SOLICITORS, I JUST NEED A ROUGH QUOTE

[stickyj]

So I know I'm not been done (no idea how much this will cost). I just need a letter to go to a Building Society. My Dad, one other, myself and my DH are trustees on an account for the four kids. Well, three of them cos it was set up before No 4 arrived! My DH and me now have POA over my lovely Dad and No 2 child needs money for Uni.

Apparently, we can't be trustees and POA so need to get my Dad taken off the "list" so we can then access the moeny for No2 child. We also need to add, I think, nos 3 and 4 children so they can have an equal share. No 1 child is a total disaster so we haven't told him about this policy as he will just waste it .

Is there a rough ballpark figure you could maybe give me as to how much this would cost? We are broke so don't have much spare cash to sort it out. If it's just a letter, ok legal letter but just a letter, how much would be looking at approx?

Sorry if it sounds cheeky but I trust people on here to be honest

Hopeful bumping

Shall I change the title to "I need your help" cos everyone's ignoring me

Sorry you're being ignored but I would think this is quite a specialised thing and the right person may not be around at the moment.

Bump.

I do more "corporate" law but would imagine anything up to £4-500. Although, does the letter really need to come from a solicitor or could you draft something with help of CAB (or a free representation unit)?

Thanks, I thought my quote was high but this is higher. Can I ask, very respectfully, why it's so high for a letter? Does it have to be "lodged" somewhere cos if it's just constructing a letter/typing it etc then I think that's really steep.

I think it does need to be done legally but I might try Citizen's Advice legal bit to see if we could do it ourselves (like a will draft).

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I don't think it is quite as simple as "writing a letter". I would imagine you would need a deed of appointment and retirement to get a new trustee in place of your dad. I could be (and probably am) totally wrong though. What sort of trust is it?

Solicitor's letters aren't sold like widgets. Thought goes into them, and what you pay for is the advice.

Not my area of law, though not sure that you need a solicitor to advise when all you need is a letter written. Why not do it yourself? Words don't assume a magical significance just because they are contained in a solicitor's letter.

Is no1 child not getting any money then? Where did the money originate from, is it an inheritance?

Has your dad lost mental capacity? What sort of power of attorney do you have?

You cannot remove a trustee who has lost mental capacity without an Order from the Court of Protection, so could the quote be to arrange for this?

If you have an old style 'Enduring Power of attorney' then you would need to have it registered if your dad is no longer able to manage his affairs. A Lasting Power (new EPAs can't be granted any more, I can't remember when the law changed possibly October 2007??) has to be registered before it can be used and would normally be registered as soon as it is granted (although this isn't compulsory).

Impossible to say what needs to be done (and therefore what it might be likely to cost) on the basis of the info you've given so you would need to give more explanation really....

There are a couple of things you need to do:

1. A deed of retirement for the 'Dad' - but is it a LPA they have for him or just a normal PoA?? The Trust Deed would usually not permit someone who has lost mental capacity to continue as a trustee.

2. Do you wish to give Capital or Income to the university child? Is the trust discretionary, as you seem to imply, or is it going to vest at a certain age/on certain events regardless? You need to have a Deed of Appointment and, depending on the type of trust, there may be tax implications.

3. Amending the trust to include another child again depends on the Trust Deed. Some discretionary trusts are wide enough to include them, but others are not and will require restructuring or a completely new trust to be formed.

This isn't a simple matter of a letter and depending on the contents of the Trust Deed could take hours to do. We could meet you for a consultation at fixed rate or if send over the documents give you a better idea