Probate - Managing Expectations

Bariwhites

I was hoping to get a bit of general advice over probate and what to expect from the solicitors dealing with it.

Sadly my Mum passed away at the beginning of August. She left a will and it's fairly simple, everything has been left to me and my brother. There's a house, bank account, some savings and the usual utilities and some DWP benefits. There are no liabilities as the house was fully paid for some time ago and my mum never had a credit card or loan in her life.

There were two executors named on the will, my uncle and the solicitor that drew up the will. My uncle doesn't want any involvement due to ill health and the solicitor named has retired. His firm has taken on the job of probate.

My brother passed all the paperwork to the solicitors three months ago. The following week he had to take some further papers in at which point the secretary asked where the original will was held. With you, was his reply! This generated some confusion at which point the solicitor appeared and said not to worry as they had everything they needed and probate had been applied for.

Three week later I got a letter from them asking me to sign some paperwork detailing the work they would do and their fees and to call i with ID. The letter said no work would be done until I had done this and made a £160 payment. The very day I got another letter saying probate had been applied for! All a bit confusing.

That was two month ago and we have heard nothing since. I called this morning and the secretary said she couldn't give out any updates without me actually making an appointment to call in. She also reminded me that probate can take some time.

So we have an appointment next Friday to see the solicitor and they haven't filled me with a great deal of confidence so far. So what questions should I be asking other than has probate been granted? I'm guessing there isn't much we can do at the moment other than wait, but I don't want to be getting fobbed off on Friday with "probate takes some time you know"!

Thanks

TonyMMM

A solicitor will take at least 6 months, and often closer to 12 to deal with even the simplest of estates - every call you make to them will generate a fee that gets added to the final bill. Best to just let them get on with it (for the moment at least).

Unfortunately the best option may have been for you or your brother to do the work (which is very simple) for your uncle and get him to sign paperwork as necessary.

Tom99

Ask for the date they submitted the probate application then check online from time to time to see when it is granted.