Contacting the courts for progress on a will
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KarenT1978
Posts: 29 Forumite
Hello,
Over a year ago my father passed away. Since then as executor of his will I have been trying to organise the probate on his estate or as it is known in Scotland “Confirmation of the estate.” The solicitors who are handling the estate have been appalling. The estate is very straightforward, it comprises 3 high street bank accounts and a small house. For over a year now we have suffered with these solicitors producing inaccurate paperwork and their promises of a whole series of missed deadlines, at which point they claimed the estate would be settled and confirmation of the estate would be granted. Initially they said it would take six months. We were then told 10 months in it would conclude in November. Following a meeting in mid January of this year, where I was asked to sign some paperwork that was to be sent to the courts, we were told the paperwork would be processed by the courts in a couple of weeks and that would be everything settled. It is now mid March and we are no further forward.
Previously the solicitors were asked to arrange power of attorney for my father and after the promised three month deadline to organise that had expired, and despite the solicitors assurances that the matter was in hand, off of my own back I contacted the office of the Public Guardian to enquire about my Fathers application only to be told they had no record of it. At that point the solicitors then changed their story stating they had neglected to post off his application.
Given their track record, I am fed up being fobbed off with the solicitors stock answer that my paperwork is still with the courts, that being the case could anyone please advise if it is possible for me to contact the courts directly and to ask why there is a delay and indeed do they actually have a record of my application. The solictors I am dealing with are a large Glasgow based firm so I would imagine it would be a Glasgow based court that I would need to apply to.
Thanks in advance.
K
Over a year ago my father passed away. Since then as executor of his will I have been trying to organise the probate on his estate or as it is known in Scotland “Confirmation of the estate.” The solicitors who are handling the estate have been appalling. The estate is very straightforward, it comprises 3 high street bank accounts and a small house. For over a year now we have suffered with these solicitors producing inaccurate paperwork and their promises of a whole series of missed deadlines, at which point they claimed the estate would be settled and confirmation of the estate would be granted. Initially they said it would take six months. We were then told 10 months in it would conclude in November. Following a meeting in mid January of this year, where I was asked to sign some paperwork that was to be sent to the courts, we were told the paperwork would be processed by the courts in a couple of weeks and that would be everything settled. It is now mid March and we are no further forward.
Previously the solicitors were asked to arrange power of attorney for my father and after the promised three month deadline to organise that had expired, and despite the solicitors assurances that the matter was in hand, off of my own back I contacted the office of the Public Guardian to enquire about my Fathers application only to be told they had no record of it. At that point the solicitors then changed their story stating they had neglected to post off his application.
Given their track record, I am fed up being fobbed off with the solicitors stock answer that my paperwork is still with the courts, that being the case could anyone please advise if it is possible for me to contact the courts directly and to ask why there is a delay and indeed do they actually have a record of my application. The solictors I am dealing with are a large Glasgow based firm so I would imagine it would be a Glasgow based court that I would need to apply to.
Thanks in advance.
K
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Comments
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Yes you can contact the Court yourself as you are an executor. I'm assuming the confirmation has gone to the Sheriff court, contact the Sheriff Clerk's office, and they should be able to advise you when (or even if) the application was received, and when it is likely to dealt with.
If you are unsatisfied with the current solicitors, remember you are free to choose different solicitors. It might be worthwhile trying to address the current issues with the solicitor you are using; you could write to the practice manager setting out what it is you are unhappy about, and what resolution you would like to achieve.0 -
I'm not familiar with Scottish law, is it necessary to use a solicitor?0
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No, not always necessary, but if the estate is complex, or there are family disagreements or other factors that may mean legal advice and support would be beneficial then using a solicitor would be worth considering.
Personal choice at the end of the day - some executors (or personal representatives) may chose to use a solicitor, regardless of the complexity of the estate because they don't have the time or the confidence to deal with the estate.0 -
OPs circumstance though doesn't sound complex? In fact exactly the same as my Mums which I'm doing now, one house, no mortgage, 2 bank accounts and an ISA. I completed the forms* in about an hour and will be sending off once I've got my hands on the original will which requires a trip to get.
Someone in another thread asked the question "will probate take a long time" and the answer was "not unless you use a solicitor". This seems to be a classic example.
Seems to me they almost have a scam going on, making what is actually a simple process (for the majority) seem complex and thus worth the charges. And would I be paranoid to think they drag it out to make it seem more complex? (my answer, yes but that doesnt mean I'm not right
)
You saidPersonal choice at the end of the day - some executors (or personal representatives) may chose to use a solicitor, regardless of the complexity of the estate because they don't have the time or the confidence to deal with the estate.
The confidence but i understand, the former, dont have the time, no, because it takes more of your time using a solicitor than doing it directly.
OP if it turns out that the solicitors havent done it yet i sugegst you instruct them to abandon unless papers lodged within 14 days, if they dont it say you wont be paying as they have been unreasonably long and do it yourself.
* probate form a PDF, online valuation.0 -
AnotherJoe wrote: »
* probate form a PDF, online valuation.
That would only be for applying for probate in England & Wales - not Scotland.0 -
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I woudn't say so - have a look for yourself - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/607122/C1.pdfAnotherJoe wrote: »OK. Are the forms more complex? Full of legal jargon?0 -
A piece of the proverbial then, its a scandal that solicitors draw out stuff like this.
Its in plain english, and they will ask you to provide all the info just to fill in on the form so it will take just as long or longer than filling it in yourslef.0 -
There's so much more to estate administration than just filling in the probate or confirmation form. Not everyone is confident at completing forms, not everyone has English as a first language, some people have dyslexia, some people prefer to let someone else do the work - and don't forget that people who are facing applying for probate/confirmation are grieving because a loved one has died and the thought of having to deal with paperwork is a bit too much at that particular time.
It's not a "scam", or a scandal.
And your comments are not helpful, and especially (I would imagine) to the OP.0 -
Thank you all for your advice. Rubik your contributions in particular have been invaluable. Today thanks to your suggestion I phoned the commissary department of the Sheriff court. I was Initially wary that they would not tell me much but the upshot was they could not have been more helpful. Their representative knew my case instantly due to the number of times they have had to send incorrectly filled out forms back to my solicitors for reprocessing. They appear to be extremely scathing of the way my solicitors have conducted their business. However the good news I got from them was that my petition was granted on Friday and subject to a 3 day delay can be actioned this week.
When I started out in this process I was under the impression that if you were dealing with what is termed a large estate then you had to apoint by law solicitors to process it. Having read this thread I went back and re read the various websites explaining what is required and realise now appointing solicitors is only recommended if it’s a large estate. Although my fathers estate is termed large legally it is in total worth considerably less than £100 000. So by the time it gets split up amongst the various beneficiaries it will be nice to have but no ones life is going to be changed forever by it. I just wish with hindsight I wasn’t giving some of my dads money over to a group of solicitors for a job done extremely poorly.
Thanks again to all.0
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