Solicitors failed to apply for probate

offcumden

My wife and I are joint executors of my late sister in law who died ten months ago.
We have a copy of the will in our possession it appears that the solicitors have mislaid the original ,
The estate is to be split equally between the her family and her late husband's family.
The will is non contentious the delay is creating financial  hardship for elderly beneficiaries 

Flugelhorn

what have the solicitors said about the problem of the missing will? If it is you two who are the executors,  it is for you two to apply, not the solicitors (as per the title) but sounds like you do need some help from them re the missing will.

Looks like there is some form to complete here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-a-will-is-lost-to-support-a-probate-application

Marcon

offcumden said:

My wife and I are joint executors of my late sister in law who died ten months ago.
We have a copy of the will in our possession it appears that the solicitors have mislaid the original ,
The estate is to be split equally between the her family and her late husband's family.
The will is non contentious the delay is creating financial  hardship for elderly beneficiaries 

Unless the elderly beneficiaries were already financially dependent on your sister in law before her death, the delay in getting probate might be both unwelcome and inconvenient, but it isn't of itself 'creating financial hardship'. As executors it is your responsibility to get things moving, although it isn't clear from your post where the delay lies. There are two different issues here:

• the missing original will
• the application for probate.

What have you and your wife asked/instructed the solicitors to do in respect of both things? You say 'they have failed to apply for probate' - what have you done to chase up?

poppystar

I’ve just been through something that sounds similar.

The first problem was getting the solicitors to admit to having lost the original. It sounds like you might be at that stage still? If they really haven’t produced it yet and you are sure they had it in their care then it is time to use their complaints procedure. Are they contesting having it or have they just not found it? I was fortunate in that I had a letter from them confirming they it was in their safe (!!!!) storage so they weren’t in a position to argue. 

As executors you are responsible for applying for probate unless you have engaged the solicitors to do that for you? I refused to let the solicitors apply even once they offered to do it for free - if they can’t keep a Will safe and take weeks to admit that then I’d rather pay and do it myself!

@Flugelhorn has given the link above for more info on the lost Will procedure. I did everything required, including getting all the supporting evidence and statement from the solicitor, but the process still took many months as it has to go to the specialist unit. So don’t expect a quick turnaround. 

xylophone

The will is non contentious the delay is creating financial  hardship for elderly beneficiaries 

Are you saying that you asked the solicitor to obtain probate and he has failed to proceed on the grounds that his firm has lost the original will?