Cost of probate and conveyancing

LizW

This is the reason I ended up dealing with my mum's estate myself as her solicitor was quoting me a flat fee of about £1,500 plus a % of the estate. Mum's estate was less than £100,000 - here the OP estate of £300k results in a hefty fee. They should have asked you to sign an engagement letter getting you to agree to their fee structure - do you recall signing anything?

Savvy_Sue

V6Jim wrote: »

What should we do?

Look at the link I posted earlier (and below) which I think with a bit of clicking will give info on how you get the bill checked externally, also how you'd go about making a complaint to the Law Society. However, you may want to consider whether your own wills would be better checked and lodged elsewhere, and maybe give the firm one last chance with a letter reminding them of your family's long association with them, how much business you've sent their way, and what a pity it would be if you felt obliged to go elsewhere for your continuing legal requirements.

Finding the letter of engagement for this particular piece of work would be very useful too! If you can't find it, ask them for a copy. ;-)

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

If you want to make a complaint about the bill take a look at this, and the links which go on from there.

TonyMMM

£7k on a £300k estate isn't expensive ( for a solicitor done probate) and in line with most solicitors who charge an hourly rate plus a % of the estate value.

It really comes down to what you were told about the charges structure when you employed them to do the work. If the charges are calculated the way they said they would be, you can have no complaint.

A second (separate) issue would then be if they have unduly delayed things, done unnecessary work , or done the work incorrectly in some way and thereby clocked up higher fees for you. That would be grounds for complaint.

If they have already replied confirming the charges are correct and explaining how they were calculated, they should also have told you what the next step would be - probably the legal ombudsman service.

V6Jim

LizW wrote: »

This is the reason I ended up dealing with my mum's estate myself as her solicitor was quoting me a flat fee of about £1,500 plus a % of the estate. Mum's estate was less than £100,000 - here the OP estate of £300k results in a hefty fee. They should have asked you to sign an engagement letter getting you to agree to their fee structure - do you recall signing anything?

There was a costings notification which we didn't sign. We were quite content to go ahead as we thought this might take 2 - 3 months tops. We got a bill after 6 months for £3600 (I think) and we thought that was that. Not much else was achieved over the following 6 months - dotting 'i's' crossing 't's' etc, then another bill for £3400 appeared!

That's what upset us!

TonyMMM

So your complaint is about how long it took, not the actual charges ?

Was a % of the estate valued included in the charges ?

V6Jim

TonyMMM wrote: »

So your complaint is about how long it took, not the actual charges ?

Was a % of the estate valued included in the charges ?

No, I don't think so.

Our complaint is the cost, which, we feel has been escalated by the time it has taken.

Jimmy

getmore4less

Part of the problem with solicitors and the time is they have to refresh their memory every time the pick up the file, all those 10-15mins add up.

They should be able to provide a detailed breakdown of the charges.

The other issue is some cost are more than the asset/debts are worth. Eg dealing with utilities and paying/claiming final account.