Solicitor oversight - Didn't pay out gifts to charities in mother's will, now being chased

Hoenir

Bixer said:

I'm not saying 'it's not fair, no one told me so you can't have it'. I'm saying if said charity demand the full figure right here, right now then I simply don't currently have it to give, hence me asking for advice about how best to approach the situation. 

Offer a payment plan perhaps. Would at least avoid paying interest. 

boingy

It depends upon what your exact instructions to the solicitors were but I would think you have grounds for a negligence claim against them, especially as it sounds like they made the error with more than one gift. (I'm quite surprised they admitted it in writing.) Was there any formal sign-off on the final estate accounts?

Exodi

Bixer said:

Exodi said:

You can't suggest you're happy to honour your late mothers wishes and simultaneously suggest you can't pay it. You can't do both.

I don't understand how that's difficult to comprehend? If I had the money I would pay it, but it's not the kind of money one necessarily keeps lying around so I can't right now. 'Can't' is a different word than 'won't'. 

I'm not saying 'it's not fair, no one told me so you can't have it'. I'm saying if said charity demand the full figure right here, right now then I simply don't currently have it to give, hence me asking for advice about how best to approach the situation. 

Because you can't honour your late mothers wishes if you don't repay it by strict definition. The matter of how hard it would be to repay is unimportant.

As I said earlier, is a further advance an option? Or a loan? How about a payment plan - could you pay £500 a month towards it for 10 months? These are the things that you should be thinking about, not explaining to the charity that the money has been spent.

Likewise understanding the situation with the sister as 'your' liability may not just be £5k. As touched upon in the first comment, charities are quite aggressive pursuing this sort of thing (they have to be).

For what it's worth, I have full sympathy for you - especially as you took steps to recruit a solicitor exactly to prevent this type of situation. I'd certainly have serious (but separate to the issue) discussions with the solicitor.

Keep_pedalling

boingy said:

It depends upon what your exact instructions to the solicitors were but I would think you have grounds for a negligence claim against them, especially as it sounds like they made the error with more than one gift. (I'm quite surprised they admitted it in writing.) Was there any formal sign-off on the final estate accounts?

While that maybe true, the OP and their sibling are on the hook for paying the charity. Any complaint against the solicitor will have to be pursued separately.

Although I don’t think the solicitor can be held responsable for the initial bequest I would have thought the OP would have a good claim for any additional costs such as interest for the delayed payment. They do need to follow the solicitors complaints procedure. 

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/instructing/your-right-to-complain/

bobster2

Bixer said:

Fast forward to now and the solicitor has contacted us again stating that that charity has reached out to them asking for our contact details, but due to GDPR rules they cannot do so unless we approve. 

This is a bit odd  - as if your are the executors then your names and addresses will be on the grant of probate. This is a public document - so the charities can just fund you that way.

poppystar

OP. Going forward are you sure these are the only charities mentioned in the Will? If not then it’s best to start dealing with the whole situation now rather than hope other charities won’t find out. Hopefully there are no more. So as said previously revisit the final estate accounts and the Will so you have a clear idea of what has and hadn’t been done. Certainly complain to the solicitor as even though they weren’t the executors and aren’t therefore liable they have contributed to the situation you are in now where your costs may far exceed the initial charitable gifts in the Will particularly if charities decide to threaten or take legal action. 

poppystar

bobster2 said:

Bixer said:

Fast forward to now and the solicitor has contacted us again stating that that charity has reached out to them asking for our contact details, but due to GDPR rules they cannot do so unless we approve. 

This is a bit odd  - as if your are the executors then your names and addresses will be on the grant of probate. This is a public document - so the charities can just fund you that way.

I thought that too then saw OP had used the money for the deposit on a house so maybe has changed their address? 

Bixer

bobster2 said:

Bixer said:

Fast forward to now and the solicitor has contacted us again stating that that charity has reached out to them asking for our contact details, but due to GDPR rules they cannot do so unless we approve. 

This is a bit odd  - as if your are the executors then your names and addresses will be on the grant of probate. This is a public document - so the charities can just fund you that way.

Yes I've actually moved house twice since my mother passed so I can only assume they've been sending letters to a very old address where my Royal Mail redirection has long since expired. I don't know where my sister now lives and couldn't tell you if she's moved or not, but I hope it's a similar situation and letters haven't just been ignored for the past few years...

poppystar said:

OP. Going forward are you sure these are the only charities mentioned in the Will? If not then it’s best to start dealing with the whole situation now rather than hope other charities won’t find out. Hopefully there are no more. So as said previously revisit the final estate accounts and the Will so you have a clear idea of what has and hadn’t been done. Certainly complain to the solicitor as even though they weren’t the executors and aren’t therefore liable they have contributed to the situation you are in now where your costs may far exceed the initial charitable gifts in the Will particularly if charities decide to threaten or take legal action. 

Yes fortunately I am confident it was just the three in total as I still have a copy of the Will. The one we paid in the summer, this large one and another which is a similar amount to the first one. I'll reach out to my sister and hope for the best, but either way I think I'll ask to arrange some sort of payment plan over a year or so and hope they're happy with that. 

Thanks for the help and advice all. 

silvercar

Hopefully they will be happy with a payment plan. If they refused a payment plan they would have to go to court, which could risk costing them more if you actually didn't have any money. Remember they don't know your situation, for all they know you could have taken a world cruise/ gambled it away and not have any money to give them. Taking you to court would be futile.

bobster2

silvercar said:

Hopefully they will be happy with a payment plan. If they refused a payment plan they would have to go to court, which could risk costing them more if you actually didn't have any money. Remember they don't know your situation, for all they know you could have taken a world cruise/ gambled it away and not have any money to give them. Taking you to court would be futile.

But as OP indicated - they have bought a house. So it's unlikely to be too hard for them to establish that OP does indeed have assets - so not futile to pursue.