My solicitor can get no reply from another solicitor!! 10 February at 4:28PM in Marriage, relationships & families 19 replies 929 views

royP_2

My brother in laws partner died last May 2022 and the home they lived in [which they jointly owned] now needs to be sold, as his attorney he has asked me to appoint a solicitor to deal with this, which I did last August.
Since then nothing has happened and our solicitor has written, emailed and phoned and gets nowhere, the solicitor dealing with my brother in laws partners affairs just will not reply.
Now because of the very cold weather and the house being empty [my B.I.L is in a nursing home] a pipe has frozen and burst doing a lot of damage, and we are unable to do anything about it because her solicitor will not answer our repeated questions regarding insurance and the way forward.
Help please, this is driving me mad and is not something I wish to deal with in my old age 82 years.

DullGreyGuy

What does your solicitor recommend? They'll have dealt with unresponsive counterparties in the past.

TBagpuss

I'm a little confused - what's the role of the solicitors who isn't responding ? Are they the executor of the partner's estate? 

If you need to get repairs don to stop further damage then probably a letter to ay 'if we haven't heard back by [date] we shall have to take [specifc action, like getting the wok done] and will expect this to be reimbursed. We have no information about any current insurance, if you have any please confirm urgently that the issue has been reported to the insurers so that a claim can be made in a timely way and provide us with a copy of the policy..

You can also check the firm's website - many firms have details of the different employees and it may be worth trying to phone and or trying to contact the head of the relevant department or whoever is listed as the complaints partner . 

royP_2

DullGreyGuy said:

What does your solicitor recommend? They'll have dealt with unresponsive counterparties in the past.

Thank you for your reply.
My solicitor does not recommend anything, I phoned her yesterday afternoon and she was rather annoyed saying that she doe not really wish to get involved with disputes of this kind as she really only deals with conveyancing, she did say that she has sent letters many emails and tried phoning but get's no response. 

royP_2

TBagpuss said:

I'm a little confused - what's the role of the solicitors who isn't responding ? Are they the executor of the partner's estate? 

If you need to get repairs don to stop further damage then probably a letter to ay 'if we haven't heard back by [date] we shall have to take [specifc action, like getting the wok done] and will expect this to be reimbursed. We have no information about any current insurance, if you have any please confirm urgently that the issue has been reported to the insurers so that a claim can be made in a timely way and provide us with a copy of the policy..

You can also check the firm's website - many firms have details of the different employees and it may be worth trying to phone and or trying to contact the head of the relevant department or whoever is listed as the complaints partner . 

Thanks for your reply.
Yes the solicitor not responding is an executor for the partners estate.
My solicitor is going to try again on Monday if we do not get any reply will perhaps try a letter based upon what you suggest, only problem being that the partners solicitors receptionist told me that the solicitor will not speak to me directly and that I must go through my own solicitor, which to date has got me nowhere.

tightauldgit

Your solicitor doesn't sound very helpful either. Are you sure they've asked the right questions? 

You can get an executor removed if they aren't administering the will properly but sounds like a bit of a process. If they are genuinely not doing so and causing damage to property etc then maybe start with a complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority? 

aliby21

royP_2 said:

My brother in laws partner died last May 2022 and the home they lived in [which they jointly owned] now needs to be sold, 

Did they own as joint tenants?  If so why are you involving the executors of the deceased partner in any of this? 

royP_2

aliby21 said:

royP_2 said:

My brother in laws partner died last May 2022 and the home they lived in [which they jointly owned] now needs to be sold, 

Did they own as joint tenants?  If so why are you involving the executors of the deceased partner in any of this? 

Thank you for your reply, below is a letter that my BIL received back last March:

Dear XXXXXX Intention to sever a joint tenancy I, XXXXXXXXX, by this letter give you notice that from February 2022, I wish to sever our joint tenancy in the property known as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (the Property), registered at HM Land Registry under title number DN XXXXXX. We will now hold the Property as tenants in common in equity in equal shares. I will apply to the Land Registry to place a Form A restriction on the title to reflect this.

BIL was not pleased as he contributed 85% of the cost of the property.

royP_2

How long does it take to get a grant of Probate, it is 9 months now and it does not look like Probate has been granted.

SusieT

Grant of probate can take as little as 2 weeks, or it can take 27+ weeks depending on how it was applied for, if there are queries and how fast any questions are answered. Sadly it is not something that can be expected in a set timeframe.

tooldle

Who is to inherit the from Bil’s partner? Are you saying Bil cannot afford to make the repair, part of which could then be recharged to the estate of the deceased partner?