Please allow us a reasonable time ?

Bebe1980

A few weeks ago, I contacted Seagull Legal Services the “technical” executor of my father’s estate to advise my brother and I would like a Deed of Variation put in place to redirect my 1/3 share (approx. value £20k) of a retirement property to my him – our sister, the named executor in the Will, is the other beneficiary and not entirely happy with this.

Seagull Legal Services said they could easily facilitate this but because the property had already been sold and my likely share would be less than £20k it might not be a good idea - so we decided not to proceed.

I have now been informed by my brother, not Seagull Legal Services, that the sale of the retirement property has fallen through again.

Consequently, my brother suggested we should ask Seagull Legal Services to put the Deed of Variation in place, again.

Very oddly to me (I’ve contacted Seagull Legal Services a number of times during the distribution of assets) this time, when I asked Seagull Legal Services to put the Deed of Variation in place, I received this:

“Thank you for your email. We acknowledge safe receipt.
Please allow us a reasonable time in which to review and respond.
To ensure fairness, email correspondence is treated the same as postal correspondence. Each message will be dealt with in order of receipt, requirements of the transaction, and urgency. I therefore may not respond to your email immediately.
Sending further messages or making further phone calls will not result in a reply being received any sooner but may delay or delay the ability to work effectively.
Chaser emails
Please do not send multiple emails or telephone calls as that will not expedite matters” 

Having dealt with many legal firms throughout my working life without any problems, I have to admit I was surprised to receive such a response!

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

Grumpy_chap

That sounds like an automatic email response.
That the company have written something in that vein might indicate they are overwhelmed and underresourced 

silvercar

No obligation to use their services to create a deed of variation, in fact you could probably do it yourself. 

At which point you just supply Seagull’s with the DoV. 

 If your sister is named executor, just supply her with the DoV. If the property is being sold without the deeds being transferred to you and your siblings name first, you could just transfer the proceeds to your brother if they are sent to you. Just document the transaction. A letter, ‘hi Bro, it seems the funds from sale of X were sent to me, even though I had put a DoV in place, here’s a cheque for what should have been paid to you.’with a copy of the DoV would suffice. 

If the issue is that you don’t want the property to have your name on the deeds, perhaps to avoid owning another property or preserve FTB status for the future, I’d be more pedantic, but otherwise I don’t think it crucial.

user1977

Bebe1980 said:

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

It all seems like fair comment to me, I expect most lawyers would agree with the sentiment even if they don't spell it out. As they say, they'll prioritise things which are actually urgent. It at least means you have an acknowledgement that they've received your email.

Keep_pedalling

Not sure what you mean by technical executors, they are either the executors because the will appoints then as such or have been appointed to act on behalf of the executors named in the will.

Regardless of that you do not need them to be involved on creating a deed of variation, you can do that yourself and just sent them a copy so that they eventually distribute the estate correctly.

You have 2 years from the date of your father’s to make one. 

Dead_keen

Bebe1980 said:

... I contacted Seagull Legal Services ...

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

I have never seen that with a solicitor. But Seagull Legal Services is not a regulated law firm.  Have a look at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

Their website also says: https://www.seagulllegalservices.co.uk/

This is not an SRA regulated solicitors firm

Their website is a bit strange in that it doesn't say who runs it (e.g. is it a company, partnership, sole trader) and their LinkedIn profile seems a bit thin on the ground (as in they haven't claimed the made up page for them).

Keep_pedalling

Dead_keen said:

Bebe1980 said:

... I contacted Seagull Legal Services ...

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

I have never seen that with a solicitor. But Seagull Legal Services is not a regulated law firm.  Have a look at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

Their website also says: https://www.seagulllegalservices.co.uk/

This is not an SRA regulated solicitors firm

Their website is a bit strange in that it doesn't say who runs it (e.g. is it a company, partnership, sole trader) and their LinkedIn profile seems a bit thin on the ground (as in they haven't claimed the made up page for them).

It would spear to be a limited company.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14012429/officers

Emmia

Dead_keen said:

Bebe1980 said:

... I contacted Seagull Legal Services ...

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

I have never seen that with a solicitor. But Seagull Legal Services is not a regulated law firm.  Have a look at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

Their website also says: https://www.seagulllegalservices.co.uk/

This is not an SRA regulated solicitors firm

Their website is a bit strange in that it doesn't say who runs it (e.g. is it a company, partnership, sole trader) and their LinkedIn profile seems a bit thin on the ground (as in they haven't claimed the made up page for them).

The address of their head office, 3rd Floor Queensberry House, 106 Queens Road,  Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 3XF appears to also be the premises of lots of other businesses - frankly it looks like one of those PO box business addresses.

As well as no SRA registration, they also don't list a Company Number that I can see. and a search of Companies House turns up nothing.

In addition most law firms list the lawyers working for them, and I can't see any details of their legally qualified employees.

I think this is incredibly dodgy.

I wouldn't be doing anything with anything they've provided. I'd be finding another reputable firm of lawyers.

Emmia

Keep_pedalling said:

Dead_keen said:

Bebe1980 said:

... I contacted Seagull Legal Services ...

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

I have never seen that with a solicitor. But Seagull Legal Services is not a regulated law firm.  Have a look at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

Their website also says: https://www.seagulllegalservices.co.uk/

This is not an SRA regulated solicitors firm

Their website is a bit strange in that it doesn't say who runs it (e.g. is it a company, partnership, sole trader) and their LinkedIn profile seems a bit thin on the ground (as in they haven't claimed the made up page for them).

It would spear to be a limited company.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14012429/officers

Ok, that address listed (71 - 75 Shelton St, London) is the premises of a "registered office" company, which is essentially a post box address for literally thousands of businesses (and I mean tens of thousands). I wouldn't be engaging with a legal firm that uses that location as their registered address. 

https://www.1stformations.co.uk/registered-office-service/ - this is the company that offers the service from that address.

Dead_keen

Keep_pedalling said:

Dead_keen said:

Bebe1980 said:

... I contacted Seagull Legal Services ...

Has anyone else ever received this sort of email from a legal firm or Solicitor in the UK – seems a bit off to me?

I have never seen that with a solicitor. But Seagull Legal Services is not a regulated law firm.  Have a look at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

Their website also says: https://www.seagulllegalservices.co.uk/

This is not an SRA regulated solicitors firm

Their website is a bit strange in that it doesn't say who runs it (e.g. is it a company, partnership, sole trader) and their LinkedIn profile seems a bit thin on the ground (as in they haven't claimed the made up page for them).

It would spear to be a limited company.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14012429/officers

There is a limited company that has the same name, it has the person mentioned on the blog posts as a director.  But the accounts say it is dormant.  So I am not convinced it is the one doing the trading.  But the accounts may be wrong or they may have started trading since 1 April 2025.

Dead_keen

Bebe1980 said:

A few weeks ago, I contacted Seagull Legal Services the “technical” executor of my father’s estate ...

Just remembered some stuff from some training a while ago and that is that "probate activities" are "reserved legal activities" (s12 Legal Services Act 2007).  So if they are charging for there being a "technical" executor (whatever one of those is) then they should be regulated by someone (e.g. SRA, ICAEW, etc).  I cannot see anything on their website about that.

Now the blog post mention "Julie West" and there is a regulated solicitor with that name but I strongly suspect that they are different people.

So the obvious question is what does "technical" mean in the context of your father's executor?