Handling the estate after death

tommytynan123

My dear old Mum passed away recently after an illness and my sister and I are joint executors (I have another sister as well) The will is simple with the estate being shared between the 3 of us. Mum had a house (no mortgage) and various bank accounts. The final total will be under the inheritance tax threshold.
The will was lodged with a solicitor and we have the copy. I've been reading around and seen procedures like ''Letter of authorisation'' and the requirement to open a bank account for the house sale etc. Is it OK to throw the whole matter at the solicitor and ask him to sort out everything including bank accounts, money from the house sale etc etc. We can get the house on the market and deal with potential buyers, agree a sale and hand it over to him.
I'm hoping that this route will avoid mountains of paperwork as, if I read correctly, the solicitor has the authority to handle everything as part of his job/licence??
Thanks

System

The solicitor will love the mountain of paperwork (issued by the Royal Mint) that you give him to do this. Solicitors are not known for their cheapness and speed when it comes to acting on wills.

If the estate is simple then there is no reason why you can not do this yourself

wwl

Why on earth would you pay a solicitor at god-knows-what per hour to do what amounts to some simple paperwork and form filling, and take several months to do it?

I read correctly, the solicitor has the authority to handle everything as part of his job/licence??
Thanks

Yes and they will charge you for every minute spent doing it, despite it being something you could easily do yourself.

It will take way longer and cost a lot more than it needs to for a simple estate.
Before doing anything rash, look through the guidance notes from the Probate service. If there's anything you don't understand, make a list and book an hour with a solicitor to go through it.
It really is not at all difficult, and there isn't that much paperwork. OK you will end up with a folder or two of paper but very little actually needs anything doing with it.

The only thing you will need a solicitor (or conveyancer) for is the actual conveyancing for the sale of the house.

Keep_pedalling

For a simple estate like this, it is really not that difficult to handle probate yourselves, and to get a solicitor to handle the lot will be expensive.

SeniorSam

If you don't want the bother and are prepared to pay hundreds, possibly thousands to let the solicitor do it, then he will welcome you. He may also take over a year to sort it out.

You could do this within a few months and there are lots of people on here that would help you with every question you could think of.

Your dear Mum would be so proud of you.

Sam

An alternative would be to explain it all to a solicitor and agree a FIXED fee to include EVERYTHING, including VAT, but you would still have to wait in line until the solicitor can get round to it..

troubleinparadise

If, as you write, your mum's estate is quite simple - a house and some other assets that fall under the IHT threshold, and probably some bills to sort, there won't be mountains of paperwork.

A couple of forms (which look worse than they actually are), opening a bank account to take the proceeds of monies owed to the estate, some letters to utilities etc really won't take a lot of your time, especially as there are two of you to share the job.

However, if you are prepared to spend a few thousand, and therefore each of you will be "poorer" a third of that cost from your shares of the estate, then certainly put it in the hands of a solicitor. As said though, it will take somewhat longer - probably a year - and you will still need to sort through papers to get the basic information to pass to the solicitor, and liaise with them through the process.

We don't know your circumstances - busy job and home life, sticky family relationships, whatever - and sometimes delegating a sad, and for some stressful, task might be money better spent, even if it goes against the MSE ethos.

theoretica

Seeing on here the advice that a solicitor will cost more than a relatively simple probate merits makes me wonder if there are any professions who would take on a lot of the paper work at a lower cost? Possibly as the executors' agent, rather than their deputy.

lisa110rry

I have been nominated as secondary executor for a single friend, and understand I will only step in if the primary executor steps down for some reason. I have said to my friend that I will help the primary executor in any way I can with advice and paperwork (as she has vision problems). A good friend is there to help at a bad time. I have dealt with probate before and have helped my friend with a serious neighbour dispute when an easement was blocked, so he trusts me to do the best/right thing or get advice if necessary.

Perhaps the OP and her sister have someone like this they can ask for help from?

System

theoretica wrote: »

Seeing on here the advice that a solicitor will cost more than a relatively simple probate merits makes me wonder if there are any professions who would take on a lot of the paper work at a lower cost? Possibly as the executors' agent, rather than their deputy.

i think that would cause more problems than it tries to solve.

Organisations are geared up to deal with executors as there is paperwork proving their entitlement to act and also solicitors acting on behalf of an executor but a random person claiming to act on behalf of the executor would not get very far at all.

Mojisola

troubleinparadise wrote: »

However, if you are prepared to spend a few thousand, and therefore each of you will be "poorer" a third of that cost from your shares of the estate, then certainly put it in the hands of a solicitor. As said though, it will take somewhat longer - probably a year - and you will still need to sort through papers to get the basic information to pass to the solicitor, and liaise with them through the process.

We don't know your circumstances - busy job and home life, sticky family relationships, whatever - and sometimes delegating a sad, and for some stressful, task might be money better spent, even if it goes against the MSE ethos.

We did this with one of the family deaths - a combination of poor health and distance would have made things very stressful so we found a good local solicitor who was very clear about his charges.

The final bill was divided between all the beneficiaries and everyone was happy that it was money well-spent.

TBagpuss

A good solicitor will be able to give you clear information about the costs and likely timescale at the outset, and to advise you if anything comes up which means that the estimates change.

I'd suggest that you contact a local solicitor or two to ask about the likely costs.

As executors you will still have t sign some of the paperwork but the solicitor would be able to do most of the work for you, and there is no reason why you should not ask them to do so if you do not want the stress and hassle involved in doing it yourself.

While it is correct that it the estate is simple you may be perfectly capable of doing it yourselves, if you don't want to, or feel it would be too stressful or emotionally taxing to do so then getting a professional in may be the wisest course.

It's like a lot of things, just because you could do it yourself, doesn't mean that the best choice for you is to do so. Think of it like wallpapering or other home maintenance - most of us could do it if necessary, but lots of us prefer to get professionals in because it is less stressful and gets the job done so we can get on with our lives.

Don't feel guilty if you decide to go ahead with your plan, but do plan a little - don't be afraid to speak to more than one solicitor to find one you feel comfortable with.

I'm very sorry for your loss.