Solicitor fees

helsbells17

susancs : yes that's right, the problem being that the work has already been done by the solicitor during the past 3 years while they were tracing my partner. Apparently they were under an obligation to find out what the money was for etc so they went ahead and did so.
manxman : they current firm took over the original firm a few years ago. But the timescales are a huge question needing to be answered!

Voyager2002

Very strange!

Presumably the fact that the money was not paid out at the time the estate was supposedly settled means that someone slipped up. In which case your partner could justifiably make a complaint against the original solicitor... and since this new firm has taken over the original firm they have also taken on the responsibility to compensate your partner for the loss of the use of the money over the last 15 years. The standard rate of compensation for late payments is 8 per cent, so you could suggest that they set off interest compounded at 8 per cent against their legal fees.

Manxman_in_exile

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Very strange!

Presumably the fact that the money was not paid out at the time the estate was supposedly settled means that someone slipped up. In which case your partner could justifiably make a complaint against the original solicitor... and since this new firm has taken over the original firm they have also taken on the responsibility to compensate your partner for the loss of the use of the money over the last 15 years. The standard rate of compensation for late payments is 8 per cent, so you could suggest that they set off interest compounded at 8 per cent against their legal fees.

Isn't it at least 27 years? What is this money and where has it come from?


If the original solicitors were negligent in not tracing all the assets I presume that there is no chance now of pursuing them (or their successors) after 27 years(?).


Is this something like a dormant bank account nobody knew about? If so, who does that now belong to, and can the beneficiaries access it without involving the solicitors?


Again, how does this come to light after 27 years?

helsbells17

The money is apparently from a mortgage account and a credit card account from two seperate banks. They both seem to have sent this money to the solicitor 3years ago after holding it for 24years!

We met with the solicitor yesterday and asked what had happened and why, also questioned the charge and she couldnt really answer anything. She was just expecting my partner to sign and thats that! So we are waiting to hear back and hopefully have some answers.

Thank you everyone for the input and advice!

helsbells17

BorisThomson wrote: »

And when you asked for a breakdown of the fee the solicitor said ...

So, today we received the payment from the solicitor long with their 'invoice'.

We asked them on Friday to pay the full amount pending us investigating whether their fees were appropriate, but they've gone ahead and just paid the remaining figure to us, having taken their fees. Their invoice just mentions liaising with the banks, taking steps to trace beneficiaries and all related correspondence, so not very itemised at all!

I guess our next best step is to contact the Law Society for advice?

Our latest theory (based on still not receiving any actual answers from the solicitors) is that the money was returned to them 3 years ago when banks came under scrutiny for holding on to funds that didn't belong to them. The solicitors probably wrote to the last address they had on file, and then forgot about it until they had an audit last year. This is when they realised they were still holding this money, and actually took proper steps to trace my partner. Until they actually answer our questions and show us the paperwork that is all we have to go on!

Any thoughts very much appreciated!

TBagpuss

No you next step would be to make a formal complaint using the firm's own complaints process. They should give you their complaints process if asked, if it has not already been provided.

In your complaint, set our explicitly what you are complaining about
e.g.
- costs were not approved in advance (may not have been possible if they had to trace you, but perhaps they could have informed you of likely costs as soon as you were identified)
- request for breakdown of course not complied with
- costs deducted without your consent and after you had instructed them not to do so.
- no explanation given as to why the assets were not correctly identified and dealt with in the original probabte

Also set out what you want as a n outcome. Are you asking for the costs to be reduced, for a clearer explanation, for better information about why the assets were not identified the first time round? If you can tell them whatyou want the outcome to be, then put that in the letter.

It's worth bearing in mind that costs are not normally worked out based on a % of the state but on the amount of time spent. £2,000 is probably somewhere around 10 hours of work (could be more or less depending on the hourly rate) but may not be unreasonable for the work done, however that doesn't mean that it is not appropriate for you to be given a better explanation as to what has happened, and why.

If you are not happy with the outcome of the complaint then you can escalate to the Legal Ombudsman once you have gone through the complaints process.

Savvy_Sue

I do not think I have ever known a solicitor NOT deduct their fees before making a final payment! However, to do so when they knew you were disputing their fees seems impolite at best!

Keep_pedalling

My wife had a major inheritance, and just recently some 7 years after the event a dormant bank account came to light with just over £11,000 in it. Luckily we have not moved in that time so the executors (solicitors) contacted her and passed it on minus IHT and a small fee for sorting out the tax. These things happen, if no paperwork can be found by the solicitor they can hardly be negligent for not finding the account.

In this case the bank contacted the executors to inform them of its existence, so this is likely to be the case here as well. £2000 sounds a lot but would soon be clocked up in trying to trace the rightful owner. Remember that they are still working for the estate not the beneficiaries. No excuse for not providing proper accounts for this bill though, so you should still complain.

If the executor had been a non professional and had moved on or died in since originally winding up the estate, it is unlikely that this missing money would ever have found its way to her.

Keep_pedalling

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I do not think I have ever known a solicitor NOT deduct their fees before making a final payment! However, to do so when they knew you were disputing their fees seems impolite at best!

I would rather have the bulk of the money, then make a complaint, rather than leave it in their client account for goodness knows how long until the complaint was brought to a conclusion.