Deed of Renunciation Fee

Grrandmama

I am trying to obtain a will from a firm of solicitors.  The will was made in 1987 and the Executors are both solicitors that no longer work for the firm, I believe retired.  I have been told that they may renounce their appointment as Executors and if they do then there will be a cost to the estate of £150.00 plus VAT per Deed of Renunciation.  Is this correct? Can they charge the estate for this?

Keep_pedalling

Yes they can make a charge to do this, but it’s going to be a lot cheaper than having the firm acting as executors. 

Grrandmama

I am shocked that they can charge you for something that is not our fault.  Surely they can ask another solicitor within the firm to act.

Savvy_Sue

Grrandmama said:

I am shocked that they can charge you for something that is not our fault.  Surely they can ask another solicitor within the firm to act.

I am not sure what it is that you are trying to do. The need for renunciation may not be 'your fault', but solicitors rarely work for free ... 

Do you want these two retired solicitors to renounce their roles and have someone within the family act as executor? As Keep_pedalling says, £300 to do that will be a lot cheaper than having professional executors. 

Or do you want another solicitor within this firm to act as executor? They are probably still entitled to make this charge, but it partly depends on the wording of the will.

Have you seen the will? Sometimes a specific solicitor is named, and sometimes it's the company, or sometimes a specific solicitor or a specific company if that is not possible. (I'm not wording it the way it would be worded in the will.) If it's either the second or third option I wouldn't have thought renunciation would be necessary, but then, I'm not a lawyer ... 

You would hope that a will drawn up by a solicitor would be sensible with regard to the appointment of executors (ie making allowance for the fact that specific individuals might not be in a position to act, and naming alternatives), but that's not always the case. 

Keep_pedalling

Grrandmama said:

I am shocked that they can charge you for something that is not our fault.  Surely they can ask another solicitor within the firm to act.

If you want someone else in the firm to act as executor, be prepared to see £1000’s of the estate go on fees. Unless it is a complicated estate pay the £300 and  do it yourself.

Flugelhorn

£300 sounds like a good deal to be able to save a lot more if different  solicitors handle the estate

TBagpuss

Yes, they can charge. Why wouldn't they be able to? They will need to prepare the document and get it signed, do the admin work to check that you are the correct  people to be making the request  etc, They are a commercial business, why should they be expected to work for free?

In terms of how the will is written, you could let the appointed executors act (and they would be free to instruct solicitors, at the estate's expense, to do the work.

IF the will appoints named people then the solicitors cannot change that. 
And you don't know why they were named - it's entirely possible that it was your relation's choice, because they knew those people personally.  A will can be drafted to say "2 partners (as at the date of death) of X solicitors" but it's not uncommon for individuals to be named, and I believe that him the past it was more usual to to name individuals as it was less common for lawyers to move firms once they were partners, and more usual for people to use the same solicitor for all their legal work and to have a personal connection with an individual, not just a firm. 

If it is the executor saying that they do not wish to act then in that situation it would be reasonable for the executor to provide the deed, but if it is your request that they renounce than it is you (the estate's) cost.