Reclaim Executorship after renouncing?

roundtoit

Hi
My uncle died 2 years ago and had two wills one for the uk and one for oz.
He left instructions for my sister and brother to be excecutors of the uk one, and we had a meeting with the Solicitors who held the will.

During that meeting the solicitor told us the uk case was very straight forward and he would be able to wrap it up by Christmas (this was Sept 2012) if we handed over the executor roles to them.

Since then they have done nothing, the person originally handling it has gone and so has the second person. They will give us no information and any rare time they answer an email it is extremely sarcastic.

Can we reclaim the executorship? Can we complain?

Thanks

G6JNS

roundtoit wrote: »

Hi
My uncle died 2 years ago and had two wills one for the uk and one for oz.
He left instructions for my sister and brother to be excecutors of the uk one, and we had a meeting with the Solicitors who held the will.

During that meeting the solicitor told us the uk case was very straight forward and he would be able to wrap it up by Christmas (this was Sept 2012) if we handed over the executor roles to them.

Since then they have done nothing, the person originally handling it has gone and so has the second person. They will give us no information and any rare time they answer an email it is extremely sarcastic.

Can we reclaim the executorship? Can we complain?

Thanks

Make an immediate formal complaint to the senior partner of the solicitor's firm.

TBagpuss

I agree, you should make a formal complaint, There was no need for you to renounce in the first place - if you wanted the solicitor to act then as executors you could have instructed them to act on your behalf, without needing them to act as executors themselves.

(and at the time they advised you to renounce, you, not the estate, were their client, so you can make a complaint, including complaining that you were given inappropriate advice)

jamei305

At the very least they should have suggested you "reserve" your powers rather than renounce. This would have enabled them to handle everything if you had been unavailable to sign paperwork for example, but would have given you the option of applying for probate later if the solicitors died or went bust or something.

Renouncing is for when you're terminally ill and bed ridden, loathe the deceased, couldn't care less what happens to the estate and want nothing whatsoever to do with it!

Tuesday_Tenor

'Sarcastic?' What did they actually say the situation was?

Yes, Formal complaint to the solicitors, as already covered.

Their behaviour is so bizarre that I wonder if they perhaps lost the paperwork a long time ago, and are playing for time (they've had lots ....) hoping it will turn up ...

I think I would also make enquiries at the Probate Office as to
(a) whether/exactly when probate was actually granted, and
(b) whether you DID actually renounce or have power reserved.

(a) This info is on their database and freely available to anyone. If you actually want a copy of the grant there's a £10 fee.
https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate
You can only search one year at a time, but there is an easy tab to previous/next year.
If the solicitors have been so incompetent as to not yet make the probate application, you would be able cancel their (non-)service and make a new appplication yourselves.

If probate has been applied for, then
(b) will only be on the application, which is not a public document. Perhaps send Probate Office a copy of the complaint letter to the solicitor so they understand the situation and why you need to clarify what has actually happened.

konark

The solicitors didn't say which Christmas it would be settled by did they?