Complaint about probate solicitor?

KLOR77

I feel that the solicitor dealing with my late mums estate has provided a very poor service and i am wondering if it is worth putting in a formal complaint.

I appointed the solicitor in May 2023. It was a straightforward scenario as my mums property had already been sold (approx 6 months before she passed in order to pay nursing home fees) and all her money was in 3 separate places (a current account, a high interest platform and an SJP bond). There was no will but the funds were/are to be split 50/50 between my brother and I. 
I was quoted £3000 plus vat plus £500 for 3rd party costs. 

At this time the solicitor said it was a very straightforward case and that it usually takes 16 weeks although to expect it to take a little longer as there still seems to be a delay/backlog from covid.

However, now, over 16 months later this still is not fully complete. 

In March the solicitor advised that the issue was that the the figures on the 2 forms that were submitted, did not match. On one form an extra '0' had been added. 

Finally, in July, the grant came through. However, i noticed that the amount was wrong. Not the same error as above but because the solicitor had submitted the forms for only 2 out of the 3 places that were the funds were. This meant that the grant was approx half the value it should have been. 
We decided to call in the funds (still in process, have received 2 out of 3), and once this is complete the solicitor will then have the grant updated with the correct amount. 
I feel like we are still a way off from this whole process to be complete.

I feel like this whole process has taken at least twice as long as it should have done (so far!). They didn't even spot that the grant was the wrong figure - i questioned it. The original error of submitting the forms with different amounts caused months of delay. Since January half of the funds have not even been invested as i was unable to reinvest them once their original term had finished and so we have lost at least £5000. Since Nov time the amount of email & phone calls i made to the solicitor to find out what was happening, chase them to chase probate etc is probably above 50 emails/calls. 

Do i have a valid case for complaint? and if so, it sounds like i need to include what i want my solicitor to do in response, what would be reasonable in this scenario?

Keep_pedalling

For such a simple estate you could had this wrapped up doing it yourself 10- 12 months ago maybe even faster.

Have you actually tried to release the funds from the 3rd holder? As far as I am aware they wont be interested in the value declared on the grant of probate they just need to see the grant.

KLOR77

I have started to collect the funds from the 3rd holders, there is one left to complete and then the solicitor is going to get the grant corrected. 
That is my point though, that this should have been completed months months ago. But errors that the solicitor made caused months of delays. Which is why i am wondering if this scenario is worth a putting a complaint in for? 

Hoenir

Submit a complaint to the senior partner at the firm. 

KLOR77

What would be reasonable to ask in compensation? Reduced fee, no fee, compensation for loss of interest?

I also have an email from me, to the solicitor, from June 2023 where i questioned the amount on the forms that they had filled out. They never responded to the email but when i called up to question it the paralegal (i rarely ever got to speak to the solicitor) assured me it was correct. 

Cairnpapple

Formal complaint through the firm's complaint process. Write a clear factual email including everything you are complaining about with dates and attaching all relevant emails/documents. Explain the delays, errors and loss of interest. Get a friend to read it over to check that it is complete and concise. 

If I were you, I would ask for a significant reduction in their fee (I probably wouldn't give a number, I would just say significant) or for them to waive their fee entirely but I would expect to pay the 3rd party costs. 

This is based on my experience in a different legal sector where waiving or reducing our fee in response to a complaint is routine and straightforward (just requiring a partner to sign off), but removing charges for anything paid out by us to other parties would require going a lot further up the chain internally.

KLOR77

thanks @Cairnpapple that is really helpful, i will do.

[Deleted User]

Also having problems with the competency of a probate solicitor. The kind that make your hair stand on end! Seems there are a few cowboys out there.