Co-op Legal Services: Silence!

Lilio8

My dearest passed away a couple of months ago and I am the executor of his will. We never made it to get married, sadly

Since there are two other beneficiaries (2 brothers) and I'm no expert on Inheritance Tax & Probate, I thought better to seek the assistance of a legal firm. I chose Co-op Legal Services since the initial free consultation did not last only 1/2 hour, as with the other solicitors, it lasted 1 1/2 hours and the solicitor was very helpful, seemed thorough covering various aspect of the process leading to the sale of the house.  An Associate Case Manager was assigned to me first week in October asking about my availability, then silence! I called for updates, sent emails with queries that I have and I've only been receiving automated messages saying that the assoc. case manager was unwell and I should email her colleague, which I did. Silence also from the colleague! I have yet to meet with a case manager or a colleague of hers.   I called to find out if the Council, Gas& Electricity, DWP had been contacted and, to my surprise, they were not, . Only the bank and other financial bodies have been contacted so far.

I decided to read the reviews again on Trustpilot, but this time I thought of spending more time reading the reviews with less than 4 stars and it seems that I'm not alone experiencing lack of communication from the case manager.

I am beginning to be rather worried and I'm beginning to reconsider and look for another probate solicitor. By the time the house will be sold, the legal fees will be probably at around £14,000+ , which is not a small sum.  And as there will be Inheritance Tax to pay, if there is such lack of communication it begs the question if miscommunication (and mistakes!) could arise during the process of paying HMRC.

Has anyone else experienced this type of situation with Co-op Legal Services?

Should I start looking elsewhere?

When I sent the original Will, it went to a P.O. Box in Bristol. Is Bristol Co-op Legal Services the branch dealing with my case? Is the Will stored in Bristol?

tls123

No direct experience but like everything you will find mixed reviews online. It doesn’t sound like you are getting a good service. Contacting banks, tell us once service, ultilites all sounds like something you could have done without legal help. I appreciate though you might want help to submit the probate application hence turning to the co-op. What kind of contract did you sign are they taking a percentage of the estate? Can you back out of it now? The original will would be required for the probate application have they already done this? if so it would be question of awaiting the probate to be granted by the probate office. 

Keep_pedalling

If you can back out of it do so, but do not simply hand it over to another legal firm. Unless you have complex trusts involved then completing an IHT return and submitting probate is fairly straight forward, so you will be far better off doing this yourself. Involving professionals always adds significant delays to the process. Anything you get stuck on come back here for support.

Does his estate have sufficient liquid assets to pay at least 10% of any IHT due?

Lilio8

tls123 said:

... What kind of contract did you sign are they taking a percentage of the estate? Can you back out of it now? The original will would be required for the probate application have they already done this?...

Thank you for you reply.

Co-op Legal charge a flat fee (it'll be around £6k-7k, similar to other solicitor firm I had contacted).

I guess that if I back out now I'll have to still pay something. Perhaps I could contact the complain section and see what they'll say.

The reason that I'm prepared to fork out for solicitors is because there are two beneficiaries, one of whom tried a few tricks and tried to be too 'helpful' , i.e. tried to take things that were left to me to either keep or raise funds if needed (and oh boy, I do have loads of expenses since the house needs quite some maintenance and general looking after).

Lilio8

Keep_pedalling said:

If you can back out of it do so, ..... Unless you have complex trusts involved then completing an IHT return and submitting probate is fairly straight forward, so you will be far better off doing this yourself. Involving professionals always adds significant delays to the process. Anything you get stuck on come back here for support.

Thank you for your reply.

There aren't Trusts. Fortunately my dearest kept his finances pretty straight forward (ISA, Funds&Shares, cash, house).

I don't know if I can back out now, I could contact the complain section and see what they'll say. I might have to pay something to leave them.

The reason for my going with a legal firm is because there are two beneficiaries, one of whom has been very friendly BUT a little 'too helpful' and spread some unpleasant rumours, little white lies or downright lies (both of them hadn't been in contact with their late brother for 15-20 years). Also, I don't have a clue with regards to getting to evaluate the estate properly for IHT purposes and other things. I'm literally learning as I go along.

tls123

It sounds a very large fee to charge what’s the estate worth?  plenty of advice on here to DIY option I’m not sure what you mean by I have lots of expenses surely if you are the executor and not a beneficiary the estate pays any expenses. Perhaps the beneficiaries were trying to be helpful as you state I don’t have a clue to elvaluate the estate properly, if you are out of your depth consider stepping down as executor.

Lilio8

tls123 said:

It sounds a very large fee to charge what’s the estate worth?  plenty of advice on here to DIY option I’m not sure what you mean by I have lots of expenses surely if you are the executor and not a beneficiary the estate pays any expenses. Perhaps the beneficiaries were trying to be helpful as you state I don’t have a clue to elvaluate the estate properly, if you are out of your depth consider stepping down as executor.

I'm both executor as well as a beneficiary.

Lilio8

tls123 said:

It sounds a very large fee to charge what’s the estate worth?  plenty of advice on here to DIY option I’m not sure what you mean by I have lots of expenses surely if you are the executor and not a beneficiary the estate pays any expenses. Perhaps the beneficiaries were trying to be helpful as you state I don’t have a clue to elvaluate the estate properly, if you are out of your depth consider stepping down as executor.

Thank you for your reply.

I'm the executor and one of the beneficiaries. It's too late for me to step down, unfortunately. I'll just have to ride the tide and get on with it.

thegreenone

When my Mum passed away I used the solicitor who was holding Mum's Will and property deeds.  They sent me a form outlining what they would need to apply for Probate. The bit I didn't feel confident enough to do.  I contacted all banks, utilities etc and then gathered all the info and handed it over.  If memory serves me, their fee was around £1100-1200.

If you partner left everything organised, I would ask for all the paperwork back from the Co-Op and go elsewhere.  The high figure being quoted is probably for them to do absolutely everything ie contacting utilities etc.  Definitely something that is easy to do.

Graeme.mcghee

We were forced to use Co-op Legal for Probate due to my Mother-in-Law's Will and they have been a complete nightmare, just read the 1 Star Reviews on Trustpilot or their Facebook page and you will see the same issues and complaints time and time again. The employ Case Managers with no previous experience and their training is obviously very poor as is management oversight, these people leave regularly which also rings alarm bells. If you need assistance they call a local Solicitor who will be much cheaper and far more efficient. 

Lilio8

thegreenone said:

When my Mum passed away I used the solicitor who was holding Mum's Will and property deeds.  They sent me a form outlining what they would need to apply for Probate. The bit I didn't feel confident enough to do.  I contacted all banks, utilities etc and then gathered all the info and handed it over.  If memory serves me, their fee was around £1100-1200.

If you partner left everything organised, I would ask for all the paperwork back from the Co-Op and go elsewhere.  The high figure being quoted is probably for them to do absolutely everything ie contacting utilities etc.  Definitely something that is easy to do.

Thank you for your reply. Apologies for my late reply, I hadn't noticed yours.

I had contacted the utilities already as well as the Council. What I'm worried now is the length of time take is taking to send the forms to HMRC.