DIY vs. Solicitor

md26

Hi,

I'm trying to decide which way to go here (I know it depends on the case).

Just one quick question for the people that did the probate process themselves on here: What were the top 3 things you found most difficult/time-consuming when winding-up an estate?

Keep_pedalling

I have wound up 3 estates, but they were all simple ones with no properties involved, which no doubt would have been the most difficult and time consuming issue.

I would only involve solicitors, where there were beneficiaries in conflict or there were were things like foreign properties or business assets involved.

Tom99

I have dealt with 2 estates, the only difficulty was getting the IHT Office to give a clearance letter re the IHT bill which took about 9 months.

badger09

md26 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm trying to decide which way to go here (I know it depends on the case).

Just one quick question for the people that did the probate process themselves on here: What were the top 3 things you found most difficult/time-consuming when winding-up an estate?

1) Acting as peacemaker between 2 adult sibling beneficiaries during what felt like all out warfare following the death of their mum, my sister

2) Ensuring sibling 2, local to my late sister, did what he had (eventually, after much effort as per 1 above) agreed to do
And persuading sibling 1 together with my co-executor, not to travel 200 miles to wring sibling 1's neck

3) Getting calculation of NI overpayment from DWP (far less difficult and time consuming than 1 & 2)


All the information gathering, correspondence, phone calls, form filling, dealing with Solicitors, Estate Agents, government agencies, banks, insurance companies, utility companies etc etc was comparatively easy. It helped enormously that I had helped my late sister manage her finances for several years, and that she kept records of almost everything.

Apologies - rant over

The whole process wasn't difficult. Meticulous record keeping was essential. Lots of help available on this board.

Owain_Moneysaver

md26 wrote: »

What were the top 3 things you found most difficult/time-consuming when winding-up an estate?

1. Dealing with a solicitor for the house sale. Was self-medicating on bulk packs of penguin bars for the last week.

If you're organised and have a word processor/printer to do all the very similar letters, lots of stamps for postage, and polypockets, it's pretty straightforward. And sort of therapeutic.

The solicitor will not, of course, do the work himself. He'll hand the file to the typist to get on with, and charge you £400 an hour.

md26

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

I have wound up 3 estates, but they were all simple ones with no properties involved, which no doubt would have been the most difficult and time consuming issue.

I would only involve solicitors, where there were beneficiaries in conflict or there were things like foreign properties or business assets involved.

What were the most time-consuming things in your experience?

badger09

md26

If you tell us what is involved in the Estate - property, shares, number of bank accounts, pensions, insurance policies etc and whether the deceased was organised or not, we might be able to be more specific and give examples from our experience.

Apart from the issues I mentioned above, I found the process theraputic. It gave me a focus in the aftermath of my sister's death and I gained satisfaction from knowing that she'd trusted me to do things properly, and that I did a good job.

The last thing I could do for her.

tacpot12

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

...
The solicitor will not, of course, do the work himself. He'll hand the file to the typist to get on with, and charge you £400 an hour.

The point being that winding up an estate is mostly administration, that virtually anyone can do. The actual legal work involved is a tiny part even with a property to sell/transfer.

Dymphna60

As other have said it depends on how complicated the deceased’s affairs are and how well they kept their financial paperwork in life .
Lots of forms but good guides on completing them.

Things I found hardest were opening a bank account to deal with the money, although most others seem to have no problem. I don’t know if I look criminally inclined.
And 2 . Waiting for HMRC to do things .
It seems to be a lottery. When someone on a forum says they have been waiting for a long time re IHT or income tax others will answer well I got mine in only x amount of time but I did an excellent job of my forms you probably didn’t.
But once you send it all off it is out of your hands . I really think HMRC staff don’t work on them in strict order of date received. Also they are only people. Some are better than others . Some go of sick. Some leave and your account can be just well left .

bouicca21

Done 2 after being horrified at the solicitor bill for fil’s straightforward estate. Can’t actually remember any problems at all!

Scooby_Snack

I agree it is a therapeutic process and it is purely an admin process albeit a time consuming one. There was nothing requiring a legal input.
Mine involved, shares, several pensions, bank accounts, a property and gifts but was still straightforward.
The biggest delay for me was once the probate application was submitted and having to wait 12.5 weeks but having no acknowledgement or information on how long it would take.
I completed the application in 3 weeks which did require a lot of chasing. I did this to avoid the fee hike but this was then delayed!
I used the Death Notification Service but felt I duplicated a lot of work when I had to contact banks again. Some banks took a long time to process and confirm figures but if you are not in a hurry like I was this should be fine.
My top tip is get lots of death certificates so that you can send them out to all the banks, companies etc.
Also I found use of an accountant very helpful to know what was required when declaring gifts which in my case was complicated.

I saved myself several thousand pounds by doing it myself and I would do it again if I had to.