Probate: Banks not responded after 7 months

Bleee

My father died back in December and left very clear instructions about what his beneficiaries would get.

The will is very simple. Property 1 goes to persons A(me) and B and that's it. The rest of the estate goes to his partner.

We kind of inherited a solicitor who my father had spoken with to handle things. We gave him all our details back in December and have waited patiently(maybe too patiently) since. The executor has had some difficulty getting in touch with this solicitor and asked me to reach out to him as things seem to not be moving at all.

I spoke with the solicitor and he says the hold up is that the banks haven't responded to him so he has now written to them officially to get the bank details of my father. Only then can he send the paper work for probate which can be another 12 weeks or so. I have a gut feeling that he's useless and the executor of the will is on the same page. But I don't think I've ever met anyone who's had a good solicitor so maybe he's one of the less not good ones... He's tone got pretty grim when I even slightly quizzed him on what has taken these 7 months.

Could it really take 7 months to get to this point? are things that backed up?
Should I question what the solicitor has actually been doing?
Do I have any options? I'm not sure I can even replace him as I'm only 1 of 3 parties in the will.

Thanks in advance for any insight people may have!

sassyblue

I spoke with the solicitor and he says the hold up is that the banks haven't responded to him so he has now written to them officially to get the bank details of my father. 

Solicitors always have a paper trail so why didn’t he write to them long before now? 

I’d be inclined to cut my losses and get another solicitor. You don’t 'inherit' solicitors, you can go elsewhere to the one who drew up the Will, did your father's Will specify you used solicitors to handle his estate because you can do it yourself. 

However, it’s the Executor who decides not a beneficiary.

if you are also an executor you could ask to see the file to see when the solicitor first contacted the banks concerned and what other work he’s done. If you’re then satisfied he’s useless and hasn’t done anything you can tell him you'll be disinstructing him immediately and going elsewhere.

Flugelhorn

who is the executor? is it the partner? 

Perhaps it suits them to delay things but this is hopeless, they should have sent the forms in ages ago

74jax

Who is the executor?
Is there a reason a solicitor is involved, I'm guessing being paid from your inheritance, will the house need to be sold to pay the solicitor bill? 
Could the executor not just close accounts etc? 

Bleee

Thank All for the feedback, good to know I'm not being overly critical of this solicitor.

There are 2 executors I believe... One for the partner's side of the estate and one for the Property, a distant cousin who lives abroad. This cousin is very unhappy with the solicitor as he is slow to respond to communications and phone calls. The thing is I don't want to shake the apple cart too much as I'm really very surprised that there was a property and that I was named as a beneficiary as we hadn't been on speaking terms for many years.

My understanding from the initial calls with the solicitor was that he's taking his fees from the bank accounts and the property won't need to be touched to pay him. So from my point of view, he's free of charge as I'm not getting anything from the banks a/cs. I assume if we were to disinstruct him he'd need some kind of payment for work done(if any) and would that mean I'd need to pay him or sell the property to pay him?

All the while, bills are landing at the property and not being paid(solicitor told me not to pay them as I don't own the place). I think it won't be long till debt collectors start to show up. I put unoccupied home insurance on the flat even though he told me I shouldn't have, but I really don't trust that he has taken care of the insurance.

74jax

Bleee said:

Thank All for the feedback, good to know I'm not being overly critical of this solicitor.

There are 2 executors I believe... One for the partner's side of the estate and one for the Property, a distant cousin who lives abroad. This cousin is very unhappy with the solicitor as he is slow to respond to communications and phone calls. The thing is I don't want to shake the apple cart too much as I'm really very surprised that there was a property and that I was named as a beneficiary as we hadn't been on speaking terms for many years.

My understanding from the initial calls with the solicitor was that he's taking his fees from the bank accounts and the property won't need to be touched to pay him. So from my point of view, he's free of charge as I'm not getting anything from the banks a/cs. I assume if we were to disinstruct him he'd need some kind of payment for work done(if any) and would that mean I'd need to pay him or sell the property to pay him?

All the while, bills are landing at the property and not being paid(solicitor told me not to pay them as I don't own the place). I think it won't be long till debt collectors start to show up. I put unoccupied home insurance on the flat even though he told me I shouldn't have, but I really don't trust that he has taken care of the insurance.

How did you insure something you don't own? Surely that would never pay out...... The executors will sort this. I would seriously stop this straightaway.

Do are the solicitors the executors with the cousin?

What do you mean one executor is for the partner only? 

sassyblue

If there are bills going unpaid I’d be very wary those who are owed money don’t end up placing a charge against the property which will necessitate more work.  I don’t know if that can even be done against a deceased person’s property but you need to find out.

are you getting the beneficiaries mixed up with executors? Executors should work together.  Who actually instructed these solicitors?

if there are only two beneficiaries, you and a cousin abroad who is also unhappy with the solicitors I’d get rid. The money for their work can be taken from the estate but I’d complain to the firm involved about the 'work' don’t thus far. Even with covid restrictions the time taken is ridiculous.

Norman_Castle

Bleee said:

I assume if we were to disinstruct him he'd need some kind of payment for work done(if any) and would that mean I'd need to pay him or sell the property to pay him?

All the while, bills are landing at the property and not being paid(solicitor told me not to pay them as I don't own the place). I think it won't be long till debt collectors start to show up. I put unoccupied home insurance on the flat even though he told me I shouldn't have, but I really don't trust that he has taken care of the insurance.

I don't think you understand your role in this. The property and all assets belong to the estate until they are distributed to the beneficiaries. The executors are responsible for securing the assets. Any debts are the responsibility of and paid by the estate.

Talk to the executors and suggest the solicitor is not adequately handling this. 

Are there financial assets as well as this property? Any debts needing to be paid will be paid from these assets as long as they are available. Is the partner aware the delays are costing them money?

Bleee

74jax said:

How did you insure something you don't own? Surely that would never pay out... The executors will sort this. I would seriously stop this straightaway.

Do are the solicitors the executors with the cousin?

What do you mean one executor is for the partner only? 

It was pretty easy to do online. My assumption was that the flat would be in my name by the time anything did happen. The executor didn't know who's job it was. I think everyone's assumption was the solicitor would handle things. As far as I know there's 2 executors and my father left instructions that the cousin looked after the part of the estate that goes to my sibling and I(the property). Whatever else is there(bank accounts, other property, car etc) goes to my father's partner. 

Norman_Castle said:

Are there financial assets as well as this property? Any debts needing to be paid will be paid from these assets as long as they are available. Is the partner aware the delays are costing them money?

There should be enough money in the bank accounts. That's what my father said in his letter to us. Not sure he knew it would take this solicitor this long though. We're not on talking terms with the partner so I can only assume she understands that his fees come out of her part.

I think all I can do as a beneficiary is keep in touch with the executor(cousin) and prompt her to chat with the other executor.
I'll make it clear I can't really do anything in all this and that they must make the call to get rid of the solicitor or not.

sassyblue

If you’re a beneficiary haven’t you seen a copy of the Will yet?

Trooper21

No it shouldn't take this long!

Even if they are busy, Probate, especially with wills can be relatively straightforward for solicitors and for us it was giving them the accounts and they sent some forms off the banks then sent the balance to the solicitors.

Ring up and chase them. State that this is an unreasonable amount of time. I don't think you necessarily need a copy of the will, but have you spoken to his partner? If there is property involved it may be subject to IHT - do you know?