deed of variation?

SeniorSam

Orwen,
The solicitor who has demanded money up front was paid this by intimation that he would challenge the claimant if necessary.

He then tried to get you to make a settlement so that he could quickly earn a fee that he is not worth. I really hate these sort of soliciotors who try to take advantage of people in difficult and worrying circumstances.

As he will not be acting for you, please demand full repayment of the money you have paiod to him. If he does not repay this or tries to deduct any fee at all, then advise him that you will be making a FORMAL COMPLAINT against his practoce for sharp practice.

If you were to need to make such a complaint I feel sure that the matter would be found in your favour and he may well be repremanded. Such practices should be closed down.

Do not be afraid of any threats he may make as you are fully in the right and must stand up for those rights. Just as you should against your sibling who is trying to get something for nothing. How their parents must be thinking of their actions and be so disgusted with them.

Good luck

Sam

orwen

SeniorSam wrote: »

Orwen,
The solicitor who has demanded money up front was paid this by intimation that he would challenge the claimant if necessary.

He then tried to get you to make a settlement so that he could quickly earn a fee that he is not worth. I really hate these sort of soliciotors who try to take advantage of people in difficult and worrying circumstances.

As he will not be acting for you, please demand full repayment of the money you have paiod to him. If he does not repay this or tries to deduct any fee at all, then advise him that you will be making a FORMAL COMPLAINT against his practoce for sharp practice.

If you were to need to make such a complaint I feel sure that the matter would be found in your favour and he may well be repremanded. Such practices should be closed down.

Do not be afraid of any threats he may make as you are fully in the right and must stand up for those rights. Just as you should against your sibling who is trying to get something for nothing. How their parents must be thinking of their actions and be so disgusted with them.

Good luck

Sam

Thanks Sam but OMG

My first port of call will be the family solicitor who recommended me to the new solicitor who has - along with everything else - left me to worry out of my mind for 3 days over this weekend, there was no contact on Friday after I last wrote to them Thursday with the message "but there is nothing wrong with my parent's will'. This was answered with a stony silence.

This is awful. I will now write a brief email to the family solicitor expressing my concerns.

Thanks again.

orwen

SeniorSam wrote: »

your sibling who is trying to get something for nothing. How their parents must be thinking of their actions and be so disgusted with them.

My sibling's parents are both beyond this world now, same for his spouse. I think that if the parents were still with us, and in good health - mine were senior citizens, bless them both, these people would never have started this business; they appear to have been biding their time.

DandelionPatrol

SeniorSam wrote: »

Orwen,
The solicitor who has demanded money up front was paid this by intimation that he would challenge the claimant if necessary.

He then tried to get you to make a settlement so that he could quickly earn a fee that he is not worth. I really hate these sort of soliciotors who try to take advantage of people in difficult and worrying circumstances.

As he will not be acting for you, please demand full repayment of the money you have paiod to him. If he does not repay this or tries to deduct any fee at all, then advise him that you will be making a FORMAL COMPLAINT against his practoce for sharp practice.

If you were to need to make such a complaint I feel sure that the matter would be found in your favour and he may well be repremanded. Such practices should be closed down.

Do not be afraid of any threats he may make as you are fully in the right and must stand up for those rights. Just as you should against your sibling who is trying to get something for nothing. How their parents must be thinking of their actions and be so disgusted with them.

Good luck

Sam

The problem may be that there is now no evidence that this solicitor said that they would stand and fend off the challenge to the will.

orwen

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

The problem may be that there is now no evidence that this solicitor said that they would stand and fend off the challenge to the will.

Yes, I've just been through the very long letter again that they sent me accepting the case, where they agree to reply to the opposing solicitor's letter by sending a 'substantive' letter, which is a bit like saying we agree to telling you how long a piece of string is. But during the verbal meeting and more importantly in this long letter to me, the words 'variation order' are never used. In this context, what is being proposed to me now - to vary the terms of my late parent's will - could stand their original agreement, in the light of my parent's perfectly sound will, as potentially something of a false pretence.

However things are seen, these people are neither following the client's wishes nor actively defending this client's parent's will I feel. Can they wriggle out of that I wonder?

Meanwhile, I will be looking for yet another solicitor to counter the opposing solicitor's letter, and 2-3 weeks have slipped by. I have written to the initial firm, the family solicitor, expressing my concerns and asking them to look into how I may recoup the money I paid to the second solicitor, who now appear to be following their own agenda and disregarding everything I say to them. I also copied the letter to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

FreeBear

orwen wrote: »

Of siblings, I received the more in the will, perhaps unsurprisingly since I was my parent's sole carer.

My parent's will is now being challenged.

I am in a similar position in that I inherited a sizable chunk of the estate and one sibling has been excluded entirely. On finding out how much he wasn't getting, he said he was going to challenge the will. To date, we have had a few scary letters from his solicitor (one making reference to the Ilott-v-Mitson case). Now that probate has been granted, the clock is ticking for a claim to be filed - There is a world of difference between saying "going to challenge a will" and actually challenging it. The costs of bringing any challenge through the courts is very steep - Budget between £30,000 and £100,000 to lodge a claim.

If your fellow sibling is financially stable and has been left a reasonable chunk of the estate, then his (her) prospects of successfully challenging the will is minimal. By the sounds of it, one of the solicitors is trying to avoid the costs of going to court and suggesting a settlement that incurs the least effort and expense.

You need to find out if this suggestion is being made by the claimant or by your own solicitor - If the former, it would suggest that they know their chances of success in court would be minimal. If the latter, you might want to consider finding another solicitor.

There is a six month time limit in bringing any action from the date probate is granted - How much time do you have left ?

FreeBear

orwen wrote: »

Yes, I've just been through the very long letter again that they sent me accepting the case, where they agree to reply to the opposing solicitor's letter by sending a 'substantive' letter, which is a bit like saying we agree to telling you how long a piece of string is.

A "substantive letter" is your side telling the other side to put in writing their grounds for making a claim - A sort of "prove it or shut up" letter. I'd suggest asking for copies of all correspondence to see who has said what before making any decision.

It might also be worth checking legal500.com to see how your firm is rated in the field of contentious probate.

orwen

The claimant's solicitor's letter attempts to find fault with my parent's will. I have been reassured that the will is faultless and it was professionally drawn up. This means that if I were to follow the new solicitor's suggestion of appeasement through will variation, this could - and no doubt would - be taken as a vindication of the fault-finding letter which I originally received. I put it to the new solicitor that I couldn't possibly consider any move until the claimant withdrew the content of their solicitor's letter - it's criticism of the will. At that point the emails stopped coming, I've been on-hold now since last Thursday. The new solicitor's suggested path of action would leave my parent's will wide open to further ploys to undermine it. I am convinced that if you give the claimant and inch they will take a mile, they would have a field day, at my late parent's expense. Apparently, the new solicitor either cannot or doesn't want to see this.

System

FreeBear wrote: »

I am in a similar position in that I inherited a sizable chunk of the estate and one sibling has been excluded entirely. On finding out how much he wasn't getting, he said he was going to challenge the will. To date, we have had a few scary letters from his solicitor (one making reference to the Ilott-v-Mitson case). Now that probate has been granted, the clock is ticking for a claim to be filed - There is a world of difference between saying "going to challenge a will" and actually challenging it. The costs of bringing any challenge through the courts is very steep - Budget between £30,000 and £100,000 to lodge a claim.

If your fellow sibling is financially stable and has been left a reasonable chunk of the estate, then his (her) prospects of successfully challenging the will is minimal. By the sounds of it, one of the solicitors is trying to avoid the costs of going to court and suggesting a settlement that incurs the least effort and expense.

You need to find out if this suggestion is being made by the claimant or by your own solicitor - If the former, it would suggest that they know their chances of success in court would be minimal. If the latter, you might want to consider finding another solicitor.

There is a six month time limit in bringing any action from the date probate is granted - How much time do you have left ?

It may also be pertinent to point out that if you challenge a will then costs for the other side actually come out of the estate. Not forgetting that IF you do win then the estate will probably bear the cost of your and the estate's legal bill. So in reality the estate and your claim need to be substantial for you to come away in a winning position if you succeed.

TBH I think that if the estate is less than half million then any court action will empty the estate.

FreeBear

Has probate been granted ?