Letter of Administration for an old estate

retroman62

I am asking this query on behalf of a friend.

In brief, friend's mother died 22 years ago now. There is a potential civil claim that has emerged, and there is the possibility that friend's mother could be included in a group case in civil litigation. The solicitors representing my friend have stated that in the absence of her being a formal executor at the time, she needs to apply for a letter of administration by completing a PA1A Probate Application form with the probate office. The friend's mother died intestate, and there was no value to the estate and yet the form requires the estate's value to be included. Has anybody else come across this situation?

Keep_pedalling

Sounds very odd, if the estate was insolvent then LoA would never have been required. Is this solicitor of the ambulance chasing kind?

user1977

Has somebody provided legal advice that the estate is still able to claim? I'd have expected most claims to have prescribed by now. If a claim is likely to be fruitless there's little point worrying about the paperwork involved.

retroman62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907915#Comment_81907915

Yes sorry I should have clarified that the legal advice is that the estate is able to claim - it's from date of knowledge of the issue so in this instance, for the purposes of litigation, limitation has been waived as an issue.