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Solicitor charging for renunciation
Comments
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dawyldthing wrote: »I'm guessing they are married and 'if there is no will' then it goes down the order (can't think of the name but it's on the givernments website) to his wife. I believe there's no list of wills either anywhere
Pretending there was no will would be an idiotic thing to do to save £350. Apart from the fact it could land the executor in a whole heap of trouble, under intestacy laws the whole estate does not go to the surviving spouse. The fist £250k would go to his wife, and every thing above that would be decided between his wife and children.0 -
Hi
Re-registered as I've forgotten my previous log in!
I wonder if anyone can help?
My Dad died recently, and left a straightforward will leaving everything to my Mum. She is an executor, and the solicitor he original created the will with is a second executor.
That solicitor's firm has been taken over by Slater & Gordon.
The will is very straightforward, and I've already done all the paperwork. We have asked Slater and Gordon to renounce their executorship, but they are charging us £350 for this.
From research, this seems very high - does anyone have any experience of this? Is it worth challenging?
Thanks
Yes it's worth challenging, extortion is good grounds for complaint.0 -
Can they refuse to renounce? I hate to say this but they could make a whole lot more by being an executor. Try asking them how much they charge for writing just one letter. You are being asked to pay this in reality for loss of earnings.0
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Interesting info Inthis thread http://trustsdiscussionforum.co.uk/t/costs-of-professional-executors-renouncing/2194/3
SRA reckon £50 should cover it. I think you need to get the lowdown from the SRA0 -
You may have no choice but to be ripped off, that charge is outrageous.
I just downloaded some renunciation forms for free from here https://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/law-shop/consumer-products/legal-documents/probate/renunciation-of-probate to see exactly what the information required would be, so I can let my mum's second executor off the hook..........when the time comes that is!
Nothing you couldn't prepare yourself with just their signature & witness to be added, so you wouldn't even be asking them to do anything more than that.
Sadly, their need for £££ is going to outweigh their moral compass. Lloyds Bank named as executors have been known to step back free of charge if there is another responsible named executor/s (though not necessarily offer to do so up front).
Pity your dad named this company but I can see how that happened - that was the case with our first Wills 40 years ago as young newlyweds. The solicitor suggested it as "usually done" & we fell for it. The codicil a couple of years later to remove & replace them with friend/family cost as much as a new Will would have.
As has been suggested, make sure mum changes hers if it's a mirror Will. Bite the bullet & cough up (justifiably resentfully) so you can move things forward.Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.0 -
SevenOfNine wrote: »You may have no choice but to be ripped off, that charge is outrageous.
I just downloaded some renunciation forms for free from here https://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/law-shop/consumer-products/legal-documents/probate/renunciation-of-probate to see exactly what the information required would be, so I can let my mum's second executor off the hook..........when the time comes that is!
Nothing you couldn't prepare yourself with just their signature & witness to be added, so you wouldn't even be asking them to do anything more than that.
Sadly, their need for £££ is going to outweigh their moral compass. Lloyds Bank named as executors have been known to step back free of charge if there is another responsible named executor/s (though not necessarily offer to do so up front).
Pity your dad named this company but I can see how that happened - that was the case with our first Wills 40 years ago as young newlyweds. The solicitor suggested it as "usually done" & we fell for it. The codicil a couple of years later to remove & replace them with friend/family cost as much as a new Will would have.
As has been suggested, make sure mum changes hers if it's a mirror Will. Bite the bullet & cough up (justifiably resentfully) so you can move things forward.
I have to say I think this is really bad advice, why are solicitors outside the normal rules that allow them to rip off consumers? If it were just any cowboy company charging £350 for a letter, other than a solicitor, this sort of advice would laughed at!0 -
I have to say I think this is really bad advice, why are solicitors outside the normal rules that allow them to rip off consumers? If it were just any cowboy company charging £350 for a letter, other than a solicitor, this sort of advice would laughed at!
Well that really depends on whether you want to get on with completing probate or wasting large amounts of time and effort auguing with solicitors. If I was an executor dealing with a six figure estate I would just pay it and move on. Yes it's rip off, but in the grand scheme of things I would let this one go.0 -
Keep_pedalling wrote: »Well that really depends on whether you want to get on with completing probate or wasting large amounts of time and effort auguing with solicitors. If I was an executor dealing with a six figure estate I would just pay it and move on. Yes it's rip off, but in the grand scheme of things I would let this one go.
This presumes that a complaint always takes a long time to resolve, this is not always the case as a complaint can sometimes be resolved satisfactorily in just 2 weeks.
People are different, some people don't like complaining and are happy to be ripped off for a easy life, other's may pay it under protest because they really need probate and challenge it later on and there are some people that would see it as an outrage and fight the solicitor all the way to the courts if that's what it takes.0 -
This presumes that a complaint always takes a long time to resolve, this is not always the case as a complaint can sometimes be resolved satisfactorily in just 2 weeks.
People are different, some people don't like complaining and are happy to be ripped off for a easy life, other's may pay it under protest because they really need probate and challenge it later on and there are some people that would see it as an outrage and fight the solicitor all the way to the courts if that's what it takes.
The key being the word SOMETIMES. OP's mother cannot progress probate until this is settled, can't undertake administration of the estate, 'sometimes' isn't good enough, what if it takes a whole lot longer than 2 weeks? It's not about people being "happy to be ripped off for an easy life", merely about weighing up if you have the emotional energy to waste.
Perhaps you have not suffered bereavement thus far in life? If you have I'm surprised that you show very little understanding of the fact that there are numerous other priorities to deal with when you are at your least competent. So in the grand scheme of things IMO the rip off merchants are best just getting shot of, even at an inflated price. When viewed from a bereaved perspective the emotional stress & added trauma simply isn't worth it.
"Pay & challenge later", how? Do you mean sue them to get it back - more stress for the bereaved at a time when they are trying to pick up the pieces of life.
"An outrage and fight the solicitors all the way to the courts", on what basis? The deceased was presumably of sound mind, sadly he agreed to this company along with his wife to act as executors, & signed his Will accordingly. What makes you think a court would find in favour of the family & oust this firm merely because of the size of their fee to renounce. Doesn't sound as if they've done anything legally incorrect, & their charges are what they are.
Hopefully this company won't decide they'll fulfil their role as executors after all...............escalating the costs a whole lot more than £350 to renounce.Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.0 -
SevenOfNine wrote: »The key being the word SOMETIMES. OP's mother cannot progress probate until this is settled, can't undertake administration of the estate, 'sometimes' isn't good enough, what if it takes a whole lot longer than 2 weeks? It's not about people being "happy to be ripped off for an easy life", merely about weighing up if you have the emotional energy to waste.
Perhaps you have not suffered bereavement thus far in life? If you have I'm surprised that you show very little understanding of the fact that there are numerous other priorities to deal with when you are at your least competent. So in the grand scheme of things IMO the rip off merchants are best just getting shot of, even at an inflated price. When viewed from a bereaved perspective the emotional stress & added trauma simply isn't worth it.
"Pay & challenge later", how? Do you mean sue them to get it back - more stress for the bereaved at a time when they are trying to pick up the pieces of life.
"An outrage and fight the solicitors all the way to the courts", on what basis? The deceased was presumably of sound mind, sadly he agreed to this company along with his wife to act as executors, & signed his Will accordingly. What makes you think a court would find in favour of the family & oust this firm merely because of the size of their fee to renounce. Doesn't sound as if they've done anything legally incorrect, & their charges are what they are.
Hopefully this company won't decide they'll fulfil their role as executors after all...............escalating the costs a whole lot more than £350 to renounce.
No I haven't been bereaved in the last 10 years and maybe that's why I am challenging people who think it's okay to be ripped off because they have to deal with their emotions first but that doesn't mean that I'm insensitive or relegating people's emotions.
I am presuming that solicitors mostly just add themselves as the executor without checking with the executor first, although I release that this is hard to prove.0
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