Solicitor/ executor wont pay beneficiary

efpom

A will appointed a solicitor firm the appointed executor of estate. I am the only residuary beneficiary. Solicitor wants me to:

"Please confirm to us that you are happy with the charges made and whether or not you have any queries in relation to the estate
accounts. Upon receipt of your response we will be able to process the payment to you."

My response

"You are not entilted to the confirmation you seek and you are certainly not entitled to keep me out of my money until you get it.
We are not in a solicitor/client relationship. You are the executor of the estate. I am the residuary beneficiary of that estate. You are my fiduciary. You state that you hold £xxx. That money belongs to me. My instructions to you as my fiduciary are to send me that money immediately. My further instructions are that when you have initiated payment, via your bank, you tell me by email that you have done so. I expect to see value in my accout by this Thursday."

The money was not sent and the only response from the solicitor was:
"Further to your e-mail dated the 27th October would you please clarify whether there is any dispute about our account. "

I should mention that I am not happy about elements of the bill, but I have not communicated that to the solicitor yet. The position I take is that the solicitor is not entitled to get the confirmation she wants as a condition of me getting my funds, nor should I be kept out of my money until any dispute which may arise is settled.

What to do next? Any advice appreciated.

justjohn

i am not a lawyer but common sense tells me as the executor/lawyer should take out his fees of the proceeds of the will. As the deceased is the client.

But i have no personel experiance in these matters.

scotsbob

And the legal profession wonders why it gets a bad name. Stick to your guns mate and if it were me I would be complaining to the law society. As you quite correctly point out it is your money, and you are not a client of the solicitor.

pelirocco

All bills relating to the estate have to be paid out before the beneficiaries receive their share. I would assume every letter they write to you will increase their charges

pelirocco

scotsbob wrote: »

And the legal profession wonders why it gets a bad name. Stick to your guns mate and if it were me I would be complaining to the law society. As you quite correctly point out it is your money, and you are not a client of the solicitor.

The executor would havebeen appointed by deceased , thats the client relationship surely?Why wouldyou expect the work to be done for free?

McKneff

scotsbob wrote: »

And the legal profession wonders why it gets a bad name. Stick to your guns mate and if it were me I would be complaining to the law society. As you quite correctly point out it is your money, and you are not a client of the solicitor.

Should this post have had a smilie in it or not

McKneff

efpom wrote: »

A will appointed a solicitor firm the appointed executor of estate. I am the only residuary beneficiary. Solicitor wants me to:

"Please confirm to us that you are happy with the charges made and whether or not you have any queries in relation to the estate
accounts. Upon receipt of your response we will be able to process the payment to you."

My response

"You are not entilted to the confirmation you seek and you are certainly not entitled to keep me out of my money until you get it.
We are not in a solicitor/client relationship. You are the executor of the estate. I am the residuary beneficiary of that estate. You are my fiduciary. You state that you hold £xxx. That money belongs to me. My instructions to you as my fiduciary are to send me that money immediately. My further instructions are that when you have initiated payment, via your bank, you tell me by email that you have done so. I expect to see value in my accout by this Thursday."

The money was not sent and the only response from the solicitor was:
"Further to your e-mail dated the 27th October would you please clarify whether there is any dispute about our account. "

I should mention that I am not happy about elements of the bill, but I have not communicated that to the solicitor yet. The position I take is that the solicitor is not entitled to get the confirmation she wants as a condition of me getting my funds, nor should I be kept out of my money until any dispute which may arise is settled.

What to do next? Any advice appreciated.

Dont be a wally, every time they write to you more charges will be levied to the estate, meaning you get even less and less inheritance.
The solicitor has to be paid out of the estate before the residual is paid out. Its your fault there is a delay, who do you think is going to pay the solicitor then.

oap

If it is possible I would make an appointment and call in, or telephone the person responsible to hurry things along.

Biggles

As pointed out already, I suspect you will be paying for every letter that passes between you and every query you raise that requires resolving.

I would be inclined to bite the bullet and write as non-committal a letter as you can get away with (saying something to the effect that there is no dispute and that you accept their figures....) in order to expedite (and maximise!) the payment.

Willman_Rodders

Efpom wrote:

I should mention that I am not happy about elements of the bill, but I have not communicated that to the solicitor yet. The position I take is that the solicitor is not entitled to get the confirmation she wants as a condition of me getting my funds, nor should I be kept out of my money until any dispute which may arise is settled.

Firstly: professional executors are entitled to charge for their services. Section 29(2) Trustee Act 2000.

Secondly: many professionally drafted wills include enhanced charging clauses, and clauses that indemnify the executor - by giving recourse to the assets of the trust fund.

Thirdly; any executor (professional or lay) needs acknowledgement from the beneficairies of acceptance of the proposed distribution amount; this completes their accounting records - giving them an audit trail should anyone challenge the distribution in due course. Upon receipt of the confirmation of the beneficiaries consent/confirmation the executor will then release the monies.

I fear Efpom's little outcome will prove costly. Not only has he/she delayed receipt of the monies but the solicitor will be entitled to increase their fees - £50 a letter or £200 per hour is , I believe, the going rate around this part of the world. (And we are not in a city centre where rates are significantly higher.) And, like it or not, they are entitled to their fees.

efpom

First of all, I am grateful for the time that contributors have taken to comment on my posting.

However, and its probably because I did not explain properly, the bill I describe is said by the solicitor firm to be its final bill. It has apparantly moved the amount of the bill from the client account to its office account.

The issue is not about the bill per se. It is about the fact that the solicitor executor will not release the funds which she says are due to me, UNTIL I as the residuary legatee confirm to her that I do not dispute the content of her bill.

As I wrote in my earlier post -The position I take is that the solicitor is not entitled to get the confirmation she wants as a condition of me getting my funds, nor should I be kept out of my money until any dispute which may arise is settled.

I would be grateful for any advice as to whether the position I take is correct.