Advise before I speak to the solicitor about late mum's estate

horseykitty

My mum died last June and even though she left a will and everything is I feel straightforward - we still haven't got as far as submitting the forms to HMRC - no inheritance tax is due as we are around 150k under the threshold.

My problem is the solicitor he seems to be taking forever - I feel like he is doing me a favour rather than me paying him £200 per hour to sort it out. As a joint executor I feel very frustrated by his attitude. I know things take time but it's now nearly a year since she passed away.

A concern that I now have is that over £150K is held in one financial institution and I know that if it goes t**s up you are only covered for 85k. What I want to know is can he as the solicitor move money out of this account into another bank or bs as a deceased client account or can nothing be done until we have the Grant of Probate?

Thanks

Tuesday_Tenor

11 months is an extrordinary time to wait for probate to be granted, assuming it is a straightforward estate. I understand you to be saying that the forms have not even been sent to the Probate Office, so although yourself and solicitors are named as joint executors in the will, you haven't formally been appointed as such yet. I assume no house to sell; all estate seems to be in cash? Are there any other beneficiaries, or is it just you that is waiting to receive an inheritance?

My questions to solicitor would be
a) What exactly is the hold-up? Are they waiting for particular information from you/someone else? You need to ensure there are no mis-understandings anywhere.
b) Do they actually want to act as executor? Maybe they have lost staff and can't actually get through everything. If they are prepared to renounce, or reserve power, leaving you was sole executor, then you [STRIKE]might[/STRIKE] WILL make quicker progress.

Two things to point out to solicitor
(a) Lot of money sitting in one account.
(b) IF any inheritance tax had been due (OK, not applicable in this case) this would start to need to be paid from 6 months after the death! So they are being VERY tardy.

Probate Office are very helpful. If your next communication with the solicitor doesn't get things moving, then I would give them a ring as to how to proceed.
From Directgov site: Probate and Inheritance Tax helpline on 0845 302 0900. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

horseykitty

Thanks for your reply TT.

Yes there is a house to sell - it's value is about a quarter of the estate the rest is cash through bonds, isas and insurance. The solicitor isn't an executor - they are me, my sister and brother, we are the beneficiaries.

I feel that if Lucien Freud's £96 million estate has been through probate, and he died a month after mum, then our solicitor is being very very slow. I have repeatedly told him that we want it sorted out asap and all I keep getting is I feel fobbed off.

As an executor I have to protect the interests of the beneficiaries which I feel I'm not doing by letting that money sit in one account - I have told him I'm not happy with the situation but he doesn't seem to be very concerned to me.

He is still 'evidence' gathering. So no forms have been sent off to either HMRC or the Probate Office. If the worst happened and mum's bank did go under would I have any claim on him for being so tardy?

TonyMMM

If you and your brother and sister are the executors and the solicitor isn't , what exactly are you employing them for and paying them to do ???

What is stopping you, and/or the other executors, just dealing with the estate yourself ? It is only a couple of forms, and a five minute appointment at your local court to swear an oath, and the probate office people are very helpful.

Tuesday_Tenor

If you/others are the Executors then the responsibility for completing the forms and getting the grant of probate is yours. If you have instructed a solicitor to assist and he is not doing the work then you can take this back yourself or get another solicitor.

For more information about applying for grant of probate see:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/death/preparation/dg_10029716

Applying for the grant of probate establishes 2 things
a) It actually apppoints the executors (as per the will, unless one has died, or doesn't want to do it, or reserves power to let the others get on with it, etc.). Without this, you can't get very far in garthering the assets, liaising with banks etc.
b) The form for the HMRC establishes whether the estate value is likely to go over the Inheritance Tax threshold. If the value of the estate is well under the threshold then the figures provided don't even have to be 100% accurate. [Though you'd have to correct them later if it turned out it WAS over the threshold.]. So if the estate is well under the threshold, I don't really see what can be taking the solictor's time.

Some things don't quite add up though.
You say that the value of the house is about one quarter of the estate value. Would this therefore suggest that the estate is nearer to the IHT threshold than you thought? If the estate is borderline to the threshold, then [the solicitor acting for] the executors will have to provide more accurate evidence for it being under/over the threshold.

Also, usually most of the information about the estate comes from the closest family members anyway; so you would have all the info required for the forms before you handed it to the solicitors. Is this a case where you were quite estranged from the deceased?

Who has been dealing with the empty house (collecting financial papers, liaising re council tax etc) for the last 11 months?