How long to draw up estate accounts?

I have the world's slowest/useless solicitor. My mum's been dead for 16 months now but we only received the Grant of Probate in August. I believe that all of the debts from the estate have been paid and we are now just waiting for the cheque from her life insurance policy to be sent - I've checked with the company and it will be posted out this Friday, so it should be with Solicitor by Wednesday at the latest.

I would like to set a deadline for the beneficiaries to be paid by, would the 14 November be unreasonable?

Comments

  • Caroline_a
    Caroline_a Posts: 4,071 Forumite
    The solicitor who handled my dad's estate had a similar timeframe. In the end I went to the Legal Ombudsman to make a complaint. They only handle complaints that go back 12 months, so if you are going to make a complaint bear this in mind, but they were very good.

    They gave me the name of the person who was responsible for handling complaints at the practice and I wrote to him to complain. It still took a long time (2.5 years from start to finish!!!! :eek:) and even when it was all sorted I had to write again to complain as their figures didn't add up! I got a further cheque which included some compensation but the length of time it took meant that the fees were nearly £12k!

    In future I would never use a solicitor for an estate.
  • *Robin*
    *Robin* Posts: 3,364
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post Stoptober Survivor
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    edited 1 November 2012 at 6:50AM
    I have the world's slowest/useless solicitor. My mum's been dead for 16 months now but we only received the Grant of Probate in August.

    Nope, sorry, I can beat that - our family solicitor took two and a half years to wind up my Dad's estate. It was not particularly complicated or above the tax threshold. He charged over £10K for his work.

    Following that experience I sorted out my late husband's estate myself; it took ten weeks! Admittedly I tackled it as a full-time job and only had the one estate to deal with. The same solicitor did the Swear for me and put his official stamp on a couple of bits of paper; am still awaiting his final bill but expect it to be under £500.

    ETA: Solicitor's bill includes drawing up a new Will for me.
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