Solicitors not very helpful, can we contact Probate office ourselves?

martin2345uk

Well it's hard to get a firm answer from the solicitor but from what I understand, they contacted the other solicitors who'd put the block in, and they said that they were no longer acting on behalf of the family member, so our solicitor put a warning in or something and then the period expired and they heard nothing more so they say it should be ok now... this was back in June, The last I heard from them was that they contacted the Probate registry and it's in a queue to be worked through... that was a month ago.

cymruchris

There was a caveat against my dad's will that was placed nearly a year and a half ago - and following a similar process, a warning was issued on the 11th of May, giving 14 days to respond, following which after no response, probate was granted on the 21st of June, with the physical grant of probate received on the 29th of June, so something sounds a little out of place if you don't have it by now. I know it's a bit hit and miss in terms of timescales - and it can take a while - but I think it might be time to put your foot down with a firm hand to get an explanation as to why things are taking so long. Are the solicitors executors? or are they acting on your behalf as the executor?

Marcon

martin2345uk said:

Well it's hard to get a firm answer from the solicitor but from what I understand, they contacted the other solicitors who'd put the block in, and they said that they were no longer acting on behalf of the family member, so our solicitor put a warning in or something and then the period expired and they heard nothing more so they say it should be ok now... this was back in June, The last I heard from them was that they contacted the Probate registry and it's in a queue to be worked through... that was a month ago.

Why is it hard to get a firm answer? It's a straightforward factual matter and as an executor, you should be able to get a straight factual answer. If you can't, time to make a formal complaint. Keep the question basic (and thus your costs down!) by asking them simply to confirm the date on which the caveat was removed; when they applied for probate (might be revealing); and how best to obtain an update on progress with actually getting probate granted. 

martin2345uk

We have a fixed cost deal with the solicitor so it should be costing more for them to answer questions, but she just doesn’t reply to emails or respond to voicemails etc. I guess yeah I need to be a bit firmer…

Marcon

martin2345uk said:

We have a fixed cost deal with the solicitor so it should be costing more for them to answer questions, but she just doesn’t reply to emails or respond to voicemails etc. I guess yeah I need to be a bit firmer…

So this is about keeping down the costs...for the solicitor's benefit rather than yours. Yes, you need to be firmer, and possibly clearer - and unless you are really abusing the arrangement (doesn't sound like it), make a formal complaint about the failure to reply.

cymruchris

martin2345uk said:

We have a fixed cost deal with the solicitor so it should be costing more for them to answer questions, but she just doesn’t reply to emails or respond to voicemails etc. I guess yeah I need to be a bit firmer…

That possibly could be the root cause of the speed issue if it's relatively 'cheap' compared to what other solicitors charge. I imagine (and it's hypothesis as I'm not sure - happy to stand corrected) that fixed cost deals mean they'll do it when they have time/resources available - and probably bulk process a number of cases at the same time - rather than do it ASAP. It's a different kind of business model to those that charge a percentage or a variable fee. That's not an excuse for not replying though.

Pennylane

I find this very confusing.  Why is  it so difficult to determine whether Probate has been approved or not? The Probate Registry are not good at communication but when Probate is approved they will notify the Executor who completed the application forms.  I received my notification out of the blue by email and 2 days later received the Grant itself.

bob_a_builder

martin2345uk said:

I'm one of the executors so hopefully they might talk to me...??

They won't - not if a solicitor has submitted the Probate 
well they wouldn't talk to me and I'm an executor

There should be a much better way of tracking progress via a web based 'dashboard' so no real need to speak to anyone - given that they won't speak to you anyway

Plus they take so long to answer the phone anyway 55 mins in my case - then wouldn't speak to us anyway

Why pay a solicitor £200 / hour to wait on the phone ?

martin2345uk

Well I managed to chat to Probate last Monday and they said they would submit it to the urgent review team within 5-10 working days... chatted again today and they told me the Grant was issued on Thursday! They did say they can't discuss the case with me as I'm not the solicitor, but then proceeded to give me what information I needed anyway, so I am now very relieved!

cymruchris

martin2345uk said:

Well I managed to chat to Probate last Monday and they said they would submit it to the urgent review team within 5-10 working days... chatted again today and they told me the Grant was issued on Thursday! They did say they can't discuss the case with me as I'm not the solicitor, but then proceeded to give me what information I needed anyway, so I am now very relieved!

Good news. So now see how quickly the solicitor deals with the case now that it's been granted. (Although I wouldn't expect a lightning speed response from them).