Solicitor charge without prior confirmation

Elaine853

Hi - some advice please.
We are beginning probate process and went to get the wills from the solicitor used by the deceased person;  we made an appointment as instructed and when we arrived we were invited into the solicitor's office - we thought it was for us to show our ID as per instructions. 

The solicitor arrived and proceeded to  talk us through probate and answered a couple of questions.  We then left. During the meeting she told us the probate package fee was approx £5,000 + vat, which seemed high compared with other companies.

The executors discussed the issue and we called the solicitor's office to explain we had decided to go with a different, more local, company (basically there is £3,000 + vat difference in probate fees).  They understood we wanted a closer company as it was a 90 minute round trip to their office.

I phoned today to chase the deeds they had held for the deceased person but had been unable to locate (!) and they told me they would be sending me a bill for £200 + vat for the solicitor's time in the meeting. I expressed surprise and the receptionist said her rates were high because she was good - and the only solicitor in this particular market town! The meeting we hadn't expected and weren't told there would be a fee for.

1. Where do we stand? 
2. Should we have been told there was a charge?
3. Should we have been told that, rather than just showing ID to collect the wills, we would actually be in a meeting?   
4. Should the solicitor wait until probate is settled i.e give their invoice to the preferred probate solicitor?

Thank you for any advice.

Alderbank

You say, 'we made an appointment as instructed...'

The answers to your questions 2 and 3 might lie in the exact details of that appointment and those instructions.

Elaine853

.Alderbank said:

You say, 'we made an appointment as instructed...'

The answers to your questions 2 and 3 might lie in the exact details of that appointment and those instructions.

Sorry, I wasn't absolutely clear, we were asked to make an appointment with reception to show our IDs  to enable us to collect the wills that were being stored there - for which there was no charge;  however, when we arrived we were taken straight into an office, sat down, our ID documents were taken by the receptionist to photocopy and then the solicitor arrived. She sat down and started chatting and asking us questions - we thought this was to fill time whilst the IDs were being copied!  We were not made aware at any point prior to, during or after our visit that this unexpected 'meeting' was chargeable.   We were only told about a charge when I phoned up 3 days later to chase information about the 'lost' deeds and to let them know we had decided to let a more local company do probate.  

Flugelhorn

fair enough - I would have just expected to pick up the wills and that was that, bit cheeky of them to make it into something else. 

just tell them that you only came to pick up the wills and weren't asking for or expecting any legal advice / input