Solicitors, wills and money!

Caroline_a

To be honest, I don't think he's embezzled it, I don't think he's that clever! He's the Senior Partner, which says volumes doesnt it! The thing with the interest though is that the money was supposed to be put into a pension account, so I will have lost a lot of money by this delay. So is there any come-back for that..?

Oh and yes, have complained through complaints system. Other partner said 'will be sorted soon'... that was February...

Lindsay_C

I would chase up any complaints you've made, and make one to the law society if you haven't already done so. Have you had any response from the firm or anyone else?

YesWillMan

Its probably not the Senior Partner doing the work I would imagine. More than likely it will be a Probate clerk who is doing the work, or even the Probate secretary, with the Senior Partner signing the letters. The reference on the letter could be the initials of the actual person doing the work.
Knowledge of Probate and all the various complexities for such staff is very varied from one firm of Solicitors to the next. Some from my experience are not very clued up about all matters particularly matters regarding Trusts. STEP Solicitors should have the relevant staff and Senior people to cover Probates and Trusts so if any one else looking to sort such issues out should look in that direction. It may be too late for the OP as to change now may cost more than continuing. However excert as much pressure as possible and get the Executors backing as well.

Caroline_a

Although I put the complaint into the Legal Ombudsman, the Executor and I are talking every few days as he is pushing for this to come to a conclusion. I am letting him drive this push, as he seems to get a better response than me.

According to their website, this solicitor is the only one who handles wills and probate (it lists all their staff, including secretarial and clerical staff), so I have to presume that he is 'it'.

I think certainly too late to change solicitors now, hopefully the Ombudsman will send a letter that might make him sit up and take notice!

Also, can anybody tell me how, when solicitors appear to be doing nothing and you phone up to get an update, you are then charged for 'I've been doing this, and that.' conversations? It's a bit like being charged extra when you phone Comet to say your TV that you were expecting yesterday hasn't arrived!

Wifster

Very useful post. We are going through the same thing with a solicitor who in 18 months has refused to meet or speak to us on the phone. They are sitting on a substantial sum. They are executor, trustee and solictor so feel trapped. Straightforward will, to be shared equally among 4 people. And no end in sight. So angry.

Caroline_a

Hi Wifster - here is your starter for 10 link

Call them rather than email - they are really helpful, and will do all the paperwork for you!

Lovelyjoolz

I'm so sorry you're going through all this. Two years is a ridiculous amount of time for them to take over this!

We were going to use a solicitor to gain probate following my MiL's death in May. Reading these posts, I am so glad that that we didn't and sorted it out ourselves!

Has the Solicitor given you any kind of specific reason as to why it's taking so long? Have you spoken to any other solicitor about this? I had a long (30 mins) telephone chat with a local solicitor, discussing the merits of obtaining probate or not and she didn't charge me. Perhaps you have another local solitior that you could call who might be able to give you an insight into what might be taking so long?

Caroline_a

No reason apart from the excuses above. He initially said that it would be all done by Christmas 2010 (my dad died in April 2010). Then when nothing was happening I called him in January and he admitted he hadn't looked at any of the paperwork I'd sorted so carefully and catalogued for him in folders until late December!

Initially I was ok with his excuses, but they wear a bit thin after 2 years, and quite frankly in a business environment they would be not accepted at all!

NAR

What can the Legal Ombudsman do? What powers have they?

Interests rates are very low at present, but for a 6 figure sum I would be looking 3% at least. His fault if he left it in a current account/low interest savings account.

brightonman123

make an official complaint to partners of the lawyer firm, and maybe (next step) to law society?

2 years is woeful.