Solicitors taking inordinately long to deal with estate

MobileSaver

Keep_pedalling said:

Angelina1 said:

Ours is two years and we are still waiting for final accounts.  Just sold the house.  They had no wills.

Too late now, but most people are capable of administering an estate unless there are complications, so handing everything over to solicitors is usually an expensive mistake.

I agree but you do need to go into it with your eyes open.

For all but the very simplest estates you can spend a lot of time and effort dealing with paperwork, figures and organisations, and of course you are not able to charge even a penny for your time.

Having said that, there is a lot of satisfaction from being in control yourself and crucially you do have the power to make interim beneficiary payments whenever you want. So, for example, for the last three Christmases I've been able to pay out tens of thousands in total to each beneficiary even though we've been waiting four years and counting for solicitors to finalise a linked estate.

Angelina1

It can be horribly complicated, ours had lots of shares to deal with from both parents.  We also had to do a executors identification documents bearing the seal of a notary public, and this takes even more time.  Still in the final stages and solicitor thinks another 2 months.

edgex

Quick update on this.

Estate still hasn't been finalised;

24/1/2022 email from solicitors
Awaiting confirmation that all tax has been paid. Unable to say when confirmation will be received, so will prepare interim accounts, then can have an interim payment.


3 weeks later & nothing...

Surely you would keep the accounts up to date as things happen?




Past 6 months;
8/1/2022 complaint lodged with Legal Ombudsman
22/9/2021 interim distribution of property sale proceeds
15/9/2021 interim distribution requested
22/8/2021 email to relevant staff member, dept Partner & Partner with complaints responsibility (no response)

janiec

@edgex @MobileSaver I am still waiting after 9 years!! Do I win??

MobileSaver

janiec said:

@edgex @MobileSaver I am still waiting after 9 years!! Do I win??

@janiec believe it or not, four years on from my post, the jury is still out on which of us wins! 

The first solicitors eventually finalised their estate accounts but now a second set of solicitors, acting for one of the beneficiaries, are still prevaricating so my estate accounts are still not completely finished. 

I'm fortunate that as Administrator I'm in control of everything else and so all the other beneficiaries have had their inheritances fully paid out and it's just the one rogue beneficiary who is currently out of pocket. 

If you are still awaiting your inheritance after 9 years then I do feel for you.