solicitors holding money for interest?

wahee

hi

I have just sold my late mum's house and the sale has been completed. The solicitor has had the money (128K) for 2 weeks now and we have not seen any sign of payment. They say it is going through probate. As far as I know there is nothing outstanding here.

Can I ask them if they are making interest on this money and ask for this interest to be paid to me.I was just not sure how to go about it as I did not want to look foolish or belligerent. I don't like the idea of them hogging this money to make interest for themselves.

WestonDave

They may be getting some interest on it but rates are extremely low because the money has to be on instant access (so can't be put on a 3 month notice account with good rates). Typically 0.1% interest. So at that rate your funds are earning them all of about 35p per day. There used to be a rule that you didn't have to pass on interest to clients until it was over about £20 which in your case would take about 8 weeks.


By all means ask about it but they really aren't making a fortune out of it!

davidmcn

How has the sale completed if it's still "going through probate"? Suspect there's a misunderstanding.

G_M

1) has Probate been granted or not?

2) Is the solicitor acting as conveyancer, Executer, or both?

3) the interest will be peanuts on a client account. And in any case may be accruing in the Estate.

steampowered

Any interest on funds in a client account goes to the client. Although there is probably no interest or hardly any.

The 'client account' is only used for holding client money and is completely separate to the 'office account' in which the solicitor's firm puts its own money. This is all highly regulated and solicitors are prohibited from structuring their accounts in any other way.

The solicitors won't be receiving any of the interest themselves. Indeed they are prohibited from receiving it by the solicitors accounts rules.

elverson

Before you instructed the solicitor they should have provided their Terms and Conditions which will cover how interest is handled.

TBagpuss

steampowered wrote: »

Any interest on funds in a client account goes to the client. Although there is probably no interest or hardly any.

The 'client account' is only used for holding client money and is completely separate to the 'office account' in which the solicitor's firm puts its own money. This is all highly regulated and solicitors are prohibited from structuring their accounts in any other way.

The solicitors won't be receiving any of the interest themselves. Indeed they are prohibited from receiving it by the solicitors accounts rules.

You are correct about the separate office and client accounts, and also about any interest forming part of the estate. However, there are rules which mean that solicitors do not have to account for all interest. IIRC, there used to be fixed rules about how much (broadly, the larger the sum, the sooner they had to start paying interest) Now, the rules say that they must account for interest where it is fair and reasonable to do so, and that they must have a written policy about it.
Many will have a policy which says they will only account to you for interest where the interest is over a certain amount (typically £20-£30)

As WestonDave says, interest rates are low and a solicitors client account will not be a savings account - they are not expected to shop around for best rates, so it is likely that little f any interest is being earned.

If this is a probate matter then they will need to finalise the estate accounts before paying out the funds, how long this takes will depend on the complexity of the estate as a whole. Are they the executors, and are you an executor or a beneficiary?

ReadingTim

A fortnight's interest even on £128k is b*gger all, but if you're worried, go into their offices for a meeting and ask for a cup of coffee - the cost of that spoonful of nescafe, splash of milk and cost of boiling the water will more than outweigh what they've earned off your late mum's house....

Scoff a choccie biscuit and you'll really be hitting their bottom line....

ThePants999

From reading threads in the wills+probate subforum, if the solicitors are acting as executors as well as handling the conveyancing, you're likely in for a much longer wait than 2 weeks...

Victor_the_Gink

TBagpuss wrote: »

You are correct about the separate office and client accounts, and also about any interest forming part of the estate. However, there are rules which mean that solicitors do not have to account for all interest. IIRC, there used to be fixed rules about how much (broadly, the larger the sum, the sooner they had to start paying interest) Now, the rules say that they must account for interest where it is fair and reasonable to do so, and that they must have a written policy about it.
Many will have a policy which says they will only account to you for interest where the interest is over a certain amount (typically £20-£30)

As WestonDave says, interest rates are low and a solicitors client account will not be a savings account - they are not expected to shop around for best rates, so it is likely that little f any interest is being earned.

If this is a probate matter then they will need to finalise the estate accounts before paying out the funds, how long this takes will depend on the complexity of the estate as a whole. Are they the executors, and are you an executor or a beneficiary?

This. My firm does not pay out below a £50 de minimis. The SRA used to enforce a £20 de minimis, but now it just has to be fair and clearly described from the outset.