Probate/solicitors query

muddlingmywaythrough

I am the sole executor on a relatives will who has recently passed away. There is no POA. In my capacity as executor I have dealt with all admin/account closures etc. I have never had to do this before but I have dealt with absolutely everything I can think of. There is no property to sell (it was social housing which has been handed back to the Housing Association), a nominal amount of money (about 15k) which I have distributed as was stated in the will and no goods/possessions etc of any value. It's all been relatively straightforward. 

I had an email from the solicitors a couple of months ago asking if I wanted the will removed from their storage and returned to me, which I did. I recently chased this up as I realised I still hadn't received anything and they said they would have it ready for collection. My understanding was that this was the extent of the solicitors involvement as the will had been drawn up a few years ago. I.e. (and I'm not complaining) they haven't had to actually do anything since as I have sorted everything but my friend mentioned that I may still get a bill from the solicitors. I'm probably being naive but I was not expecting one as they haven't done anything. To be clear they haven't (as yet) made any mention of, or sent, me a bill. I just can't see what they could actually bill me for maybe someone could advise?

Hoenir

We've no idea what the arrangement was. The Estate would be liable for any expense. Why didn't you obtain the will prior to disbursing the Estate? 

DE_612183

You could check with the solicitors but the will storage would probably have been covered by the original fees that were paid when it was drawn up.

I had something similar recently and there was no charge by the solicitors - but of course they could be different.

madbadrob

Question if I may.  Did this same solicitors draw up the will for the deceased?

If the answer is yes then there is very likely to be no further charge.  There is a national wiill register that solicitors offer storage services with.  These usually come with an annual fee (if this was the case Id have expected you to have seen this expense when going through their bank statments).  A quick call to them would set your  mind at rest.

Out of interest how have you disposed of the assets if you didnt have the will?

Rob 

muddlingmywaythrough

Hoenir said:

We've no idea what the arrangement was. The Estate would be liable for any expense. Why didn't you obtain the will prior to disbursing the Estate? 

As I said, I have never done this before so just dealt with it to the best of my ability. I did have a copy of the will so I knew how to disburse the Estate 

muddlingmywaythrough

DE_612183 said:

You could check with the solicitors but the will storage would probably have been covered by the original fees that were paid when it was drawn up.

I had something similar recently and there was no charge by the solicitors - but of course they could be different.

Thank you for your reply. I'll wait to see what happens but that's reassuring 

muddlingmywaythrough

madbadrob said:

Question if I may.  Did this same solicitors draw up the will for the deceased?

If the answer is yes then there is very likely to be no further charge.  There is a national wiill register that solicitors offer storage services with.  These usually come with an annual fee (if this was the case Id have expected you to have seen this expense when going through their bank statments).  A quick call to them would set your  mind at rest.

Out of interest how have you disposed of the assets if you didnt have the will?

Rob 

Yes it was the same solicitors. 
Maybe I wasn't clear in my original post but I had a copy of the will so I worked from that and just distributed the small amount of money there was as was stated in the will. There weren't any goods or property so there wasn't really anything else I needed to do regarding money.

Savvy_Sue

So have you actually obtained probate, or just distributed monies released direct to you from the deceased's bank accounts according to the will? 

Newly_retired

It sounds as if Probate was not needed.

I made a new will via my solicitor and they are storing it. I understand that my executors will have to pay to retrieve it when the time comes, but that is a cost to the estate, not to them personally. 
Have you kept anything back from the estate to cover any further costs?

muddlingmywaythrough

Savvy_Sue said:

So have you actually obtained probate, or just distributed monies released direct to you from the deceased's bank accounts according to the will? 

Thank you for the reply. I didn't obtain probate (not because I didn't think I needed to as such but because it was a very straightforward situation with a nominal amount of monies and no other goods/belongings etc).

I distributed the monies according to the will.

muddlingmywaythrough

Newly_retired said:

It sounds as if Probate was not needed.

I made a new will via my solicitor and they are storing it. I understand that my executors will have to pay to retrieve it when the time comes, but that is a cost to the estate, not to them personally. 
Have you kept anything back from the estate to cover any further costs?

Thank you for the reply. Yes I suppose I have in the sense that I received a very small sum of money in the will and apart from using a small amount to settle some outstanding accounts (utility companies etc) I haven't touched the money