Please help... (is my lawyer quote fair?)

Questionwhy1

About 8 months a solicitor telephoned me to say that his firm had taken over another local solicitors and now my sons trust fund would be looked after by them. He also said that the trustees of the trust would probably be retiring and therefore why don't my husband and I become trustees. I was rather surprised at this, as my original solicitor hadn't even informed us of their takeover. They said they'd write to us re change if solicitors and it took them 5 months. We chased them to say we'd be willing to become trustees and they sent us a firm which we signed. However today I've received a bill of £228 for what I don't know. They have not itemised it nor have they treated us well. Do I go to the law society and refuse to pay as I've proof of emails that are so poorly written I wouldn't pay £2.28 let alone £228.

VfM4meplse

Sounds very strange, esp if there is no contract of transfer. However, if genuine the amount of work being charged for is minimal (£220-280 ph is standard).

I think you might be better posting on another MSE board - try the CAB?

Lynplatinum

Hiya

I would demand a breakdown of what the payment is for by email so you have written evidence of your request. As I understand it, they are obliged to tell you what they are charging for - without you incurring any further cost.

I recently had the mis-fortune to deal with a set of large solicitors who only work over the internet. (I was backed into this corner in a manner not disimilar to yourself). The e-mails were semi literate, the photocopied paperwork wonky and almost unreadable and they tried to give me a non itemised bill. I demanded an itemised bill, scrutinised it and saved myself £3,000 by challenging their charges. But be very sure of your grounds and be prepared for an unpleasant phone call which they will want to record, hoping that if they can provoke you into loosing your rag, so they can then take you to court and portray you as unreasonable!!!

Unfortunately, many big anonymous firms with remote offices are taking over old local firms when folk retire and most of their work is done by younger staff who are training up. In my case the actual qualified person was trying to supervise the work of 9 trainee legal executives. He sounded very stressed on the phone. But im afraid that, while I felt sorry for him that 'loosing the firm £3,000 would reflect very badly on his team' as I told him £3,000 lost would be a disaster for my bank account!

I agree with trying CAB but also look at the Lkaw Society's web site
Good luck

MandM90

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.

PollyWollyDoodle

There are two issues here; one is whether you have had a good service or not, and the second is whether their bill is fair and reasonable. Have you signed a retainer or agreement with the new firm? They should have written to you at the outset with an indication of the costs and the work they were going to do. You say that you signed a form, but it's not clear if that was an agreement for them to do the work, or to do with the trust itself. If they didn't make it clear that you would be charged for the work, then they may not be able to claim fees at all. It partly depends on what your agreement was with the old firm, if they have taken over their business, but they should have given you information in writing about costs.

With regard to the quality of the service you've received, that might be grounds for a reduction in the fees. You have to give the firm an opportunity to consider your complaint and resolve it first before you can complain to the Legal Services Ombudsman - if you raise a formal complaint with the LSO, that's the first thing you will be asked. Put your complaint in writing and address it to the senior partner/director of the firm, specify exactly why you feel you have had a poor service (delay, lack of information) and be clear about the outcome you want. Good luck.

Keep_pedalling

You must go through the firms complain procedure before you escalate to the Legal ombudsmen (not the law society)

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/For-the-public/Using-a-Solicitor/Complaints/

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
There would certainly be charges involved with changing trustees, but the good thing they have done is remove the ongoing charges against the trust fthat would be associated professional trustees?

Trusts can be complex beasts, and now you are trustees I would advise you to take advice from a IFA on how to handle the trust from here on.

Le_Kirk

As someone who has gone through this procedure of transferring control of trusts, I can advise you to make ABSOLUTELY certain that ALL the paperwork is complete and transfer has been implemented correctly BEFORE the original firm of solicitors retires. I got into a similar situation where the original (family) solicitor retired, I took control, received a similar bill for (unspecified) services rendered (because they forgot to send annual bills) and had to pay every time a transfer of deed (for shares etc. was requiring a signature from the original solicitor as he had been a trustee. We negotiated the bill down after asking for a breakdown of work done and paid in agreed instalments.