but there was never any suggestion of repayment, either at the time or after her death.

localhero

The last estate I administered in fact involved someone who was receiving Attendance Allowance and a retirement pension for which he was overpaid by a few days.

A couple of months later I received from the DWP another letter - a DM15S - from a scary looking Recovery From Estates Leeds Debt Management - stating that they needed to check the information about the estate.

It went on to say that they would let me know whether or not they needed to make further enquiries within 20 days.

It also said, `Please note this enquiry could lead to a claim against the estate and should be treated as such. Therefore, we strongly advise you not to distribute the estate.`

As I filled in lots of boxes about his estate, I had the feeling that the old boy may have made a dodgy claim at some point and so I feared the worst.

A couple of weeks later the DWP replied to me saying the following:

`Based on the information provided, we have compared the assets in the estate with current departmental records and confirm that these assets were correctly taken into account. This concludes our enquiry.`

I didn't even bother worrying the beneficiaries about all this - but It did make me wonder what `departmental records` they were checking - sounded a bit big brother to me.

mary-op

Thanks for your replies.
Hopefully the dwp will find there's no overpayment - I can't see how there can be.
Mum received extra allowance (attendance allowance) after her stroke but this was all applied for correctly and granted
The solicitor has said no settlement can be made from the estate until this is all sorted.

We knew they were going to check as a matter of course but I can't understand why they need to check so far back.

mary-op

Just to give an update on this:

Heard from solicitor this morning that Pensions dept. have said that mum was overpaid her pension credit -some mention was made that she may not have declared all her savings at the time..........well I checked through all the papers I had regarding her pension and found their letter thanking mum for her pass book and bond certificate that they were returning to her -so quite where she's been overpaid is a mystery. Seems now it has to go to three different sections of the dept. to decide how much she's been overpaid and they've told the solicitor to contact them again in three weeks.
Solicitor has said depending on the amount involved it'll be worth appealing against if we feel its too much.
I've got all the papers relating to her pension credit -thank goodness mum never threw anything away.

mary-op

Just to give final update - pensions dept. decided they had overpaid mum by £336 pounds back in 2003 - not worth arguing with them about it (must have cost them more than that in time and manpower to work it out!).
Anyway, upshot it, everything is now settled, payments made and I can now draw a line under it all and hopefully move on.
Thankyou for your help:j

ukmaggie45

Hi there Folks, I've neglected this thread for a long time as there hasn't been much to report.

However S2 phoned up this morning as she had a "free day", and thought she'd finish off the Estate Accounts. Seems there has been another mess up. :rolleyes:

S1 got a firm of brokers to value the shares for Probate for my mother. They gave the value of one lot of shares in an F&C fund as being approx £42,900. Unfortunately the brokers valued them for the wrong fund (S2 found the old share certificate in the papers S1 sent them) and they are in fact only worth about £1850. :eek: :rolleyes: S2 is going to write "a stiff note" to the brokers concerned, and suggest since it was their mistake they should pay for the time she's spent trying to track this stuff down.

Looks as if there will be more IHT to claw back from HMRC!

On other news we've offered on a house (this is the third :eek: our surveyor says we're the best customers he's had in the last 5 years!), and S1's colleague who is handling the conveyancing called this morning to say she's writing a report on the house today, so OH will go and collect it this evening so we won't be reliant on the post.

Needs a lot of work doing, but we'll stay where we are until it's finished, and then move. It has a lovely garden, though much neglected at present - the gentleman who lived there died and his daughter is selling. He loved his garden and spent nearly all of his time in it until he became too frail.

Trix, have you sorted out all your stuff yet?

Odd that this should all come up today after months of not a lot happening - today's my Mother's birthday.

Maggie