Opinions please re IFA

Peelerfart

My mother in law recently passed away leaving my FIL, we got on fine so please, no jokes.

They had 2 funds obtained via an ifa,one with investec,second with cofund. They used these to supplement their occupational pensions

The will was a mirror will and so we informed the ifa to enable the change from joint to solo.
Investec just asked for the death certificate and all was completed, no problems

Cofund however wanted to go to probate so we (me as executor) asked the ifa to contact them to explain, as he had set the fund up some 18 months prior, for which he was paid.

He sent the death certificate,and a copy of the will to cofund together with a covering letter.

Cofund then decided it didn't need to go to probate and all was sorted.

For this he charged £500.

Opinions anyone?


P.S..
I'm not bashing Ifas here, just asking.

Thanks

PF

Clive_Woody

Sorry for your loss, but did you not agree a fee up front for the IFA to get involved?

To me £500 to send a letter and copies of documents seems excessive, but then I've never been through this process so can't speak from experience. I suppose it depends on the content of the covering letter and how much work was involved in finding the information to write this.

Dox

Mirror wills have no special status and it's possible both the IFA and Cofunds were misled by your terminology such as 'the change from joint to solo'. If the £500 included VAT (did it?), then you are looking at a charge of around £416. On what basis was remuneration agreed (if it was) - hourly or 'flat rate'? Either way, ask the IFA to confirm the amount of time spent. It was almost certainly more than you might think.

dmelife

If he was the servicing agent, which I imagine he was, then this should be down without charge. If you didn’t agree the fee upfront then don’t pay it. Ask for a copy of the terms of business/client agreement signed by your in laws.

lisyloo

My opinion is that is you/they had the expertise to deal with investments then you should have done it yourselves.

If you lack the expertise (nothing wrong with that) and you want to use the expertise then you should be prepared to pay.

If it’s more than you were expected then did you read the terms of business or ask what it would cost?

It’s not just sending a letter, there’s a lot of training/expertise involved which has to be funded plus there is a liability taken which would be covered ata cost by insurance.

The take away is really be aware of the fees beforehand or ASK.
Could you have done this yourself over the phone? I don’t know but you did say you ASKED the Ifa to do it so you have to be prepared to pay for their office/expertise/liability.

In the first instance I’d say check the terms of business they provided to you.

Peelerfart

Thanks for the replies.

By way of answering the questions raised, yes the figure included Vat,and yes, he was the servicing agent.

No fee was agreed prior because,as one can imagine, there were other things going on.

It was very much a case of,the IFA can do those and I will do all the other necessary stuff.

The IFA is a one man band and has known FIL and his now deceased wife for a number of years. First name terms kinda thing.

It almost certainly never crossed anyone's mind to ask terms of business given the circumstances

fred246

It's interesting when you get a question like this you have no response from the bully boy IFAs that are all over the forum. It makes me laugh how they have to thank each other whenever one of them posts.

HappyHarry

fred246 wrote: »

It's interesting when you get a question like this you have no response from the bully boy IFAs that are all over the forum. It makes me laugh how they have to thank each other whenever one of them posts.

You'll have to excuse fred246, he's our resident troll. Doesn't like IFAs and garages.


Just to note, it's not something I would have charged for, but my fees, my terms & conditions and expected service level may well be different to the adviser you are using.

bowlhead99

fred246 wrote: »

It's interesting when you get a question like this you have no response from the bully boy IFAs that are all over the forum. It makes me laugh how they have to thank each other whenever one of them posts.

It's interesting how you pop up all over the forum making snide comments about 'bully boy IFAs that are all over the forum' on threads in which they haven't even participated at the point you comment. Just a sign of your endless grudge which detracts from your credibility even if you have valid points to make.

I was unable to bring myself to click 'Thanks' on your post as it wouldn't make sense to say "thank you to fred246 for this useful post" when your post didn't help the OP or pass comment on any of the comments in the thread or on the actions of any of the participants in the thread.

At the end of the day you might expect to pay fees for a professional service if whatever other monies your're paying to the professional for other things don't cover this particular service you want. You could/should have asked what the fee would be if you didn't have a copy of the T&C and fee rates to hand and were bothered what it would be. Some people are not bothered about what it will be because it is a difficult time and they have more important things to be focused on, so they hand the job off to someone else without investigating what it would cost them to arrange it themselves.

Not having a go at OP of course, bereavements are difficult.

Spreadsheetman

It does seem steep if it is part of an on-going relationship and really was just a covering letter with the death certificate and will. I would call and query the cost (nicely). He might offer a discount or do it at a nominal change/foc as a gesture of good-will.

Whichever way it goes, the response to a polite call should let you know whether you can employ the person going forward.

Malthusian

Peelerfart wrote: »

It almost certainly never crossed anyone's mind to ask terms of business given the circumstances

Now would seem to be the time as you are disputing his fee. If he had previously agreed to work with your in-laws on a time cost basis then the charge is reasonable. If he's already being paid for ongoing servicing then it's out of order, but you haven't said that he is.

Was your father in law surprised by the charge?