Solicitor is Executor! Unsure.

NeilA1975

Hi all & good evening.
I have a couple of questions relating to my late fathers estate.
He appointed a local solicitor as the executor of his will who have been nothing but problematic for multiple reasons.
The most recent issue is that they recently wrote to myself & my two siblings (all 3 of us are beneficiaries) regarding the sale of his home, informing us that they appointing themselves to do the conveyancing.   Can they do this? It is not mentioned in any of their original paperwork that such costs are included within their fees although they did write to about a month ago quoting costs of around a £1000 inc VAT after we'd advised them we'd sold the property.   Ideally, we'd want to appoint our own solicitor to act for the sale since we've found the executor to be rude, slow & extremely unprofessional.

Another issue we've had is that in that very same letter the solicitor also announced for the very first time, that she'd insured the empty property & that is was costing us £200 per quarter......bearing in mind my father passed 14 months ago I was a little surprised since this had not been discussed prior.  Now I do understand the executor has a duty to insure the property but as I said this or the cost was never discussed.  Is this acceptable behaviour & if not what can I do.?

Grateful for any feedback, 

Many thanks
Neil

Marcon

NeilA1975 said:

Hi all & good evening.
I have a couple of questions relating to my late fathers estate.
He appointed a local solicitor as the executor of his will who have been nothing but problematic for multiple reasons.
The most recent issue is that they recently wrote to myself & my two siblings (all 3 of us are beneficiaries) regarding the sale of his home, informing us that they appointing themselves to do the conveyancing.   Can they do this? It is not mentioned in any of their original paperwork that such costs are included within their fees although they did write to about a month ago quoting costs of around a £1000 inc VAT after we'd advised them we'd sold the property.   Ideally, we'd want to appoint our own solicitor to act for the sale since we've found the executor to be rude, slow & extremely unprofessional.

Yes, and unless the will specifically precludes it, they can charge fees for doing the conveyancing. 

NeilA1975 said:

Another issue we've had is that in that very same letter the solicitor also announced for the very first time, that she'd insured the empty property & that is was costing us £200 per quarter......bearing in mind my father passed 14 months ago I was a little surprised since this had not been discussed prior.  Now I do understand the executor has a duty to insure the property but as I said this or the cost was never discussed.  Is this acceptable behaviour & if not what can I do.?

It's the executor's responsibility to insure and they aren't required to 'discuss'.

Given how unhappy you are with the solicitor(s), now might be a good time to make a formal complaint to the firm, setting out clearly and concisely the exact reasons for your unhappiness. Simply saying someone has been slow, unprofessional and rude is impossible to respond to because the complaints are so vague and generic - and may quite simply be mistaken on some issues. You need to keep it factual - complaining about things such as the insurance not being discussed will only get the response that (a) it was for the executor to carry out that responsibility and (b) needless discussion/communication would only increase the fees. 

Keep_pedalling

How have you managed to sell the property when you are not executors? 

NeilA1975

Keep_pedalling said:

How have you managed to sell the property when you are not executors? 

agreement with the solicitor

NeilA1975

Marcon said:

NeilA1975 said:

Hi all & good evening.
I have a couple of questions relating to my late fathers estate.
He appointed a local solicitor as the executor of his will who have been nothing but problematic for multiple reasons.
The most recent issue is that they recently wrote to myself & my two siblings (all 3 of us are beneficiaries) regarding the sale of his home, informing us that they appointing themselves to do the conveyancing.   Can they do this? It is not mentioned in any of their original paperwork that such costs are included within their fees although they did write to about a month ago quoting costs of around a £1000 inc VAT after we'd advised them we'd sold the property.   Ideally, we'd want to appoint our own solicitor to act for the sale since we've found the executor to be rude, slow & extremely unprofessional.

Yes, and unless the will specifically precludes it, they can charge fees for doing the conveyancing. 

NeilA1975 said:

Another issue we've had is that in that very same letter the solicitor also announced for the very first time, that she'd insured the empty property & that is was costing us £200 per quarter......bearing in mind my father passed 14 months ago I was a little surprised since this had not been discussed prior.  Now I do understand the executor has a duty to insure the property but as I said this or the cost was never discussed.  Is this acceptable behaviour & if not what can I do.?

It's the executor's responsibility to insure and they aren't required to 'discuss'.

Given how unhappy you are with the solicitor(s), now might be a good time to make a formal complaint to the firm, setting out clearly and concisely the exact reasons for your unhappiness. Simply saying someone has been slow, unprofessional and rude is impossible to respond to because the complaints are so vague and generic - and may quite simply be mistaken on some issues. You need to keep it factual - complaining about things such as the insurance not being discussed will only get the response that (a) it was for the executor to carry out that responsibility and (b) needless discussion/communication would only increase the fees. 

So just so I understand this clearly, the initial question was can the solicitor appoint herself to do the conveyancing to which the answer appears to be a yes, despite us wanting to employ the services of an alternative?

Additionally, the points about their lack of professionalism, being rude & slow aren't related to the above but have been our experience since the beginning, nothing mistaken.

theoretica

Had you already told the solicitor you wanted a different conveyancer?

NeilA1975

theoretica said:

Had you already told the solicitor you wanted a different conveyancer?

Left messages& emailed but they've not responded.
She emailed the estate agent today saying she would be doing the conveyancing.  

Marcon

NeilA1975 said:

Marcon said:

NeilA1975 said:

Hi all & good evening.
I have a couple of questions relating to my late fathers estate.
He appointed a local solicitor as the executor of his will who have been nothing but problematic for multiple reasons.
The most recent issue is that they recently wrote to myself & my two siblings (all 3 of us are beneficiaries) regarding the sale of his home, informing us that they appointing themselves to do the conveyancing.   Can they do this? It is not mentioned in any of their original paperwork that such costs are included within their fees although they did write to about a month ago quoting costs of around a £1000 inc VAT after we'd advised them we'd sold the property.   Ideally, we'd want to appoint our own solicitor to act for the sale since we've found the executor to be rude, slow & extremely unprofessional.

Yes, and unless the will specifically precludes it, they can charge fees for doing the conveyancing. 

NeilA1975 said:

Another issue we've had is that in that very same letter the solicitor also announced for the very first time, that she'd insured the empty property & that is was costing us £200 per quarter......bearing in mind my father passed 14 months ago I was a little surprised since this had not been discussed prior.  Now I do understand the executor has a duty to insure the property but as I said this or the cost was never discussed.  Is this acceptable behaviour & if not what can I do.?

It's the executor's responsibility to insure and they aren't required to 'discuss'.

Given how unhappy you are with the solicitor(s), now might be a good time to make a formal complaint to the firm, setting out clearly and concisely the exact reasons for your unhappiness. Simply saying someone has been slow, unprofessional and rude is impossible to respond to because the complaints are so vague and generic - and may quite simply be mistaken on some issues. You need to keep it factual - complaining about things such as the insurance not being discussed will only get the response that (a) it was for the executor to carry out that responsibility and (b) needless discussion/communication would only increase the fees. 

So just so I understand this clearly, the initial question was can the solicitor appoint herself to do the conveyancing to which the answer appears to be a yes, despite us wanting to employ the services of an alternative?

Additionally, the points about their lack of professionalism, being rude & slow aren't related to the above but have been our experience since the beginning, nothing mistaken.

If the executor is still the legal owner of the property, then the executor can choose the solicitor - and yes, it can be one and the same. You may want to employ an alternative, but it is the executor who makes the decision.

Tealblue

theoretica said:

Had you already told the solicitor you wanted a different conveyancer?

Irrelevant - it's up to the executor to appoint the solicitor.

theoretica

Tealblue said:

theoretica said:

Had you already told the solicitor you wanted a different conveyancer?

Irrelevant - it's up to the executor to appoint the solicitor.

It is up to the executor to appoint the solicitor - but they may choose to take beneficiary/family requests into account (as they seem to have done with finding the buyer for the house) - but they can't do that if they hadn't even been told about the request until after the fact.

NeilA1975

theoretica said:

Tealblue said:

theoretica said:

Had you already told the solicitor you wanted a different conveyancer?

Irrelevant - it's up to the executor to appoint the solicitor.

It is up to the executor to appoint the solicitor - but they may choose to take beneficiary/family requests into account (as they seem to have done with finding the buyer for the house) - but they can't do that if they hadn't even been told about the request until after the fact.

They have been advised previously but have not responded at all, in fact this forms part of our complaint that they rarely respond to any messages left or emails.   Very poor.