Negligent advice by solicitor?

Woodstok2000

Sounds like your MIL had an issue with her son, not with the solicitor. She gave the house to her 3 children for their benefit. Her son, via his will, decided the benefit of his share of the property should go to his children. Your MIL may have disagreed, and his siblings may have disagreed, but it's not really any of their business.

What would you say to a sibling who wanted to tell you how to distribute your assets after your death?

greco_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82190922#Comment_82190922

Mum alone but that doesn’t mean that the solicitor doesn’t have some responsibility to someone who isn’t a client. I believe the law is clear on that point. In asking them to sign a document without explaining what it is or suggesting that they take advice, they would appear to be taking some responsibility.

greco_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82190843#Comment_82190843

I don’t disagree with that but she did it without discussing it with the children first.

ExEstateAgent

What did the solicitors say to you when they asked you to sign the documents?

What advice did you seek yourselves?

What was the plan for the property when the last initial beneficiary died?

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82190989#Comment_82190989

To illustrate the point further, if my wife and I had died together, her step grandchildren with whom she had no relationship, would have received my wife’s share. Can you imagine that she would have wanted that?

What she wants in the above scenario is irelevant - it's what you and your wife want to do with your assets that counts, your MIL has no say over that. Would your wife have left her share of the house to the step-grandchildren? If so, she's ignoring her MIL wishes. If she wanted to abide by those wishes she could have left her share of the house to her siblings….

Keep_pedalling

What evidence do you have that she did not want her grandchildren to inherit if one of her children unfortunately pre-deceased her? Practically the only way to achieve this would have been to create a trust not put the house into her children’s names. Once the gift had been made everything was out of her hands.

I find it difficult to believe anyone would think this way. Most parents would make the assumption that they would die first, at which point the place would be sold and the proceeds split, and eventually passed down to the grandchildren of each child. You think that the solisitor has a duty of care to the children but do they not also have an equal duty of care to the decendance of those children?

silvercar

At the point the solicitor asked the children to sign on taking ownership of the house, I would have thought he would suggest they take their own legal advice, if they feel they need to. If he didn’t then that may have been an omission on his part, I don’t know whether it amounts to negligence.

kipsterno1

Can I ask where did your MIL live after the property was transferred? There might be a whole other can of worms involved here.

QrizB

OP has a previous thread on the same subject from a couple of years ago:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6526595/death-of-a-tenant-in-common

The previous thread mentions a trust.

Keep_pedalling

I just read that thread and suspect we are talking about a deed of trust here not an actual trust. The DoT documents how the property is owned and what % each owner holds, something that would not be required with a property held as JT.