Solicitors Bill - Am I being ripped off.

DE_612183

About three years ago I approached a solicitor to deal with the sale of my parents house, she gave advice and also gave advise to my brother about making a will. The initial consultation was free and my brother never chased up on the will even though the solicitor sent out some paperwork to him.

Roll on 3 years and my brother has died without a will, I thought it best to use the same solicitor as she knew the background - all was fine she's managed to get the Letters of Administration for me.

Now she's sent the invoice:
£900 for her services (+vat)
£600 for "Letters of Admin extraction fee"
£162.50 for the HMCTS Fees
£270 for my bothers will

Making a nice total of £2112.50

When I go on-line there are companies that do it all in for about £500.

She has also not been great in chasing up - the process started in November and has only now been sorted as the probate service "lost the paperwork" 

I don't really feel comfortable taking on a solicitor and challenging them, as the they will know a lot more about the law than me, but I do feel I'm being had!

Any advice most welcome.

user1977

Dave46049 said:

When I go on-line there are companies that do it all in for about £500.

What are you including in "it"? I doubt anybody charges only £500 for the sale of a house, drafting a Will and dealing with an executry.

On the face of it the fees don't look unreasonable, but we don't really know how much work was involved or what you (and your brother) had originally been told about fees.

DE_612183

Sorry should have said - the advice was about how do deal with the house - not the actual sale  - that advice was free. The only thing to be charged for is the Letters of Admin - I don't know about my bothers will - what was discussed etc and I doubt there was a contract or letter of engagement.

tacpot12

Those charges don't look entirely unreasonable to me, and the legal tasks always takes longer than non-lawyers think they should!

£270 for drafting a Will looks expensive, but your brother might have had a complicated estate. Either way, the solicitor should have told him want to expect. If you want to challenge anything, I would start here and ask that the solicitor show that your brother agreed to pay £270 to have his Will drafted.    

I agree with user1977, no online solicitor would do this work for £500.

Alfrescodave

The time to review the charges was before and not after the work was completed

Thrugelmir

Dave46049 said:

When I go on-line there are companies that do it all in for about £500.

That's difficult to envisage. 

 £162.5o isn't even fees just disbursements. 

DE_612183

This is the first one that pops up on internet - not saying everyone would be this cheap - but 3x that amount seems excessive.

DE_612183

Alfrescodave said:

The time to review the charges was before and not after the work was completed

Agreed  but as I wasn't given any I hoped they would be reasonable...

gettingtheresometime

tacpot12 said:

Those charges don't look entirely unreasonable to me, and the legal tasks always takes longer than non-lawyers think they should!

£270 for drafting a Will looks expensive, but your brother might have had a complicated estate. Either way, the solicitor should have told him want to expect. If you want to challenge anything, I would start here and ask that the solicitor show that your brother agreed to pay £270 to have his Will drafted.    

I agree with user1977, no online solicitor would do this work for £500.

I've been quoted that for a single will 

Sandtree

Dave46049 said:

This is the first one that pops up on internet - not saying everyone would be this cheap - but 3x that amount seems excessive.

There are different models for solicitors and paralegals etc to operate from those that fixed fee, work all done by paralegals, no personal interaction, and a stack'em high, sell'em cheap type factory firm to those offering a personal service operated by a qualified solicitor etc.

Even the website you screen shotted that from down in the small print says their "fixed fee" will be "£979" for some some cases and both are subject to T&Cs that they do not public publish which is always an alarm bell.

Whilst you may not have needed a fully qualified solicitor, never taken the option of visiting in person etc these things still cost to provide those services/options whereas neither of those are an option for the above company. The time to ask about fees was before engaging them, not after the bill is received.

DE_612183

lesson learnt I guess.
Thanks all for your comments