Solicitors Bill - Am I being ripped off.

Ditzy_Mitzy

There are lawyers and there are lawyers.  The lot claiming to charge £500 will be fly-by-night shysters who won't do things properly and will cut corners where they can; they might also be fly-by-night shysters who don't do things properly, cut corners and come up with all manner of additional expenses at the end.

Yours seems to be of the fair to middling category, one who does the job more or less correctly, albeit slowly and then presents a bill somewhat exceeding what the layman expects he will pay.  There's also the top rank, who will do a job like that more or less correctly, albeit slowly and then present a bill in excess of what the layman can pay.  

Some are better than others but a solicitor is, or ought to be, a higher professional and may charge accordingly.  You'll only end up paying more if it goes wrong.

TELLIT01

Dave46049 said:

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...

Did you ask about costs / fees etc?  'Reasonable' is a very subjective opinion.  We were more than happy with the solicitor we used who actually said at the start that he would only contact us when there was meaningful progress or he needed information, because we would be charged for every call or letter.

Sandtree

TELLIT01 said:

Dave46049 said:

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...

Did you ask about costs / fees etc?  'Reasonable' is a very subjective opinion.

Was talking to an ex-colleague about the fact we'd hired two solicitors from his ex law firm and was curious if he knew of them or not... for the partner (£1,200/hr) he said no matter how much we were paying him it wasn't enough and for the senior associate (£150/hr) that no matter how little we were paying for him it was far too much. 

Reasonable is exceptionally subjective and on a number of different levels too.

elsien

I'd be querying the £270 for your brother's will - can they prove that there was an agreement to pay and how come they've left it three years without taking it any further? 

Thrugelmir

elsien said:

I'd be querying the £270 for your brother's will - can they prove that there was an agreement to pay and how come they've left it three years without taking it any further? 

Due to the pandemic lots of matters no doubt were deferred. 

elsien

Bills tend not to be deferred for three years, pandemic notwithstanding. 

Jenni_D

If the OP's brother died without a will, how can there be a £270 charge for something that doesn't exist? (You can't create a will after the fact). Or am I missing something?

born_again

Jenni_D said:

If the OP's brother died without a will, how can there be a £270 charge for something that doesn't exist? (You can't create a will after the fact). Or am I missing something?

From OP >>The initial consultation was free and my brother never chased up on the will even though the solicitor sent out some paperwork to him.<<

It would seem odd (but maybe they did) chase up payment for the will or they came to some agreement. Or they had created the will from the brothers free consultation for approval. 
Have the solicitors used this will for the brothers estate to make life simpler? 
As you say all very odd. Guess only OP knows the answers to these questions.

user1977

Jenni_D said:

If the OP's brother died without a will, how can there be a £270 charge for something that doesn't exist? (You can't create a will after the fact). Or am I missing something?

It would be pretty normal to charge for the advice given and for drafting a Will, whether or not the client decided to go ahead and sign it.

Thrugelmir

elsien said:

Bills tend not to be deferred for three years, pandemic notwithstanding. 

Was work in progress. At a point the job gets closed. Time spent then gets billed.