Solicitor as executor?

Bailadora

Thanks so much to everyone who's taken the time to reply to my post! Lots of food for thought. It's also nice to hear from people in a similar situation. 
Re asking the beneficiary charities if they would act as executor, of course I plan to do this. However, the final list is yet to be decided but they will be small charities so probably less likely to agree. That's why I'm looking at all options.
Thanks again. 

DippySkippy

My thoughts from recent experience:

1. Never come across a decent solicitor - money grabbing wasters. DO NOT APPOINT as exec
2. Appoint friend - they dont have to do it and if not they can shop around for a solicitor rather than being ties to one you named
3. Anyone who does the exec job should be left something in the Will

poseidon1

DippySkippy said:

My thoughts from recent experience:

1. Never come across a decent solicitor - money grabbing wasters. DO NOT APPOINT as exec
2. Appoint friend - they dont have to do it and if not they can shop around for a solicitor rather than being ties to one you named
3. Anyone who does the exec job should be left something in the Will

As a contrast to this post, I have had professional dealings with an appreciable number of appointed solicitor /executors who went on to be ongoing trustees of trusts emerging from deceased wills.

Over 30 years practice, I only came across one ' wrong un' , albeit my experience is based on dealing with very large City law firms acting for extremely wealthy clients.  I can't speak for  solicitors far lower down the pecking order in the typical local High Street firm.

perdusys

I posted previously a couple of years ago about the possibility of asking appointed solicitors to renounce in favour of family members. This thread is interesting as 50% of the estate goes to charities and 50% to family members. There are 6 beneficiaries in equal shares, and we now have to make a decision on whether to ask the named solicitors to renounce or not. Their fees are higher for this estate as there are more than 4 beneficiaries and we too are concerned about the eventual cost. We have a feeling it would be beneficial to the charities and ourselves as we have the time, and all the information having been attorneys for our now deceased relative.
it appears that there is no recourse to making sure the process is not drawn out to increase fees though I have no inkling this might be the case.

lohr500

For a relatively simple estate I would not advocate nominating a solicitor as the sole or joint executor.
My father and mother did this when drawing up their wills.

On his passing last year, I looked at the estate valuation and the probate process and decided my brother and I (the other named executors) were more than capable of handling the estate management ourselves without the need to involve the solicitor.

The solicitor charged us a handsome fee of £450 just to fill out the simple PA17 renunciation form needed to exclude themselves from the process.

I'm not sure what the situation would be if they refused to do this, but at least they did!!!

It has left a bitter taste as the solicitor benefited from a lot of past business from the extended family (including drawing up the wills, sorting out LPOA, house conveyancing, etc, etc) and it seemed a little excessive to charge £450 for a few minutes work by their office junior.

My mother is now looking to rewrite her will so that the solicitor is no longer an executor. Going forward, none of us will be using the same firm of solicitors for any future support.

That being said, my mother is in a different position to @Bailadora in that she has family who can act as executors.