to not understand this sort of false economy?

[twoonefive]

Someone I know suffered a family bereavement earlier this year. It was not unexpected but obviously still a very sad time. The dust has settled slightly now, and it's reached the stage of sorting out the will etc.

This person was the next of kin, and the only beneficiary of the will. The family member who died left a house of considerable value (not quite at inheritance tax threshold, but only a few thousand off it), a couple of personal items of modest value (few hundred pounds at most), and a post office account or similar with maybe £50 in.

I asked (as I work in a law-related field and have a few contacts who do probate work, or know people who do) if they had appointed solicitors, and if not, I'd be happy to help them find someone reputable. The response was along the lines of 'why waste money lining a lawyer's pockets I'll do it myself'. Apparently this was prompted by a local firm saying they would charge around £1500 to do the work.

Now I know £1500 is a fair amount of money, but it's only about 0.5% of the value of the inheritance, so in those terms it doesn't seem very much at all. I know for me, I'd rather be sure that all the legal requirements were dealt with properly rather than saving money and causing myself a lot of hard work.

However having spoken to a few other people who know the situation, they take the view that it's too much money to spend, and agree with some sort of DIY approach....so AIBU?

But they obviously don't feel like they need to,so why would they need to spend the money.

Its no big deal,a bit like going to a&e to remove a tick if you know how you wouldn't go but if you didnt you would.

Everything is easy once you know how to do it.

"I just don't see the point of trying to do something you're not trained to do"

I'm not trained to darn a sock, to bake a cake, to paint a wall, to change a lightbulb, to bring up my DD.

Yet I would be pretty unlikely to pay anyone to do any of those things, as I figure I can do a good enough job without wasting the money. I've been wrong, I've had to paint walls a 2nd time and eaten some truly disgusting cakes, but I still think it's worth tackling lots of things myself.

The only things that (off the top of my head) I wouldn't touch are gas and criminal law. The rest I use my common sense.

I've done lots of things I could potentially fuck up. But I researched, took advice and learnt.

YABU. I acted as executor on behalf of my grandfather who was sole beneficiary in my grandmother's estate last year. No IHT. The whole process from gaining probate to getting the bank accounts signed over to grandad was really quite straightforward. I've made sure everything is traceable in a paper audit trail, should anyone want to question anything.

But to be honest, at the point when my grandfather's estate needs dealing with I would be more inclined to instruct a solicitor. More beneficiaries means more potential for dispute, and I don't need the aggro.

I can't think of any reason why they couldn't find the money, other than not wanting to.

Isn't that OK? Maybe it's a good way to keep busy while you're grieving.

I haven't heard any big scare stories about things which go wrong when it's reasonably simple and people deal with it themselves.

My mother was executor of my grandfather's will. She managed everything herself, splitting the proceeds between herself and her two sisters as well as ensuring specific bequests were honoured. She didn't find it particularly onerous and certainly wouldn't have considered that spending over £1000 to avoid it was worthwhile.

It doesn't seem to be an odd thing to do at all.

It seems unnecessarily tight to me, from what was said I get the feeling that if the figure was £250, the solicitor would be dealing with it now. Instead, it's several months on and the whole thing is in limbo.

I could see how if you had the time and capability, you could look upon it as a challenge to research and teach yourself how to do it, however I don't think that's the case here.

I guess I just can't understand the reluctance to spend any money, and instead sit around moaning about it..!

I too have recently acted as executor of my Aunt's estate. I did it all myself. A few forms, an oath, I didn't feel the need to pay a solicitor a fortune either.

Surely it is a waste of £1500 when it is a process that can be done by themselves?

Even though they have inherited a large amount of money/property it doesn't mean they have lost the saving money mentality. If I inherited a large sum I wouldn't want to spend that sort of money when I could have a go myself because it would always seem like a lot even though I could now technically afford it ifyswim.

I hardly think you can liken baking a cake to ensuring the legal transfer of a £300k (or thereabouts) estate! If you screw up a cake at worst you waste maybe £2 worth of ingredients.

www.heritagewills.co.uk/heritage-wills-images/probate-application-pa1.pdf

I found this is less than a minute, read it and it seems a simple enough application to fill in.

Not worth £1500

It's really not any of your business and if you are trying as hard to convince your friend of your point of view as you are in this thread then I think they will get pretty fed up!

What do you think could go wrong, I don't think the government swoops in and takes your house if you screw up a form.

Is £1500 a fortune though? I don't really think it is, not compared to the value of the estate. I'm fairly sure it's about what you'd pay to buy/sell a house of similar value, and I don't know anyone personally who has done their own conveyancing.

£1500 is a bloody fortune to me since my redundancy, so "just finding it" would not be that simple. And conveyancing isnt that hard, it really isnt! If I was ever planning to move again then I would do it myself.

For me yes, even if I was about to inherit a house that could take forever to sell.

and instead sit around moaning about it..!

You haven't mentioned before that they are doing this. That makes a difference. If it is too difficult or you don't want the hassle then clearly it's better to fork out the money, especially as it can come out of the estate once everything else is settled.

My mother didn't find it a problem and certainly didn't moan about it so there would be no reason for her to pay someone else to do it.

Yabu. It's quite a straight forward process. I would have no qualms about doing it myself if I was the beneficiary in this situation. My mum dealt with everything herself on a more complicated inheritance than this and it was fine. If people are competent and confident in their ability to sort out this sort of thing then who are you to decide they are being "tight"?

speaking as an accountant, my sister and I did her dad's probate

and I GREATLY resent the fees that MiL's lawyer has charged for doing it - 5% of the value of the estate even though there is no IHT and nothing is being sold.

THe "Which" book is brilliant. And most hospitals hand out all the forms you need.

Like I said, I'm not a probate lawyer, so I don't know what might go wrong. However at a guess if the ownership of the house isn't correctly transferred, when in future it is sold there could be problems with the title, deeds etc. Obviously if there is any issue with the will not being legally enforceable for any reason, there could be other relatives with a claim on the estate. Ultimately, I'd use a specialist so I didn't have to worry about the what ifs - and I'd also know if THEY did anything wrong, I'd be able to claim via their indemnity insurance.

FWIW, I have had one short conversation on the subject with this person. They gave the response stated in my OP, I said 'well if you change your mind, the offers there, and obviously let me know if there's anything else I can do'. Conversation then moved on - so I didn't labour the point, I do have some compasssion.

I work for the probate registry and there is no reason that a simple case like the one you describe should take months, there's a 28 day turnaround.

And solicitor applications are not necessarily quicker, in fact they can often take longer as when they make mistakes and it's returned to them it delays the application (and puts the cost up)

OP I think you are jealous of this person.

gruffalos
MiLs lawyer has so far taken ten months to do eff all except justify his exorbitant fees
and he was the one who let her write the will that cut DH and the kids out of inheriting any momentoes or chattels at all, let alone part share of her house.

I agree with most people - can't see the point of lining the pockets of solicitors / lawyers when it is a relatively straightforward procedure to follow through yourself.
Mostly my experience of solicitors has been house moves, and they have been dire, to be frank. Hugely expensive for an extremely inefficient lack of service. This isn't one firm - obviously I didn't go back there after my first house move - but seems to be the experience of a lot of people I talk to. Why would I want to get them involved in a straightforward will ?

I think it's up to them whether they want to use a solicitor or not. Sorting out an estate can be relatively straightforward. I think it's not necessarily just a case of whether you want to spend the money on a solicitor or not but also whether you want to use a solicitor or not. A lot of the time it's just paperwork that most of us could manage and the solicitor will charge a lot for that.

I deliberately haven't named a solicitor as executor in my Will as I want my family to be able to choose if they want to use a solicitor and if they do, which one.

The reason it's already been several months is because the beneficiary hasn't taken any action yet, not because the process is slow.