Solicitor and DWP

Miffed_one

Hi there, my aunt passed away and I am executor and I agreed solicitor could act on my behalf with the probate etc.
Probate was granted about 2.5 months ago and solicitor sent us a letter confirming his fee etc for the work he had done.
Then he wrote to us saying the DWP had contacted him and want to investigate into my aunt's pension to make sure there were no overpayments and was I happy for him to give him my details. I said yes this was fine.
Now, he seems to be dealing with DWP directly and when I queried with him whether we could deal with them directly, he said he cannot release any money to us yet as they are still investigating.
My actual question was whether we could deal with them directly - probate granted, I am executor etc. The money can stay where it is until sorted but it is costing me for him to be dealing with them. Surely he was administrator for the probate etc, but now we can deal directly with them to save money? £250 an hour gets expensive!
Any help and guidance is appreciated here guys!
Thanks

Marcon

Not clear exactly what the solicitor's status is - did he actually apply for probate in relation to your aunt's estate? What exactly did you appoint him to do - you should have received a client care letter at the outset, setting out precisely what he was instructed to do.

badger09

Was solicitor in fact an executor, or did you appoint him/her to act on your behalf to apply for probate?

If the latter, I don't understand why he won't release funds to you as executor. Obviously, you should not distribute all the funds until the DWP enquiries are complete.

I also don't understand why you shouldn't deal with DWP direct - unless you have renounced in favour of the solicitor.

FYI, its not uncommon for DWP to query any possible overpayment of pension &/or benefits. Pension overpayment should be dealt with very easily, but in my experience DWP still take ages. Means tested benefit enquiries are often triggered where there is substantial value in the estate, usually because a property was included.

AnotherJoe

It's very common for DWP to (usually pointlessly AFAICS) send what seem like threatening letter asking for documents dating back to the flood. Check out the deaths and probate forum for a thread on DWP.
Unfortunately once you get solicitors involved they stick rigidly to erring on the very very far side of caution but the solicitor will have to rely on you to get the documents. And it's also likely even if there's been an overpayment by DWP it's tiny compared to the overall size of the estate so a solicitor should be able to hand out say 90%to 94% of what's due anyway. Though they will also post a notice in The Gazette which requires a 6 month wait so it may not make much difference how quickly the beneficiaries get their money anyway.

Mojisola

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Though they will also post a notice in The Gazette which requires a 6 month wait so it may not make much difference how quickly the beneficiaries get their money anyway.

If the solicitor is employed by the executors, this is a decision for the executors to make.

Our solicitor asked whether I wanted to put a notice in the Gazette but accepted my decision not to. He recorded my decision so that I couldn't blame him if debts appeared.

Dox

Miffed_one wrote: »

Now, he seems to be dealing with DWP directly and when I queried with him whether we could deal with them directly, he said he cannot release any money to us yet as they are still investigating.
My actual question was whether we could deal with them directly - probate granted, I am executor etc.

If he hasn't answered the question you asked, ask again!

xylophone

Did you renounce in favour of the solicitor?

If not, and you are still executor it is surely up to you to deal?