Clever Solicitor's costs!

Sammie_

Of course not the beneficiaries solicitor but that of the executors who have approved these invoices..


1st Interim Invoice 2500.00
VAT 500.00
2nd Interim invoice 1400.00
VAT 280.00
3rd Interim Invoice 2500.00
VAT 500.00
Final Invoice estimated 2500.00
VAT 500.00


I cant believe how clever that solicitor is to be able to work to such rounded figures!! :T

Keep_pedalling

Round figures are not that surprising if they are working on a fixed price basis.

Sammie_

No there was no fixed price from the start!

DavidF1970

Must be a massive estate to incur this level of costs. Generally Solicitors work on rounded hourly rates which will also make the Vat rounded giving them nice rounded overall figures.

Sammie_

No not really DavidF, Just over £300K.


The executors have never been in touch and much is in Trust, it is a real mess this and we are now in year five trying to sort it out.


A deed of variation was involved and now both the Trustees want to retire being replaced by others. I suppose that process will also come out of the estate.


Soon there will be no cash in the estate and leave just the house. Hope the Solicitor doesn't force the sale of that or someone is going to be out on the street!


Unbelievable goings on.

Mattygroves2

They might also only be billing the time on their ledger in round amounts for your convenience. The final invoice is only an estimated one so could very easily be amended.

They might also be writing some of their time off (although that is unlikely) so rounding it down to a round figure.

Ask for the breakdown of what they've done and you should get it down to every e mail and telephone conversation.

Sammie_

Matty, I have asked for a breakdown and the solicitor says he would have to go back to the executors to see if they would allow this!


He also said it would cost a lot.... More zeros coming up!!

Mattygroves2

Who are the solicitors working for - the Trust or the Estate of the deceased ? If it is the Trust then the Trustees should be approving the bills and if the Estate then the Executors. Unless you are one or the other you may have problems complaining as you have no formal relationship with the solicitors.

Provided the solicitors are working for you I would expect the breakdown to be free and take them about 10 minutes to run off their time recording system. If they try to charge then I'd complain via the official complaints procedure.

Sammie_

Matty the solicitor is working for the executors by the sound of his continual "I need to ask the executors" stance. But then the executors at the moment are also the Trustees so he is working for them both. He is not working for the beneficiaries so yes I know I cant complain. When the Trustees change after their retirement they should still be executors but I guess nothing will change with the solicitor acting for both..


He wont do the breakdown for free for either the executors or benefiaries he says because the executors/Trustees have already agreed the accounts.


Mind you they all work for the same firm!!.. Laughable isn't it!

Mattygroves2

if they aren't working for you then you are a bit stuffed. All you can really do is curse the deceased for making them executors and trustees in the first instance.

Best bet is to get the Trustees replaced by lay people and then at least you've got rid of the cost of them operating as Trustees.

They won't be operating as executors and trustees at the same time - they should split the cost as some will be chargeable to the estate and some to the trust which was presumably created by the will.

getmore4less

What was the DOV and why was it done what tax will it save.

How much extra has that cost.

That is a lot of work for what sounds like a simple estate.