Is this worth reporting?

Bongdal

My auntie (my mother’s first cousin) suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident in 2023. Her husband (my uncle) was physically uninjured but died shortly afterwards in late December 2023. They had no children, and I am her closest relative. My auntie is now in a care home and lacks capacity. I live 200 miles away; their house remains empty.

A local firm of solicitors who had prepared their wills were instructed to apply for a Court of Protection (CoP) order so that my cousin Daniel (who lives locally) could manage her affairs. We planned that Daniel would handle practical tasks and I would assist with paperwork. I asked in early March to be added as a joint deputy. Initially the solicitors incorrectly told me this wasn’t possible, then that it would cause too much delay, but they eventually accepted the request and I sent my ID documents. Shortly afterwards they wrote advising me not to proceed, saying the application had already been issued and that resubmitting would cause long delays. Based on this advice, Daniel and I agreed not to amend the application.

We heard nothing significant for months, despite me chasing several times. Daniel eventually received CoP paperwork on 27 May 2025 confirming that the deputyship had been granted, though he had no financial information. The solicitors would not speak to me beyond basics, but Daniel obtained some limited information to prepare for the OPG introduction call, which took place at the end of June.

By early July, the original solicitor was “off sick” and we struggled to reach anyone at the firm. Many promised call-backs never happened. Meanwhile, Daniel sent me the CoP documents and I noticed the official certificate was missing. I contacted the CoP directly, who said it had been sent to the solicitors months earlier and issued a replacement. When the certificate arrived, we discovered the deputyship did not include authority to sell the property. An estate-agent-recommended solicitor confirmed that the house cannot be sold without that authority.

On 22 October I finally spoke to a locum solicitor at the original firm. He first claimed that CoP orders never include authority to sell property, then changed position after checking with the original solicitor and said Daniel would have to apply separately. I later contacted the OPG, who confirmed that (a) authority to sell can be included on the original application, and (b) a separate application will now take up to a year. This omission could significantly delay the sale of the house.

I am extremely concerned that the original solicitor failed to advise properly, failed to include authority to sell the property, did not liaise with the council about care home fees (which are currently being funded despite my auntie being self-funding), and repeatedly failed to return calls or keep us informed. Some statements made to us also appear to have been misleading or untrue.

I am also unclear about probate. My uncle’s will leaves everything to my auntie, but she lacks capacity. The locum solicitor said the estate will “soon go to probate” but refused to give me any information, despite me being her next of kin and executor in her own will. I do not understand who is acting or under what authority.

Overall, I believe the service provided by the firm has been poor and has caused delay, confusion, and unnecessary complications. I am considering a formal complaint and seeking advice on whether to report the matter to the relevant regulatory bodies, but I am also wondering if may be considering too trivial and/or just be a waste of my time.

Any advice/suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks

RAS

Cutting through the text.

The key individual is your mother's cousin?

Your cousin Daniel has deputyship. What is his relationship to you and the donor

When your mother's cousin dies, you are her executor, but at present have no legal role in her affairs.

Do you know if the house was owned by the cousin and her husband as a shared tenancy or tenants in common? Check the Land Registry for £7?

Who is the executor of the husband's estate? Have you or Daniel seen a copy?

Regardless of the deputyship, it may not be possible to sell the house until probate is granted.

poppystar

Sorry to answer with questions but

Who is executor of uncle’s Will?

If not the solicitors then presumably you/cousin employed them to get involved? It would seem strange that auntie would have you as executor and uncle have a solicitor but not impossible.

Have you/ cousin access to the property and been able to collect paperwork? It sounds like the solicitors may have all the paperwork - hence asking if they are the executor. 

I’ve assumed cousin is another cousin rather than the son of uncle and auntie, is that correct?

Bongdal

Thanks for your questions. 

Daniel is the son my mother's male first cousin. His father was also a first cousin to the donor (who is a first cousin to my mother, and I call her my auntie).

Daniel is not mentioned as an executor in either of the wills (my aunt's and uncle's).  

Both my aunt and uncle were down on the deeds of the property.

Daniel visited the property regularly, cleared out the house and took all the mail to the solicitors, as he had been asked by the firm to do. 

Bongdal

This is the original draft I wrote but thought too long so got chatgpt to shorten it...

My mother’s first cousin (who I always refer to as my auntie) lost her husband, my uncle, in late December 2023. They had both been involved in a car crash a few months previously in which she sustained a serious brain injury. My uncle was physically uninjured, and the plan was for both he and a cousin of mine, Daniel, that lives close, to apply for a Court of Protection order (COP), via a local firm of solicitors that had written both my auntie and uncle’s wills, to enable them to deal with my auntie’s affairs. However, my uncle’s long term health issues were exacerbated by the stress and sadness he felt at my auntie’s condition, and he passed away between Christmas and NY. My auntie then became his executor but is living in a care home and unable to communicate due to her injury. My uncle lived at the house they had co-owned and lived in for over 50 years until his death. They had no children, and I am my auntie’s closest of kin. I am down as executor in both of their wills however due to the current circumstances, as explained below, I seems that I am unable to action these powers. I live 200 miles away from where my auntie currently resides, and their now vacant house is a couple of miles away from the care home.

In early 2024 the solicitors applied for the COP in just Daniel’s name. Up until this point I had not been involved but I got reacquainted with Daniel at my uncle’s funeral and we spoke about the COP. The solicitors had not explained to him what it entails (annual report, etc.), and with him not being tech savvy we planned to work as a team - him doing the practical stuff locally (emptying the property so that it could be sold, etc.) and I dealing with the paperwork remotely. In early March I rang the solicitors to ask if I could be added as a joint deputy, to facilitate our plan. Initially, they told me it wasn’t possible to do so. I questioned this and they then said it would cause too much of a delay and that a lot of work had already been put into the application. I said I understood this and was prepared for a delay and extra costs but that it seemed to make more sense to apply now as it would save time in the long run. They then agreed to do so, and I sent them the required ID documents for them to proceed.

However, they then strongly advised me not to do so by way of a letter:

Thank you very much for your email.

We confirm that we have received your certified identification documents. The position in relation to the Court of Protection application is as follows.

We received instructions to make a sole application for Daniel to be appointed as Mrs xxx's Deputy following the Death of Mr xxx, who was initially making a joint application with ‘Daniel’. The application was therefore submitted in the sole name of Daniel.

Very shortly after submitting our application, we received instructions to amend it to make a joint application in favour of yourself and Daniel. Despite strenuous attempts to contact the Court of Protection by email, telephone and letter to return the documents, so that we could amend them, Mr xxx's application was issued by the Court.

It would be possible to make a further application to the Court of Protection to appoint

yourself as a joint deputy with ‘Daniel’ once the Court Order is returned.

 

However, we are unable to make progress in dealing with Mrs xxx’s affairs until we are in receipt of the Court Order and therefore, our hands are tied at present.

We are concerned that a further application to the Court of Protection will cause further delay in this matter, and we have relayed our concerns to ‘Daniel’ on this particular point.

The Court of Protection is facing major delays and the return of an application can take between six to twelve months.

I should be grateful if you could please note the position and liaise with Daniel before returning to me.

 

I spoke with Daniel, and we agreed to go along with the solicitor’s advice. We heard nothing from them, apart from when I rang up to chase the application a few times, until again I made contact after Daniel received, on 27th May 2025, documents from the Office of Public Guardian (OPG) to say the court of protection order has been granted and a telephone meetings with the OPG had been scheduled with him to go over duties, etc. He was expected to have my auntie’s financial details to hand for the call, however he had none of this information. Both he and I (although they refused to speak with me beyond the very basics) rang the solicitor and he got a basic breakdown of her bank accounts/assets.

The call, at the end of June went fine, and I was then going to help Daniel apply online for access to my auntie’s accounts and he was at this point speaking with a local estate agent who had someone interested in purchasing the vacant property.

Early in July, Daniel told me that the solicitor was off sick but that someone else form the firm would be able to help with moving things forward. However, neither of us were able to speak with anyone until almost the end of October, despite being promised callbacks over those months. In the meantime, Daniel had sent me all the COP documents in the post. When I checked through them, I could not see an official certificate for the COP order. As I couldn’t get through to the solicitors, I rang the COP explaining the situation and they told me the certificate had been sent to the solicitors months ago. They kindly agreed to send out an official replacement copy. The document arrived with Daniel (it was dated/issued on 7th April 2025) but after upon reading it we discovered that it did not authorise the deputy to sell any property. We showed it to the solicitor that the estate agent had put us in contact with to do the conveyancing who said nothing could be done without that authority from the COP.

I managed to speak with a locum solicitor at the original firm on the 22nd of October, who claimed initially that a COP never covered the sale of a property, then when I questioned this he said he would speak with the original solicitor who was coming into the office later that day. When I rang again, he told me the original solicitor said there had been no mention of a house sale being part of what Daniel wanted and that it was now up to him as the Deputy to apply to the COP to get the authority to sell the property.

I rang the OPG who said the application could take at least a year and I also told that it would have been possible for the solicitor to have applied for the authority to sell a property at the same time as the original application.

I’m frustrated and angry by what appears to have been a costly error/poor advice on the part of the original solicitor but I’m guessing it’s his word against ours and that we now need to apply for to the COP again.

Also, as Daniel now holds a COP for my auntie, does this make him the executor of her uncle’s will? I asked the locum solicitor for details about my uncle’s assets etc. as I would like to update his family overseas, but the solicitor told me he’s not authorised to speak to me and that the estate will soon be going to probate. I’m confused by this as everything in her husband’s will he left to her and so I would have thought probate could only be done once she has passed too?

I’m also wondering about the honesty contained in letter advising me not to reapply with my name added to the COP, as whenever I have rung the COP or OPG I have been able to get through with no issues, and how ‘tied’ really were they’re hands?

Also, I have it on good authority that the original solicitor has been in hospital and not able to go into the office, so it sounds like the locum hasn’t been honest either.

And we’ve only recently discovered that the care home fees have been thus far paid for by the council, despite my auntie being in the ‘self-funding’ bracket. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I would have thought the solicitors would have liaised with the council or at least advised Daniel to do so with regards to payment of fees.

I believe that the service from the original firm of solicitors has been poor and inexcusable and I would like to report it to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. However, I am wondering whether this would be seen as something so trivial or unprovable that it wouldn’t be worth it?

Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated.

poppystar

Thanks. So you employed the solicitors to do uncle’s probate? I can’t see why you couldn’t have acted as executor for him and proceeded with getting probate. Yes, there may have been an issue as to where funds went until the CoP is in place but beyond that it would appear no different to doing his probate if he didn’t have a wife or if she was well. What were the reasons given why you couldn’t carry out the executor duties? Was it this solicitor who advised you of that? As you mention them going ahead and getting probate now I assume that is what you have employed them for and, as such, you should have a contract with them which would include information on how to make a complaint as well as setting out the remit of their work for you. This should be your first consideration in deciding if there is cause for any ‘reporting’.

elsien

What is the issue with the care home fees? There is likely to be a deferred payment agreement so the local authority pays the fees and then the deputy pays it back when the house is sold or they are able to access any other assets  she may have So far so normal. What is it that you think the solicitor should have done in that respect that they haven’t?

Deputyships do take months even with a competent  solicitor - at the height of Covid they were taking 18 months. How do you expect the care home fees to have been paid in the interim?