Solicitor was ready to send inheritance to beneficences a month ago. Still hasn't.

Xentarago

Hello, was wondering if anyone could comments on this. I won't go into details about who what or where as it'd become too long winded. To keep it simple basically the person that died (back in January) made a solicitor the executor to the will and I'm one of the beneficiaries. My Aunt (daughter of the deceased) has been dealing with the solicitor in the mean time. I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago and she told me that a couple of weeks before that the solicitor had said he had had probate granted and was ready to begin dividing up the inheritance and sending it out.

So far no one has received anything though. The inheritance comprises of the sale of a house which has yet to complete so obviously until that does that can't be divided up, however I know for a fact there was several thousand in savings at the very least, there may have been some insurances or pensions too but I haven't actually seen the will.

If he's actually said he's ready to send off what inheritance he has, why wait for the house sale? I presume that is what he's doing of course - rather than send the beneficiaries the money from the savings first, he's waiting for the house sale to finalise and then start sending out the money afterwards, which is all well and good, but he hasn't even sent any letters out asking for bank details (which apparently is what he's told my Aunt he intended to do months ago).

Would it be worth me ringing him and asking him what's going on? I know another beneficiary rang him back in May about something similar but he was apparently somewhat rude to them and didn't want to talk to them.

Savvy_Sue

The problem you have is that your aunt has been dealing with the solicitor, and the solicitor won't want to talk to anyone else - which you can probably understand.

So, unless your aunt is willing to instruct the solicitor to talk to you and not her, I'm not sure you'll get anywhere.

But you could ask your aunt to ask why, when she was told that x and y was about to happen, it still hasn't.

Solicitors do tend to take their own sweet time about these things, and often don't want to make any interim distributions. But if they said they were going to, then it's not unreasonable to ask for an update.

If she'd like your help in making a complaint, I'm sure we can assist with that.

g6jns_2

Xentarago wrote: »

Hello, was wondering if anyone could comments on this. I won't go into details about who what or where as it'd become too long winded. To keep it simple basically the person that died (back in January) made a solicitor the executor to the will and I'm one of the beneficiaries. My Aunt (daughter of the deceased) has been dealing with the solicitor in the mean time. I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago and she told me that a couple of weeks before that the solicitor had said he had had probate granted and was ready to begin dividing up the inheritance and sending it out.

So far no one has received anything though. The inheritance comprises of the sale of a house which has yet to complete so obviously until that does that can't be divided up, however I know for a fact there was several thousand in savings at the very least, there may have been some insurances or pensions too but I haven't actually seen the will.

If he's actually said he's ready to send off what inheritance he has, why wait for the house sale? I presume that is what he's doing of course - rather than send the beneficiaries the money from the savings first, he's waiting for the house sale to finalise and then start sending out the money afterwards, which is all well and good, but he hasn't even sent any letters out asking for bank details (which apparently is what he's told my Aunt he intended to do months ago).

Would it be worth me ringing him and asking him what's going on? I know another beneficiary rang him back in May about something similar but he was apparently somewhat rude to them and didn't want to talk to them.

Write, not email, a polite letter asking to make a formal complaint addressed to the senior partner. Seldom fails to get action.

Mojisola

Xentarago wrote: »

The inheritance comprises of the sale of a house which has yet to complete so obviously until that does that can't be divided up, however I know for a fact there was several thousand in savings at the very least, there may have been some insurances or pensions too but I haven't actually seen the will.

While it is possible to do a partial distribution of liquid assets, it's much more common to wait for the estate to be finalised and that won't happen until after the house has been sold.

I don't know why the solicitor said that he was ready to send out some money - perhaps he looked at the figures again and decided against it.

7_week_wonder

I can't really comment, but I can give you my personal experience. My mother died in early May, I am the executor, there are three beneficiaries (including me) and we have appointed a firm of solicitors to help with some aspects of the will.

My mother's estate also comprised a house (which is currently on the market) plus various savings accounts and some investments.

In our case probate was granted at the end of July and on 10th August the solicitor emailed me to say he had collected a certain amount from various institutions (mainly the savings accounts) and was prepared to make an interim distribution to the beneficiaries. We (the beneficiaries) then each received a cheque 11 days later.

So in our case, an interim distribution was made prior to the house sale, but at no point were we asked for our bank details as the distributions were made by cheque.

Maybe your aunt could ask the solicitor to confirm in writing what she understands he has said about an interim distribution?

TBagpuss

My first thought is that your aunt may have misunderstood - it's possible that the solicitor confirmed that probate had been granted and that this would allow them to make a start on getting the assets in to distribute, which is different to actually being ready to start distributing.

Obviously a lot depends on how complex the estate is and the value of the different types of assets, however, it would not be unusual for executors to wait until a property has sold before distributing the assets - they may wish to ensure that they have kept back enough to cover costs of the sale, costs of maintaining and insuring the property until the sale completes, enough to cover their costs etc. They may also have found that there were debts to pay or be waiting for confirmation on figures.

It's also possible that they are or have distributed some money - for instance, if she left small, specific sums to charity.

As your aunt is dealing with the solicitor you could in the first instance ask her if she can ask the solicitor to provide a written update (which she can then share with you).

Alternatively you could write yourself to the solicitor and ask for a copy of the will, and to ask, politely, if he can tell you when he anticipates being in a position to make any distribution and whether any interim distribution is likely to be made.

Threatening to make a complaint is a very aggressive move and doesn't seem justified on what you have said so far. Bear in mind that you are not a client.