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Probate timescales & expectations?

Hi all,

I lost my mum less than 2 months ago, I gathered together all paperwork and paid a small fortune for death certificates for solicitors who were named as executors in mums will.

The paperwork has been with the solicitors for 8 weeks. During this time they have promised me a breakdown of charges/costs I should expect to face but I've not heard anything. I'm drafting a letter to them but don't want to chase them for progress if I am misinformed.
I could really do with the money from the estate (approx £15k in savings) and the deeds to the property (valued approx £115k). I need to buy my first property ASAP (which I know takes awhile anyway).

I'd really like to know what I can expect from the solicitor named as executor in regards to timescales and contact (not thst I want too much as I'm told she charges £250 per hour plus VAT!). I had contacted various financial institutions before handing paperwork over and was told all I had to do was send in a death certificate to access the money.

I've been informed by neighbours that all the utilities are still on (and running up bills) - shouldn't they have been cut off?
In truth I've no idea what to do, what to expect, who to ask for help, and really hope I can be lead in the right direction by some lovely kind MSEs.

Thank you :o
I've got nothing else but I've got my family.
Mum to Moo age 6, Wills aged 3. 2nd wedding anniversary 11/13!
:j


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Comments

  • Caroline_a
    Caroline_a Posts: 4,071 Forumite
    Firstly, sorry for your loss. It's bad enough losing someone without having all the stuff to deal with as well.

    My experience of solicitors is horrendous, so I won't scare you, but my advice would to get a timescale from them, tie them down to a price and time period as much as you can. Then don't contact them until they go over time, as every phonecall will cost you!

    Good luck!
  • TonyMMM
    TonyMMM Posts: 3,407 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Make sure they are not going to charge a % of the estate on top of the hourly charge - many do.

    You could ask them to relinquish their rights as executor and do it yourself (it really is quite straightforward), but they may not be willing to do so.
  • Took over a year to sort my relatives estate and the house sold quickly. Don't be expecting cash any time soon.

    Sorry for your loss. :(
  • I think the probate application has to be submitted within six months of the last day of the month when your mother passed away. Once probate has been applied for the house can be put on the market.

    When my father-in-law died the lawyer took the full six months to submit the paperwork and when probate had been granted he would only reimburse expenses my husband had incurred. We didn't receive any other money until the house had been sold though as there was inheritance tax due he needed to hang on to the money until the house sale as this was the only way the IHT could be paid.

    Don't bank on getting anything soon and do insist on finding out the charges. Our solicitor said that if his bill was going to be over a certain amount he would let us know before he proceeded any further. If you have incurred any expenses from dealing with the estate you could ask for those to be reimbursed. It probably depends on how much liquidity there is in the estate ie was there much is savings or was most of the estate tied up in the value of the house?
  • valkirn
    valkirn Posts: 252 Forumite
    So sorry for your loss x

    As far as im aware with regards to utilities you may have to contact them yourself and get the final bills and send them into the solicitor.

    Do you have Access to your mothers house? it might be an idea to go in and switch everything off too x
    There's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me.
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  • daska
    daska Posts: 6,212 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    valkirn wrote: »
    So sorry for your loss x

    As far as im aware with regards to utilities you may have to contact them yourself and get the final bills and send them into the solicitor.

    Do you have Access to your mothers house? it might be an idea to go in and switch everything off too x

    Technically the beneficiary doesn't have any right to enter the property until the estate has been disbursed. It doesn't belong to him, and he has no legal right to deal with it while it's in the care of the executor without authorisation to do so.

    Personally I think it ought to be illegal for a solicitor to write up a will in which they are the only executor, there should always be a.n.other named person, beneficiary or not, just so that things can be chivied along.
    Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants - Michael Pollan
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  • When my mum died, we saw the solicitor who was holding her will. Fortunately they weren't named as executors!

    But he did warn us not to make any plans with regard to any monies we might receive as the timescale was unpredictable. For us we're a little over a year on, and its still not all finalised yet.

    I'm glad he gave us that (free!) advice, as it meant we didn't regard it as "spendable" in any way.
  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I think the probate application has to be submitted within six months of the last day of the month when your mother passed away. Once probate has been applied for the house can be put on the market.

    There is no time limit on applying for probate - you can do that years later if necessary

    There is a six month limit for paying IHT - which is maybe what you were thinking of

    It is unlikely that a solicitor will pay anything out until 6 months have elapsed and they have advertised for creditors. On a simple estate they ought to be in a position to do so by then
  • Thank you everybody for your advice. I felt much better informed when contacting the solicitor and got a prompt reply. Things are moving along now and I've had to give meter readings from the property and have been sent lots of paperwork to read and sign. I am curious about one thing, however. I believe they have over-valued my mums property. 3 different estate agents said 115k but the solictors are charging me on the value of 125k PLUS their fees (already over 4k). I feel like they took my poor mum as a bit of a fool when they only charged her £95 for her will to be written, and I feel so sad to see them stand to gain so much money.
    I've so far only had 2k of the fees broken down (plus obviously the funeral cost) and a few hundred pounds extra - £99 VAT, £60 land registry fee, £5 index map search fee and £495 charge on the property (asset is the word they use). I'm in over my head here so please, if anyone knows if they can charge a percentage of the estate as well as hourly fees and if they can increase the value of the property as they see fit, please let me know?
    Huge thanks x
    I've got nothing else but I've got my family.
    Mum to Moo age 6, Wills aged 3. 2nd wedding anniversary 11/13!
    :j


  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 4 November 2012 at 5:26PM
    Yes they can charge a percentage of the estate as well as an hourly rate if that's their fee structure. Some do, some don't. Banks are notorious for this.

    They should provide you with details of their fee structure - either they haven't, or they have and you've not taken it in, or you've asked them the wrong question. You seem to have been told 'how much' rather than the scale of fees

    As to the house - it may be the estate agents undervalued it and the solicitor used a higher value to avoid trouble with HMRC. Doesn't sound overly convincing though. Unless she had loads of savings and investments it's academic.

    But if you are in over your head you are going to have had this problem anyway. The only good thing is that you would have had a free choice in solicitor.
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