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what can you claim in expenses - please help

Hi

My father died last year without a will. The letters of administration have now come through. I asked the solicitor if i can claim expences as my fathers house was really a mess, he said yes i can claim expences for time and fuel and any other reasonable costs. It took me ages to sort out the place i took photos of how bad the place was a and kept a log of what i did down there and how many hours i spent down there. I made an appointment at the solicitors to give him my espences and he said i wans't intited to any. I wasnt happy at this as he told me i was. I then get a letter from him to saying that i need to go and talk to the other administrater who is my niece and you both need to agree a sum of what you think is reasonable for travel and fuel costs and other costs.
I did this and we agreed to a sum of money a letter was written by her agreeing to what we had agreed. She has now said that she is retracting this amount for my time spent sorting the house out and the time i spent there should be done for free because thats what families do, and i am not charging her for time spend sorting the house out.

I asked her on several occassions if she would like to come and help me because if i sell the house in the state it was in we wouldnt get very much for it as it was in a dreadful stated. I spoke to the solicitor about this b4 i started to sort the house out as i felt it was just too much for me to do, my father was a hoarder and you couldnt get into 2 of the bedrooms for junk, the loft was the same so was the shed and garage and greenhouse. I would of just sold it in that condition believe me i was in no fit state to sort it out. But with the words of the solicitors and my niece said she would help me out when ever i need it as it would benefit us both if the house sold for more money, we all decided to sort throught the suff, only it was just left to me to sort out every day and weekends Any time i asked her to help she would just say she was busy going on hoilday and she would the next week, only the next week she was busy again and this is the way it continued, until i soley did the place on my own.

I am a bit confused now as i dont know if i can claim expenses as i am out of pocket, especailly with the fuel cost, can i legally claim espenses, i also want to tread very careful as this is also family.

Comments

  • madbadrob
    madbadrob Posts: 1,284 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    When administering an estate you can legally claim what is classed as out of pocket expenses. These will not cover costs such as cleaning a house for sale but for costs such as obtaining the letters, postage, bank fees etc.

    Why are you consulting with a solicitor if you have been granted the letters anyway? If you are using a solicitor to administer the estate then the solicitor should be the one to have made these arrangements. I would speak to the practice complaints manager.

    Rob
  • Hi Rob

    The solicitor told me he cant grant me my expenses, i have to agree an amount with the other administrator.
    So does that mean i cant claim for the time i spent there sorting throught all the stuff
  • securityguy
    securityguy Posts: 2,464 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    madbadrob wrote: »
    When administering an estate you can legally claim what is classed as out of pocket expenses. These will not cover costs such as cleaning a house for sale but for costs such as obtaining the letters, postage, bank fees etc.
    Rob

    Ironically, I believe that had the OP employed someone to do the cleaning, the OP could have claimed the cost from the estate. No good deed goes unpunished.
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,571 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The solicitor told me he cant grant me my expenses, i have to agree an amount with the other administrator.
    So does that mean i cant claim for the time i spent there sorting throught all the stuff

    You could claim "expenses" so things that would leave you out-of-pocket - phone calls, petrol, etc - but not payment for your time.

    As securityguy says - if you'd paid someone else to do the sorting out and cleaning, you could have claimed that.
  • madbadrob
    madbadrob Posts: 1,284 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Ironically, I believe that had the OP employed someone to do the cleaning, the OP could have claimed the cost from the estate. No good deed goes unpunished.

    Yes the OP could have claimed it back then unless the solicitor is handling the administration of the estate then it is their responsibility to employ people to clean obtain quotes etc not the person granted the letters.

    Rob
  • Gingernutty
    Gingernutty Posts: 3,769 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You can't claim for your time. It doesn't matter how much business you lost, how much annual leave you took, you cannot claim for your time.

    Petrol, landfill/council tip fees, 'phone calls, skip hire, cleaning materials, professional cleaners and so on, yes you can. And only if you kept the receipts.
    :huh: Don't know what I'm doing, but doing it anyway... :huh:
  • madbadrob
    madbadrob Posts: 1,284 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    As the solicitor told you if the other beneficiaries say yes then you can but as it seems in this instance they have sought their own advice and dont wish for you to have any expenses then unfortunately you have done this for nothing. Well actually no you haven't. By cleaning the house you have increased the value of the property so in reality that is your payment.
    Working with intestate estates daily and very occasionally with property that requires selling I never clean the house up unless the entitled heirs agree to this and then always use a professional company to do this.

    Lesson learned I feel
    Rob
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