Inventory and account order received from solicitor despite already sending inventory to beneficary

mr_jma

Hi,

I won't go into too much details here but late uncles house sold in May this year, a solicitor has been hounding us for an inventory of account. I emailed the beneficiary with an update of the sale in May and he then forwarded this onto his solicitor. Later we emailed further updates and then a full inventory of accounts in June after we received final bills, then later in June we emailed requesting his bank detail so that we can distribute his share of the estate. He has not responded.

Today we received a letter from his solicitor and have enclosed a photocopy of a court order to provide the accounts within 14 days. They have included the emails we sent to the beneficiary but not the ones with the statement of account attached or requesting bank details. There is a fee attached of over a £1000. We have provided this information already, so who is liable to pay the fee?

doodling

Hi,

What is the basis on which you have been chased by solicitors?  I'm guessing that there was some significant delay before the house was sold that a beneficiary took exception to?

Did you receive any notice that an order from the court was being sought, at the very least I would have expected the solicitors to notify you that they were going to do that and I would probably expect to see something in the post from the court as well?

Did you provide the accounts before or after the order was sought / made?  Why did you not also provide the accounts to the solicitors - it seems strange that you were not copying both the beneficiary and their representative?

Does the order itself make provision for costs?  If it does then you need to understand why you were unaware that the order was being sought and if there is a reasonable reason for that then you may be able to have the matter of costs re-heard.  If the order says that you pay then, in the absence of you taking legal action to change that then you'll have to pay.

If the order doesn't deal with costs and they are simply a solicitors bill that has been enclosed with the order then you need to look at what would have been reasonable.  If you provided the accounts before the order was sought then I wouldn't be paying.

Finally, is it an actual court order?  I would have thought that as the person subject to the order you are entitled to an original and should have received one from the court.  Is there a reason why post from the court might not have reached you?  Don't use that as a reason to delay however - if a court has ordered something then once you are aware of it you should be dealing with it.

I'd be writing myself a detailed timeline of everything that has happened and trying to work out what has gone wrong.  If it is simply a solicitors bill for costs then I would use that timeline as the basis for a response to them explaining why their action was unnecessary and that you won't be paying their bill.

If the court has ordered costs then you need to work out whether it is worth you spending the money engaging a solicitor to have the order set aside.

TripleH

I assume you are the executor of the estate?

How long have you had from appointment to selling the house / dealing with all other matters?

It may be that expectations have not been managed or the beneficiary is not in full possession of the facts? Is there tension between you and the beneficiary, if not maybe ask them to query what their solicitor has done and why,

mr_jma

Hi,

Just to clarify, .  My late uncle passed away in late 2019, died intestate.  My mum has a brother that has lived abroad for decades and rarely got in touch, both are the beneficiaries of the estate.  Shorlty after the funeral we had contact with my surving uncle who was kept up to date over the phone and by email.  We had discussed our intention to apply for probate then put the house up for sale.  He didn't object.  Mum applied for probate and it was granted in Feb 19, the probate office advised us that I could assit my mum with this due to her age.  I may add that it's just the house that needed probate.  Things got left due to the pandemic restrictions. 

We had a couple of vaulations done in Novemeber 2020 and instructed an estate agent to put the house on the market.   The beneficiary was aware of the sale and instructed the solictor to apply for probate in joint names, we told the solicitor that we'd received grant of probabte and the estate was still being administered.  By then my uncle may have already signed the forms. 

An offer was accepted in Novemeber 2020 for near the asking price  and the sale only completed in May 2021.

We had a couple of letters from his solicitor saying we should have completed the administarion of the estate and they were asking for a statement of account but we hadn't received the final bills, we'd only just read the meters.  We emailed my unlce before the completion date.  he sent his solicitor a copy of my email and they sent a letter saying he weas delighted that the house sale had comleted.  I sent a completion statement for the house sale the a statement of account.  But had 1 email asking for this, Isent another email to my uncle asking for up to date bank details so that we could tranfer his half share of the remainder of the estate.  we received a copy of a order of summns from the solicitor.  we haven't received anything from a court, just a photocopy.  It says their client has instructed them to apply for the summons as we heavnt kept him to date or provided the satement of account.  But we have and I still have the emails I sent.

I've sent my uncle a polite email asking why he is disputing this, my sister conteted him on facebook (nicley) and he hasn't responded. 

I want this settled, my mum's health isn't good now, I am her carer.  There's nothing more to do apart from send him his share but he won't send bank details.

Keep_pedalling

If the beneficiary engaged the solicitor then they pay the solicitor’s bill. Just reply, tell them that accounts were already provided and that you have included a copy.

TBagpuss

Reply to the solicitors sending copies of all of the previous e-mails and a further copy of the accounts and reiterating that you have repeatedly requested uncle's bank details to send his share of the funds but have not received the.

I'd also check the order to see whether it is an actual order or an application, and if it is an order, get some advice about exactly what it says and what is means - normally, a court would serve you directly with any application and you would have a fixed time period within which to respond, before any order was made, and if you were not serviced with it then you may be able to get it set aside.

IAre you sure it isn't a draft saying that they will issue it if you don't respond / provide the accounts? 

Thrugelmir

mr_jma said:

  There's nothing more to do apart from send him his share but he won't send bank details.

Send a cheque. You do have an executors bank account set up? 

mr_jma

So just reply to the court and the solicitor with a simple statement that the court order has alredy been met?  I'll try and attach a redacted copy of the summons.  In my view there should be no case to answer, yes there is costs related to the application. No one has disputed anything, we have just asked to provide a statemnet of accounts.  My uncle hasn't asked for money to be sent to him despite us asking for his bank details. 

mr_jma

No my mum is the executer and any monies was tranfered to her bank account. 

mr_jma

Here's what we received yesterday, looks like the court has sent it to the solictor or is it a draft as someone suggested?

TBagpuss

OK, it is sealed (that's the stamp on the bottom of your second picture) I can't read the whole thing as the edges are cut of but it looks as though you need to write to point out that the request had been complied with before the application was made (attach copies of the e-mails sending the accounts to your uncle) 

I am a little surprised that a costs order was made when you had not had the chance to respond so you may also want to read the affidavit and see what they are saying happened, and respond requesting that the court set aside the costs element of the order on the basis that
-the application was wholly unnecessary as the information sought had been provided well before the application was submitted.
- you (or the executor) were not served with the application so did not have the opportunity to make any representations on the issue of costs. 

I am not an expert in this area but in mot types of legal proceedings a court would not make a final order on the application of one party without the other having the opportunity to respond. The order does not appear to record that the respondent was not given notice so it may be that the court was under the impression that it had been served. 

Were you send any leaflets or other information with details of how to appeal or oppose the order?