Brother on benefits not claiming his inheritance money

Sea_Shell

maman said:

Pollycat said:

maman said:

justworriedabit said:

Exactly what I said, ie a free "consultation."  Look up Google and you will find someone and even those that charge may give you a good pointer on initial contact. Thanks

Surely in an ongoing/unfinished  case where the solicitor is also an executor you're not going to get a 'free' 30 minutes? I always thought that was for initial advice (in the hope that you'd go back there if further work was needed). 

I think that's exactly what it is.

Obviously I can't have read carefully enough. So, OP is a joint executor with a firm of solicitors. The will was administered but not tied up completely because brother hasn't claimed his inheritance.

Is OP not going back to that solicitor to try to conclude/ask about fees for holding brother's share.

Surely that doesn't count as initial advice. 

I'm confused. 🤔

I think it's because I said, tongue in cheek, that do solicitors do anything for free.

It was then pointed out (!!) that some do free consultations.

The OP is beyond that point, so it's irrelevant, in this case.

Pollycat

maman said:

Pollycat said:

maman said:

justworriedabit said:

Exactly what I said, ie a free "consultation."  Look up Google and you will find someone and even those that charge may give you a good pointer on initial contact. Thanks

Surely in an ongoing/unfinished  case where the solicitor is also an executor you're not going to get a 'free' 30 minutes? I always thought that was for initial advice (in the hope that you'd go back there if further work was needed). 

I think that's exactly what it is.

Obviously I can't have read carefully enough. So, OP is a joint executor with a firm of solicitors. The will was administered but not tied up completely because brother hasn't claimed his inheritance.

Is OP not going back to that solicitor to try to conclude/ask about fees for holding brother's share.

Surely that doesn't count as initial advice. 

I'm confused. 🤔

Sorry to confuse.

I was agreeing with you.

Another poster brought up free consultations which - if I read you correctly - you don't think is relevant in this particular case. I don't think it's relevant either.

Malthusian

moneyfranc said:

I wonder if I could help set up a trust which could drip feed money into his account ?

Even if he was willing to renounce his inheritance in favour of some sort of trust that did not give him access to the capital, that would still be deliberate deprivation and he would be assessed as if he still had it from the date he became entitled to it.

Your father's wish was for him to have immediate access to the full inheritance, not to set up a trust, which means that from a benefits perspective it is too late now.

To reinforce what has already been said (as it's got a little sidetracked), an inheritance cannot "revert" to an executor. Ever. The solicitor is however entitled to charge for their time. Even for a modest-sized inheritance of £16,000, it would be a very long time (over a decade at least) before the fees a solicitor charged for looking after the money for a foot-dragging beneficiary fully exhausted the 16 grand.

Mojisola

moneyfranc said:

Thank you elsien. I think I need a full discussion with him about it, which is never easy as he tends to withhold info if he feels it’s a subject he can’t cope with. He has a history of being unwise with money eg gambling, and is vulnerable to being financially exploited. It’s all quite tricky but I feel I need to grasp the nettle. I wonder if I could help set up a trust which could drip feed money into his account ?

Would you be happy to help him manage his money?  If so, he could receive the money from the solicitor, inform the DWP, settle back payments with the DWP and then put the rest into an account that you help him manage.

He could then have money put into a current account every month in the same way as his benefits were paid without having immediate access to the full lump sum.

pollypenny

Sea_Shell said:

maman said:

Pollycat said:

maman said:

justworriedabit said:

Exactly what I said, ie a free "consultation."  Look up Google and you will find someone and even those that charge may give you a good pointer on initial contact. Thanks

Surely in an ongoing/unfinished  case where the solicitor is also an executor you're not going to get a 'free' 30 minutes? I always thought that was for initial advice (in the hope that you'd go back there if further work was needed). 

I think that's exactly what it is.

Obviously I can't have read carefully enough. So, OP is a joint executor with a firm of solicitors. The will was administered but not tied up completely because brother hasn't claimed his inheritance.

Is OP not going back to that solicitor to try to conclude/ask about fees for holding brother's share.

Surely that doesn't count as initial advice. 

I'm confused. 🤔

I think it's because I said, tongue in cheek, that do solicitors do anything for free.

It was then pointed out (!!) that some do free consultations.

The OP is beyond that point, so it's irrelevant, in this case.

When I needed a solicitor to confirm my identity for aunt's solicitor, mine said 'no charge'.   Surprising, but nice. 

We've always used that firm and updated our will about two years previously. 

maman

That's good to know pollypenny. Good customer service like that is to be commended. I only asked for clarification originally as I believed (correctly) that OP could be misled as a 30 minute free consultation wouldn't apply in this ongoing case. 😊

pollypenny

maman said:

That's good to know pollypenny. Good customer service like that is to be commended. I only asked for clarification originally as I believed (correctly) that OP could be misled as a 30 minute free consultation wouldn't apply in this ongoing case. 😊

I agree with you, maman.  I just wanted to show that solicitors can be decent.