How much do they charge for....

barbarawright

Who is exactly is this 'official solicitor' you think will sort out your affairs for you? Or indeed an attorney who will do it in his/her holidays?

peachyprice

theoretica wrote: »

I assumed the OP was only thinking that their attorney would possibly need to give up work for a few days - ie use up their holiday time - to take care of this.

I don't think so, according to this post by OP it's likely to take a lot longer. How OP can expect someone to take months off work to sort this out, I don't know. Not only are they likely to be out of pocket, they could be out of a job too!

Harrap wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. It will take them months to sort it out and therefore I would like to ensure they are not out of pocket (I would like to pay not just for mileage but loss of earnings. At the same time I would not like to pay more than I would expect to pay a solicitor or accountant or any council or government official).

theoretica

peachyprice wrote: »

I don't think so, according to this post by OP it's likely to take a lot longer. How OP can expect someone to take months off work to sort this out, I don't know. Not only are they likely to be out of pocket, they could be out of a job too!

I assumed that meant time spread over months - not anything near to full time. Something more than described must be going on if closing down 24 out of 25 accounts will take more than a couple of days in total, even if this time is spread out to an hour here and there over a much longer time.

barbarawright

theoretica wrote: »

I assumed that meant time spread over months - not anything near to full time. Something more than described must be going on if closing down 24 out of 25 accounts will take more than a couple of days in total, even if this time is spread out to an hour here and there over a much longer time.

I don't understand how moving money around can really take three days a month work. I realise my finances are pretty simple but I look at my bank accounts online two or three times a month and tinker a bit with paying my credit card and perhaps putting something in my ISA. Even if I had 25 accounts, I can't see how it would take that long to manage them when presumably it's the same transactions each time. And if it's only saving a £120 a month, we aren't talking *huge* sums here

Nargleblast

I am not a financial expert but, as others have said, you would be best simplifying things now whilst you are physically and mentally able to. All professionals, lawyers, accountants etc, charge for the work involved and the amount of time it takes them to do it. Obviously it will take them a lot less time and work if you only have one or two accounts and cards to manage, consequently you lose a lot less money in fees.

Lunar_Eclipse

You need to appoint a Power Of Attorney, usually a close relative/friend, but a solicitor could also do this. It takes time and money to do this. If you want them to manage your affairs now, you will need to pay them if they are not a close family member willing to do it for free (eg adult kids for their older parents. My retired mum does this for her mother; I will do it for her when the time comes.)

Without one, no-one will manage your affairs in the way that you do, your system will not be followed and hence charges will be triggered, ultimately reducing the size of your estate.

It would also be a good idea to think about simplifying it yourself whilst you can.

Do you depend on the £1500/year to cover basic living costs?

badmemory

barbarawright wrote: »

Who is exactly is this 'official solicitor' you think will sort out your affairs for you? Or indeed an attorney who will do it in his/her holidays?

Doesn't this refer to the Office of the Public Guardian (I think).

I believe they do/did this for a fee, but to be honest I can't believe anyone would take on that number of transactions & charge a fee low enough to allow the OP to stay in profit.

wannabe_sybil

Any decent solicitor will charge well over £100 plus VAT per hour as a bare minimum. I suspect a decent accountant would be similar. A competent bookkeeper would probably be less but would not have the same professional insurance. You would need someone capable to handle all the complexity, and that will cost money.

In my experience of solicitors, many would refuse to take on that sort of job.

Ill health can come very suddenly. You may find yourself struggling after a sudden stroke or fall and not have the gradual lead up to a care home. My late father was fine and planning to go out to a jazz festival the next day - but the next day he was incapacitated due to a stroke and went into hospital never to come home.

I'm sorry if the above upsets you. I suggest that you write up a clear, written list of all the accounts plus the regular transactions needed to keep everything going. I also suggest that you work out an exit plan. By that I mean that you work out and write down clearly the best way to disentangle all the accounts and simplify them to one current, one credit card and one savings account. You don't have to do that now but you or someone on your behalf may have to do it in a hurry.

I hope none of the advice is needed for many years. Good luck.

TBagpuss

I agree with others -it is not realistic to expect an attorney (professional or otherwise) to maintain your highly complex system. Bear in mind that for anyone acting as your attorney the time needed would be greater than it is for you as they would not be familair with your system and would have to prove their ID and position as your attorney to each organisation, which is often a time consuming process on it's own.

What you can do is to make, and maintain, a running calendar of the deadlines for debts to be cleared so that if you become incapacitated your attorney can prioritise the payment of those debts and minimise any loss.

Keeping an up to date list of accounts and cards will also make the job of your attorney (and indeed executors, when the time comes!) much easier.

As other have said, the first thing any attorney is likely to do is to close all of the accounts but one, and to pay off all of the cards.

Mojisola

I don't think a non-professional POA is allowed to accept money from the donor.