Solicitors Fees

timborules

Hi all,

Since the relatively recent passing of my father, my mother and I visited a solicitor named as joint executor (with my mother) who of course were all to happy to help.

My mother received notification of the fees in the post and of course, they are significant (estimate of £5k-£7k) as it is a rather complicated estate of multiple pensions, bank accounts, mortgage, life assurance etc. I've read the other threads on whether to use a solicitor not, but unfortunately I can't say that we hold the necessary skill-sets to deal with a relatively complicated situation, let alone the emotional strength at present.

The fees aren't particularly a problem presuming life assurance pays out (no reasons to suggest that it wouldn't) and we know there is some form of death in service, which sadly is applicable in this case. The house is the only major asset, jointly owned by my parents and Dad held a simple mirror will.

Question: do the fees usually come from the estate? What about solicitors bills that may arrive before the credit of life assurance etc?

Thanks for your help - both my mother and I are newbies to this.

timborules.

NAR

Sorry for your loss.

Yes the solicitor's fees will come from the estate. Don't overly concern yourself the solicitor will be used to waiting for their money.

John_Pierpoint

Unless the solicitor volunteers to drop out of the process, you are stuck with that executor and the fees involved.

Is the solicitor charging by the hour or as a percentage of the value of the state (or both).
What is the hourly rate ?

timborules

Thanks both.

Mum and the solicitor are joint executors so I presume Mum has to option to fly solo on this to save costs? If it were me, I'd probably give it a good go and go solo, however I'm afraid Mum's aptitude doesn't really lend itself to this sort of thing, which she fully appreciates.

The letter states:

From the information we currently have about the estate we estimate that the charges are likely to be in the region of £5,212.50 plus VAT in the sum of £1,042.50.

Under "Value element"

Value of the gross estate less residence - 1.5%
Value of half of any residence - 0.75%

Worst case scenario - if after paying debts (of which we know there are quite a few) there is not enough to pay the fees, I presume Mum is liable for these fees? This is the concern at present.

timborules

Sorry, hourly rate:

Solicitor with 8 years: £160
Solicitor with 4 years: £142
Other solicitor and legal exec with equivalent experience: £119
Trainee solicitor, "paralegals" etc: £87

lavalamp

So sorry for your loss.

If you wanted to try probate, you could do all the paperwork, but have your Mum sign documents and swear the oath. That's what we did when a solicitor was named executor on my MIL's will. However, the solicitor does still have the right to insist they act (even though ours luckily didn't).

Try to do as much as you can to help the solicitor and this may bring the fee down.

fluffymuffy

timborules wrote: »

I presume Mum has to option to fly solo on this to save costs?

No. Sadly not.
And they can charge what they like and take as long as they please.


That's why my mother recently rewrote her will to remove her solicitor as executor. Should we require legal assistance we can always engage some on our own terms.

If your mother has a similar will to your father's - i.e. naming the solicitor as executor, it might be a good time to think of changing this.

John_Pierpoint

I have recently done the estate of a deceased relative, it was a lot of running about, but did not really need legal training - though I did buy in about £300 worth, to get professional support for my interpretation of a faulty will written by a solicitor !

Selling all of a £400k house cost less than £600 in conveyancing charges (after all I just wanted the money).

The probability is that if you could read, understand and act upon these three books which cost less than £25 when bought together, you could sort out the estate. If you had any queriers you could always ask here.

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John_Pierpoint

A friend contacted the firm who had drawn up his fathers will and asked if he could handle everything but the legal bits.

The reply was " (big sigh) Families think they can do this, but it never works"

Then he noticed that a specific solicitor, not the firm, had been named in the will.
It turned out that the named solicitor was now pipe and slippers material living in a retirement bungalow, who agreed to drop out of the executors role.:T

Ivor_Stent

I've recently made my will online with MW Legal Services and they tell me that they always use a company in Bath called Kings Court Trust who offer a fixed fee, not charge by the hour. That sounds better than most Solicitors I've dealt with.

John_Pierpoint

Probably depends what you have signed up to.
http://www.thelawwizard.com/kings-court-trust-goes-diy-with-probate-wizard/
Someone needs to be their first "Tesco law" customers.
http://www.growthbusiness.co.uk/news-and-market-deals/fundraising-deals/2387708/first-and39tesco-lawand39-deal-for-venture-capital-firm-smedvig-capital.thtml
This guy was interviewed on yesterday's BBC TV Breakfast program. and he expressed reservations about large legal organisations.
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lawyer-fined-5000-legal-ombudsman
Let us hope they do better than this shower:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ITC+probate