Solicitor executor - renounce probate question

RAS

You could store the will with the Probate regsitry for about £15 lifetime fee. A lot easier than trying to winkle the will out of the lawyers when the time comes.

growler834

RAS wrote: »

You could store the will with the Probate regsitry for about £15 lifetime fee. A lot easier than trying to winkle the will out of the lawyers when the time comes.

Thanks Ras. The lady at the solicitors was very helpful & said there would be no problem getting the will to us when we next ring them. Unfortunately MIL's condition is such that we are looking at days rather than weeks so there is little point storing it with the Probate Registry at this late stage.

Wonder_Boy

I hope you don't mind me asking a question on your thread, Growler. I am in a similar position, although not the same. My MIL passed away at the end on January and we only have a copy of the will. MIL was never informed of the location of the will, after the original firm went out of business. To cut a long story short, we found the Will, located with another solicitor, but the named, joint, executor is no longer practising. The new solicitor was quite cocky and told us that they could contact the man but he would insist on using their firm and the cost would be £230 for the renunciation. The solicitor we planned to use only wanted £50 to have this simple form signed. My question is, do we have to use this firm or will the retired solicitor be required to use whoever we appoint - if they can find him?

madbadrob

Wonder_Boy wrote: »

I hope you don't mind me asking a question on your thread, Growler. I am in a similar position, although not the same. My MIL passed away at the end on January and we only have a copy of the will. MIL was never informed of the location of the will, after the original firm went out of business. To cut a long story short, we found the Will, located with another solicitor, but the named, joint, executor is no longer practising. The new solicitor was quite cocky and told us that they could contact the man but he would insist on using their firm and the cost would be £230 for the renunciation. The solicitor we planned to use only wanted £50 to have this simple form signed. My question is, do we have to use this firm or will the retired solicitor be required to use whoever we appoint - if they can find him?

Tell them that you do not wish to use them and then contact the law society who may well have the contact details required. If the attitude of the solicitor you saw is in your opinion not professional I would also put a complaint in at the practice. This solicitor is using the situation to try and make money for his firm. If you contact the probate office and explain you have tried to locate the solicitor but due to his retirement you need guidance on how probate can be obtained etc. They may say that the other executor can apply with a power reserved for the retired solicitor should he come forward

In future when wanting advice it is always better to start a new thread

Rob

Wonder_Boy

Thanks Rob. Will do.

dzug1

I would think the retired solicitor actually has the right to be the formal executor and to employ whatever solicitor he chooses to do the work for him if he doesn't want to do it personally.

Wonder_Boy

As he is no longer certificated he can only operate on a reasonable expenses basis, so this is probably the reason he is happy to renounce.

madbadrob

If he is happy to renounce then thats easy. You just need an address to write to to ask him and no he cant charge anything if he is no longer registered with the law society. He can only charge the estate if he was to execute for out of pocket expenses

Rob

dzug1

madbadrob wrote: »

If he is happy to renounce then thats easy. You just need an address to write to to ask him and no he cant charge anything if he is no longer registered with the law society. He can only charge the estate if he was to execute for out of pocket expenses

Rob

But out of pocket expenses could include the cost of a registered solicitor that he employs????

Wonder_Boy

Thanks Rob and Rob. The solicitor is not providing the address (understandably) and won't put him in touch with us. As he is joint executor, with my brother in law, I doubt he can employ a solicitor without joint consent. I think we have reached the stage where principle needs to give way to pragmatism. Even if we do force the issue, these people could deliberately slow down the process. Before we know it, we could have paid many more months of council tax and miss the summer house selling season.

Thanks again for your comments.