How long should lawyer hold funds?

jenson118

I am hoping for some help on my parents behalf. They have just yesterday completed on the sale of my late grandmothers property the new owners have moved into the property. My parents are to receive the money from the sale of the house but have not received any. They have the estate agents bill in also unpaid and the lawyer said today not to expect any money to next week when they asked why he laughed and said he had bills to pay. Does anyone have any advise on whether this is usual in these circumstances thanks

G_M

No.

The money should be held in a seperate 'client account' so cannot be used to pay his bills!

Are you sure this is a solicitor? A one man band or a firm? Look up their complaints procedure and/or the name of the Senior Partner. Outrageous.


I would be popping into his office tomorrow and asking for the money to be TT'd out there and then. Don't leave till it is. Make a nuisance.

jenson118

G_M wrote: »

No.

The money should be held in a seperate 'client account' so cannot be used to pay his bills!

Are you sure this is a solicitor? A one man band or a firm? Look up their complaints procedure and/or the name of the Senior Partner. Outrageous.


I would be popping into his office tomorrow and asking for the money to be TT'd out there and then. Don't leave till it is. Make a nuisance.

Thanks thats what i thought and yes i do believe its a firm. We will contact them first thing

observations_from_a_hill

Is the solicitor the executor/acting for the executor of your late grandmother? If so, if the house was her only or major asset, there are likely to be a number of bills owed by the estate which need to be settled before your parents are entitled to anything.

If this is an estate sale, the estate is responsible for all utilities to the house up to the date of sale, so the solicitor would have to wait for final utility bills before knowing how much was available to meet other estate debts before being able to calculate the monies left for the beneficiaries.

So if the solicitor is acting in administering the estate, your parents should leave it for 4 weeks before gently enquiring when an instalment will be forthcoming.

If your parents are executors of the estate and as such instructed the solicitor solely to sell the house - then completely and absolutely what G_M said.

Thrugelmir

The Estate needs to be settled before distribution is made.

"If however you distribute assets before all debts have been paid,
or ascertained, you may find yourself liable for debts which you later
discover. This will be so if you have not retained enough money to
meet those debts."

In your case the solicitor would be personally liable.

G_M

Good points raised above.

Depends who is the Executer of grandmother's Estate. If the solicitor, then yes, clearly he needs to clear all bills associated with the Estate.

If your parents are Executers and solicitor is simply acting on the property sale, then the proceeds should be passed to parents to deal with other Estate bills etc.

Thrugelmir

G_M wrote: »

If your parents are Executers and solicitor is simply acting on the property sale, then the proceeds should be passed to parents to deal with other Estate bills etc.

The Executor will place adverts notifying the death to allow creditors to come forward and place a claim on the estate. Winding up an estate does take time.