Solicitors Bill - Am I being ripped off.

Sandtree

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?

Your missing that its possible to have hours of conversations with a solicitor about different options, trusts, guardians etc and then abandon the process... that time is still billable even if you decide not to execute the will. £270 is probably 1 hour of billable time.

mobileron

Whats your brothers will to do with you,was there any money left when he died.

user1977

mobileron said:

Whats your brothers will to do with you,was there any money left when he died.

The solicitor's bill for the will advice is a debt of the brother's estate, which the OP is administering. 

knightstyle

https://www.lawsoc-ni.org/DatabaseDocs/10-04-09-solicitor-bill-leaflet.pdf

"Under government legislation you have a right to ask your solicitor to apply to the Law Society for a certificate which certifies whether the professional fees charged by your solicitor are fair and reasonable for the work done and if not, what lower amount of professional fees would be fair and reasonable. The certificate is known as a “remuneration certificate” or a “certificate of reasonableness”. It applies to “non-contentious” business only." 

user1977

knightstyle said:

https://www.lawsoc-ni.org/DatabaseDocs/10-04-09-solicitor-bill-leaflet.pdf

"Under government legislation you have a right to ask your solicitor to apply to the Law Society for a certificate which certifies whether the professional fees charged by your solicitor are fair and reasonable for the work done and if not, what lower amount of professional fees would be fair and reasonable. The certificate is known as a “remuneration certificate” or a “certificate of reasonableness”. It applies to “non-contentious” business only." 

That might be useful advice if it was a solicitor in Northern Ireland!

DE_612183

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? 

The will was drafted ( hence the charge ) but never taken up or signed.

born_again

So have you asked why the charge for the will? 
How did they deal with the estate, on the basis of this will or not?

DE_612183

born_again said:

So have you asked why the charge for the will? 
How did they deal with the estate, on the basis of this will or not?

I have asked - no response as yet - as they prepared the IHT form I would have presumed it would be included in that but I couldn't see it.
The Estate has not yet been dealt with fully - I've only just had the LoA and now will settle any remaining depts and sell the property involved.

shiraz99

TBH, the charges, albeit expensive, don't seem unreasonable for a decent solicitor. Yes, you can get a fixed fee service for £500 but that would be for a straightforward estate with a will, in fact in this scenario you could do the probate yourself and it would only cost you £270, however it doesn't sound like this is a straightforward estate and certainly no will in place. Further the charge for the will is fair, they've done all the work to produce the will so the service should be paid for, and again there are cheaper ways to get a will but your brother chose to go to the solicitor so there's nothing really for you to complain about.