My aunt died last year. I didn't find out until I sent a Christmas card that was returned by her solicitors.
I also had no idea that I was a beneficiary, she had no children. The solicitors were appointed as the executors. Everything was to be split between 3 of us.
I have received the final amount today along with a list of what all the other costs were and I have to check it and sign a form to return to them. I understand the solicitors fee (which is over 10k, is that normal! Seems a huge amount), funeral etc but there is a huge list of costs, including things like chiropody, opticians, home insurance renewal (), a barber, over 1K for cleaning services as well as a home cleaning services (which I am assuming was a regular cleaner that she had?) nearly 6k for "costs/disbursements to reference xxxxx" no idea what this reference is, its just a number, a large final water bill, and large final gas bill and many many other things. In total it adds up to over 20k.
I don't understand why things like opticians need paying and why home insurance was renewed. Part of me wonders if the solicitors don't really care about the money as they get their bill anyway so they just pay out whatever else. I know the house was up for sale for quite a bit more than what it sold for, I think they just took the first offer.
Is this right? I have never dealt with anything like this before so I have no idea. I know some bills need to be settled when you die but the water bill is like a whole years worth and the gas is months and months worth, if not a year.
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Why are there so many costs taken out of my aunts money?
13 replies
CrapBag · 21/03/2014 15:16
OP posts:
Chunderella ·
21/03/2014 16:47
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