solicitors (hidden ?) fees as executor for a will ??

joylikes2shop

My widowed mother passed away last month.The solicitor who drew up her Will is named as the Executor.
Mums Will should be straight forward enough - she left everything to myself and my sister. My (adult) sister has autism and has always lived at home with my mum. She will continue to live in the family home and I will continue to support her.
As mum had dementia, I took care of all her finances and I thought, if I had the correct legal paperwork ( Grant of Probate) I could begin to wind up her affairs in due course.
However I now know that only the Executor of the Will can apply for Grant of Probate..which in mums case ( & I would imagine in most instances??) means only her solicitor can do this.

So,it's my understanding that if a solicitor is named as the Executor of a Will, not only do they charge for compiling a list of financial institutions the deceased had accounts with,they will also charge (an hefty price ??) for each letter sent to all the individual financial institutions, phone calls made, and for the time they spend winding up the estate, but in addition to all these fees, they can/will also charge a percentage of the overall value of the deceased's estate too....purely because they are named as an Executor in the Will.

If this is the case, I feel everyone should be more aware of this additional (hidden?) charge, before deciding to nominate a solicitor to act as their Executor.

Browntoa

My solicitor will came with a list of charges

Nothing underhand or hidden

74jax

Browntoa wrote: »

My solicitor will came with a list of charges

Nothing underhand or hidden

So did my husbands. He has a solicitor as executor with charges.

Keep_pedalling

The charges should have been made clear to your mother when she made the will. You could ask for the solicitor to stand down to let you administer the estate but they are under no obligation to do so, as you are not their client.

Robin9

In practise you will be doing a lot of the running around for the solicitor - bank accounts, insurance policies etc.

I would suggest you take legal advice for your sister and yourself regarding the family home - is it left 50/50, what happens if you want to sell your share ?

getmore4less

DID you have POA?


As you have been managing the finances there are a number of options.

1. if you think you can manage the estate then ask the solicitor to stand down completely

2. You could ask the solicitor if they will let you do the leg work to reduce the costs, and just have deal with some of the paperwork.

3. they refuse both the above so you make their job as easy as possible to try to keep the fees down.


You may also want consider what happens next how much support does you sister need, could trusts be relevant to protect her interest should you become unable to help.

There are other implications if you are not resident in the home but own part of it so tax advice may be needed.
...

TonyMMM

Quite normal for a % of the estate value to be used by solicitors as part of their charges for probate work - although it is changing and many will now work on a fixed fee/hours work basis alone.

I was quoted a charge of 2% of the estate value, plus their hourly charges, to deal with my father's estate a few years ago - it wasn't hidden, it was clearly stated in their fee structure.

I didn't take up the offer and did it myself.

joylikes2shop

Thanks for all the comments so far

Browntoa & 74jax that's great your solicitors informed you of their charges which you were presumably happy about. I can understand solicitors charging for work they carry out, I just cant understand why they are also able to charge a percentage of the deceased persons estate.
Keep pedalling, I very much doubt my mum (or dad dec'd ) knew about the 'additional' charge which would be applied on the value of their estate when they made their wills out over 20 years ago. I know I wasnt made aware of this when I made my will out ( also over 20 years ago) but I am planning on having a new will drawn up ASAP with my (adult) kids as executors. To be fair, mums solicitor has suggested she could renounce her position as executor.
Robin9, I agree...I will be taking advice about my sisters position..I need to protect the home for her for the rest of her life.
getmore4less..I did have POA for mum, but that becomes void once the person dies....It might help me moving forward if I've to prove my 'credibility' ?? Will also need to check out the tax implications of my sister (& I ?) now owning the house.
TonyMMM..that's interesting to know you tackled this youself too. Im sure there will be more problems to solve moving forward...

I was just wanting to highlight the addition cost involved to anyone else who might be interested to investigate their own wills

Mojisola

joylikes2shop wrote: »

To be fair, mums solicitor has suggested she could renounce her position as executor.

I would thank the solicitor and grab the opportunity to sort out the estate yourself.

As the estate administrator, you can employ a solicitor for advice or to do some parts of the work, if you want. The solicitor should give you a price for the work before you sign up with them.

getmore4less

I would take the solicitor up on their offer

As long as there is nothing complicated it should be a DIY job to do the basic processes to administer the estate.


If planning to make your kids executors bring them in on this one so they have a shorter learning curve when their time comes.

Owain_Moneysaver

If you have been managing your mother's finances you should be in a good position to complete the relevant forms (IHT205 or IHT400 as required) and probate application form. The IHT forms may look intimidating but for most simple estates they are straightforward provided you have the paperwork from your mother's banks, investment managers etc and are methodical about filing everything.