Should my father retain solicitor

Adyinvestment

My Grandmother passed away 6 weeks ago (Grandfather years ago)
Grandmother was French and moved to UK in 2nd World War and worked here all her working life until retirement, then retired in France.
A will was left with a UK solicitor which states there is cash and shares with a UK bank that should be shared equally between their 4 children (my father is the oldest)
There is also a separate French will for her French estate which is being dealt with by her brother.
The UK solicitor has quoted £4-6k and a timeline of 9 months to sort out the UK side - my father and his brothers/sister are considering trying to deal with it themselves, they are all in mid/late 70's with their own health conditions and think that 9 month's is excessive, and also have no idea if the estate will even cover the charge.

None of them have any experience with this - my father was named the executer of the will.

Is there an easy way to find out what the estate is worth?

Would they even be able to deal with this when they have no clue? or would it be best to just let the solicitor deal with this?

JGB1955

As long as you know the UK bank accounts and shareholdings it's pretty simple and shouldn't  require a solicitor at all.  If the solicitor costs more than the estate value, the executor (your father, not the beneficiaries) is going to be out of pocket. 

Mojisola

Adyinvestment said:

A will was left with a UK solicitor which states there is cash and shares with a UK bank that should be shared equally between their 4 children (my father is the oldest)
None of them have any experience with this - my father was named the executer of the will.

It sounds like a fairly simple estate.

Your father, as executor, would need to sign the paperwork but there's no reason that you couldn't do all the legwork and sort it out for him.

Adyinvestment

Many thanks for your answers - they are going to find out the value of the estate and make a decision then.

Marcon

Adyinvestment said:

My Grandmother passed away 6 weeks ago (Grandfather years ago)
Grandmother was French and moved to UK in 2nd World War and worked here all her working life until retirement, then retired in France.
A will was left with a UK solicitor which states there is cash and shares with a UK bank that should be shared equally between their 4 children (my father is the oldest)
There is also a separate French will for her French estate which is being dealt with by her brother.
The UK solicitor has quoted £4-6k and a timeline of 9 months to sort out the UK side - my father and his brothers/sister are considering trying to deal with it themselves, they are all in mid/late 70's with their own health conditions and think that 9 month's is excessive, and also have no idea if the estate will even cover the charge.

None of them have any experience with this - my father was named the executer of the will.

Is there an easy way to find out what the estate is worth?

Would they even be able to deal with this when they have no clue? or would it be best to just let the solicitor deal with this?

If they don't even know how to go about valuing the estate, it's not a great start. They may think 9 months is excessive, but it's the sort of timeframe a cautious (and competent) solicitor would cite, not least to manage expectations from the outset. 

Hopefully the will gives details of the bank where the cash and shares are held, so that's the starting point. Once the value of the UK assets has been established, they may have a better idea of whether to go it alone - but are they sure they could sort out if there are any creditors? Your father would be unwise to start his role as executor if there's any chance the UK estate is insolvent. 

bouicca21

You or the siblings will have to do the legwork anyway, 

EasySolution

Have a look at the questions on the IHT 401 and then decide if they can manage the administration without a Solicitor.