Using a solicitor

Liberal

Hi all
We have decided to use solicitors to obtain the initial grant of probate.  There are 2 executors involved. There is a will and no inheritance tax to pay. My question is do we need to tell the solicitors dealing with the grant of probate who will administer the estate once grant of probate obtained?
Ie can we decide later? Can we decide to do it ourselves or even go to a different solicitors or maybe stay with the same solicitors? Sorry to be so long winded.

Marcon

Liberal said:

Hi all
We have decided to use solicitors to obtain the initial grant of probate.  There are 2 executors involved. There is a will and no inheritance tax to pay. My question is do we need to tell the solicitors dealing with the grant of probate who will administer the estate once grant of probate obtained?
Ie can we decide later? Can we decide to do it ourselves or even go to a different solicitors or maybe stay with the same solicitors? Sorry to be so long winded.

Your post isn't long winded, but it suggests you might be better off doing a bit of thinking before you instruct anyone to do anything!

Are you sure you need to use solicitors at all if the estate is fairly straightforward - or possibly just use them as 'backup' if you have any specific queries?

Thinking it through before you go any further would help you to get the best service, and keep costs down. Chopping and changing is highly likely to have quite the reverse effect.

Keep_pedalling

Why have you made this decision? Apart from cost using solicitors will almost certainly extend the time to obtain probate considerably. 

Nearlyold

As Marcon says, if the Estate and Will are uncomplicated  then consider dealing with it  yourselves

If it's a complicated Estate and/or Will I can't see the advantage (other than perhaps the cost) of dispensing with the Solicitors after Probate is granted as you may struggle to get up to speed with the situation.

Liberal

Thanks for comments. I appreciate we could it ourselves. Living very far from each other and other issues. 1 solicitors had said we had to tell them from the start who was dealing with the estate. I didn't think that was right and so was just asking.  

Bue21

My mother died last year and I was an executor. The government website is really easy to use and, provided you use the calculator, it will tell you what figures to use in the application. All very straightforward. I should mention that my mothers will was very simple and, using my late father’s allowance because he left everything to her, there were no additional forms to complete as it was an exempted estate. It may be more complicated if you need to claim residential relief too (my mothers estate was insufficient, less than £650k, to need this despite the property)

Keep_pedalling

Liberal said:

Thanks for comments. I appreciate we could it ourselves. Living very far from each other and other issues. 1 solicitors had said we had to tell them from the start who was dealing with the estate. I didn't think that was right and so was just asking.  

Living apart from each other is not a real issue. If one of you lives nearer the deceased you they could take on the work and the other executor could hold their powers in reserve. 

pollypenny

I used a solicitor for my father's simple estate, house and some savings, because I was so busy at work and one sister was an awkward money-grabbing madame.  

thegreenone

Liberal said:

Thanks for comments. I appreciate we could it ourselves. Living very far from each other and other issues. 1 solicitors had said we had to tell them from the start who was dealing with the estate. I didn't think that was right and so was just asking.  

The Executors are dealing with the Estate and all emails/letters need to be addressed to both of you.

I used solicitors for my late Mum's Estate because I'm not good with form-filling, was petrified of getting it wrong and had a large three bed flat to clear.  I gathered all the paperwork according to their checklist and handed it over.  If memory serves me the solicitor took a month; HMRC the same and Probate was three weeks.  My husband was the other Executor (which I know is slightly unusual) and I distributed the Estate when I received the money from the sale of the flat.

Whilst difficult to find now, you may need an Executor's Bank account.  Which may be the reason the solicitor is asking the question.

RAS

Be aware that if the solicitoris distribute the estate, you are unlikely to get any money within a year. And you need to understand the fee structures before you decide what to do..

Distance is no issue if you get on, and if you are unsure about anything, ask here and if you can't get that help, you can always get paid for advice from a solicitor.

Also current times for probate are 10 weeks plus, with paper applications and anything they query taking at least double that. Using a solicitor doesn't speed the process times.