The Co-operative legal services for Probate - any good?

Pee

I think you'd probably get a Grant through a solicitor for £500 plus VAT if you provided the figures.

It is perfectly possible to do it yourself, and as someone else has pointed out the website and the helpline are both there to help you.

Average hourly fee something like £150 - £190, but it stands to reason that anyone with experience can do in a couple of hours what it might take a beginner several hours to do.

If for instance you aren't working, it makes sense to do it yourself. If time is precious, then it's worth checking out the alternatives.

twinklystar

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

My father died recently, and I used the Co-op for the funeral. Since then theie Legal Services section rang me and were very helpful, giving free advice on what to do immediately to cancel various things like pension payments etc. which I thought was very good. Their free advice is defintely worth having!

Now they are trying to sell me their probate service, which to be honest I am not sure about. Has anyone used them before for probate etc.? I am the sole executor, but it is a pretty simple will and estate (no IHT) so I am not sure whether to try doing it myself or not. If they are good value for money I might consider using them, but not if it is not a good service.

Anyone any experience of them?

I'm going through this right now as we speak with my father he is 76 and was made executor of my great uncles will because my mum died previous i've been helping him.
My uncle died in march and we had the funeral through them too, altogether its cost nearly five grand for this and probate.
We had the nice interview where someone comes round and tells you all about it with a nice laptop and you sign a form they leave you some prepaid envelopes and a phone number and thats it.
knowing what i know now i'm doing my own probate form next time.

BlondeHeadOn

twinklystar wrote: »

I'm going through this right now as we speak with my father he is 76 and was made executor of my great uncles will because my mum died previous i've been helping him.
My uncle died in march and we had the funeral through them too, altogether its cost nearly five grand for this and probate.
We had the nice interview where someone comes round and tells you all about it with a nice laptop and you sign a form they leave you some prepaid envelopes and a phone number and thats it.
knowing what i know now i'm doing my own probate form next time.

Nearly 5 grand for funeral and probate ???? [EMAIL="Blo@@dy"]Blo@@dy[/EMAIL] heII !!!!

:eek:

How much was the non-funeral fee for work then? If you don't mind me asking. That seems like a lot of money to me.

monkey_spank

I think you'd probably get a Grant through a solicitor for £500 plus VAT if you provided the figures.

The starting point for a solicitor to wind up an estate is usually [FONT=&quot]£1500[/FONT][FONT=&quot] - [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]£2000 minimum. There's often a scale depending on the value of the estate, plus an hourly rate.

Because the process can take a while, there's plenty of opportunity for the fees to accelerate northwards. This is a highly lucrative area of law - hence the 'free' wills that are offered in that clever wheeze - Willaid - where you will be told just how 'complicated' being an executor is - and that the solicitor 'can take care of all that' for you. You won't be told of course just how much that will cost the estate or that the family who may feel they are able to carry out the job themselves won't be able to stop the solicitor acting and therefore earning their fee.

If you must hand the work to a solicitor, insist on a detailed quotation and find one that knows their stuff, as a lot of them are less than brilliant. There are plenty of horror stories on this forum about rip off fees and incompetence.
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Osvaldo

monkey_spank wrote: »

The starting point for a solicitor to wind up an estate is usually [FONT=&quot]£1500[/FONT][FONT=&quot] - [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]£2000 minimum. There's often a scale depending on the value of the estate, plus an hourly rate.

Because the process can take a while, there's plenty of opportunity for the fees to accelerate northwards. This is a highly lucrative area of law - hence the 'free' wills that are offered in that clever wheeze - Willaid - where you will be told just how 'complicated' being an executor is - and that the solicitor 'can take care of all that' for you. You won't be told of course just how much that will cost the estate or that the family who may feel they are able to carry out the job themselves won't be able to stop the solicitor acting and therefore earning their fee.

If you must hand the work to a solicitor, insist on a detailed quotation and find one that knows their stuff, as a lot of them are less than brilliant. There are plenty of horror stories on this forum about rip off fees and incompetence.
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The payment mentioned above will be little more as I know. There are so many companies offering prepaid legal services to the people in which they are offering legal services for all types. These legal services will help people to solve all their legal issues it may be any kind including land and tenant problem or the agreement problems or any sort of problem. The members can avail these services over phone also in an emergency situations. The services provided by these people are very good.

snapping_crocodile

This thread is actually from June last year

Simon_Smith

We are currently using coop legal probate services to administer the estate of my late Aunt. We chose the service because her funeral was held with the coop and they promised a hassle free service. Well since the initial meeting it has been down hill from here. First they distributed the old will even though the latest was given to them at the initial meeting. We are now 6 months after grant of probate and can quite honestly say we have no idea what is going on. We received a check for bankruptcy searches and after return got an initial cheque, but have had very little communication from the service. More interestingly we tried to complain about the service, was sent a letter promising a review of the case within 2 weeks. after several further unanswered letter finally got a response stating that everything had been handled correctly and that if we disagreed then we could take the case to arbitration, but that this would cost us. We decided to complain to the law society only to find out that the coop were not registered with it, so that there was nothing they could help us with. The story is still ongoing, but we do not know how to proceed. As already stated we are at the mercy of the coop and have no redress with them. My recommendation would be to avoid at all cost. It is not hassle free and would probably be easier to do it your self!

tabby_1312

My granddad had a funeral service with the co op and my parents were sold the probate service as being totally stress free. I would certainly say that this has not been the case. Messgaes havent been passed on and letters have been lost by their offices. The last letter we sent special delivery to make sure they didnt loose it again, guess what? they claim they couldn't find it. Following this my parents had just reached the end of their tether when they were told all was complete and the monies would be transfered into their account. Unfortunately today is the third time monies should have been transfered and have not been. My parents have been told now that there is a large backlog in the accounts department and they cannot say when the transaction will be made. Its an appauling sevice.

snapping_crocodile

Just to say I used co-op for my dad's funeral and his probate, and I found I received an excellent service. The staff were polite and professional and everything went without a hitch. I would have no worries about using them again

roddydogs

Says who?................