Pensioner Legal Advice

riverhall

Hi,

This question is for my mum who is 65.

Over a year ago she received payment from a will from her deceased partner, the will was spread out to children, grandchildren and my mum.

The solicitor that handled it all has very recently wrote to my mum saying that he overpaid the recipients to the tune of £5000 and has broken it all down to show the error. He is asking for the £5000 to be repaid, of which my mum would be required to pay £1000.

She didn’t receive a great deal and has pretty much spent most of the money. The £1000 she could scrape together, however it would leave her a bit high and dry for the future.

My question is what should she do, it was over a year ago the mistake was made, nobody knew of this mistake as the amounts they received were all calculated and paid seemingly correctly at the time. She has pretty much spent the money or has it allocated for her remaining years.

What should my mum do?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Biggles

Tell the solicitor to take it out of his clearly excessive fees? Just a thought......

Seriously though, he will certainly have professional liability insurance and I think this is going to be one time when he will need to call on it.

riverhall

Do you think she should

1) Ignore the letter
2) Write back and say that as a pensioner she cant afford to pay and has spent the money
3) Write back and say "it's your mistake, not mine"

She is fearful that as a solicitor he may start putting legal pressure on her.

scotsbob

Only a court can require her to pay.

I would wait to see if the solicitor is going to go there. I would think unlikely because solicitors usually don't like other members of the profession realising they were incompetent.

chesky369

She must never admit in writing or verbally that there is any justic in the claim. If she can go for six years without doing so, then the debt (if that's wha it is) has to be wiped off.

Biggles

riverhall wrote: »

Do you think she should
1) Ignore the letter
2) Write back and say that as a pensioner she cant afford to pay and has spent the money
3) Write back and say "it's your mistake, not mine"

She is fearful that as a solicitor he may start putting legal pressure on her.

2) and 3).

And not to speak to the solicitor if he rings her and to take any further letters to the CAB.

I agree with Scotsbob that he won't push it, he's messed up and he's hoping people will be bullied into finding the money to get him out of it. Don't be. Anyway, £5,000 (less tax, don't forget) will be nothing to his firm.

riverhall

Many thanks for your replies, I will draft up a letter for explaining that she cannot pay, should not have to pay with it being their mistake and the time it took them to notice their mistake.

I will also state that as pensioner she will not have the means to pay in the future.

What is the CAB ? I would like to add that into the letter to let him know to only correspond via letter and that we are seeking advice from the CAB (if you could let me know who they are, what they do and how to get in touch with them).

riverhall

Ignore last message, I've realised CAB is the Citizens Advice Bureau

Biggles

riverhall wrote: »

Many thanks for your replies, I will draft up a letter for explaining that she cannot pay, should not have to pay with it being their mistake and the time it took them to notice their mistake.

Make sure the other beneficiaries do the same ;-)

Ivrytwr3

Don't write anything yet. Go straight to CAB and see what they say. The last thing you need is to give the solicitor any ammunition to use against you. CAB will advise what to do/say.

margaretclare

No, don't write saying she can't afford to pay it - that could be considered an admission that she owes it.

Do NOT ever admit owing something like this!

As has already been said, only a court can force her to pay, the solicitor can't. The solicitor would have to go to court and present his own case. If this ever happens, she should go to the court, otherwise the judge only hears one side of the story.

Saying she is a pensioner and can't afford to pay it is irrelevant. As it's their mistake then she doesn't owe it and should NOT admit liability.