solicitors keeping house money..do they keep the interest?

Feanor

HI everyone, i hope someone can help us.

I am one of 6 who will receive money from my great aunts estate. Her house sold a week ago, as in the new people moved in and the money is now at the solicitors. We all thought we would get the payment fairly soon, but now the solicitor is saying that some shares she had need to be cashed in, and that there are also problems with the final gas bill. She dies almost a year ago, we were under the impression everything was sorted apart from the house sale.

She is saying it will be about the end of June til we get our payments. The question we are wondering is will the £160,000 thats sitting in the solicitors bank account be earning interest and if so...who does the interest belong to? And at what rate will the interest be?

I hope someone can help us figure this out.

Thanks!

Feanor

Please if anyone has any ideas..we need to know what action to take, if any!

newlywed

Solicitors aren't allowed to keep any interest earned on client's money. If they are holding the money for any house sale, purchase, probate, etc, they have to detail the interest to their clients.

So the interest should also be listed out when the settlement is made and distributed according to the will/probate. If you are getting equal shares, then the interest earned should be distributed equally among you (or if the distribution is by % of the estate then it will be given out according to that).

Don't panic. The solicitor won't keep the interest on the money. If you are concerned (as this isn't legal advice - although I worked as a legal secretary for some years), then just ring and query it with the solicitor. They should be able to tell you immediately where the interest will go.