Small claims court (Scotland)

[DiggoryDelvet]

Please can anyone help me with a dilemma?

Very condensed version- the solicitors who were supposed to wind up a parent's estate have served me with an action for quite a lot of money.
The letter has to go to the court soon but I don't know what to do.

The CAB wrote to the solicitor to ask what the money is for as the estate has not been wound up (after 4 1/2 years) plus the rest of the money in the estate has apparently gone on legal fees. We have asked for an itemised bill but never received one.

The solicitors have not replied to the CAB and I don't want to admit guilt to something I have no idea about yet I cannot go to court to take on a solicitor. (I can't afford a solicitor for court).

I don't know what has happened to the rest of the estate issues as these solicitors have the notes.

Please can anyone help me?

If I am following you correctly, the solcitors acting for you are now threatening to take you to court to recover unpaid fees to them? Have you had a previous invoice? How long has that amount been outstanding? Why on earth has it taken them so long to wind up the estate?

Thank you Erlack.

We had repeatedly asked for an invoice but the solicitor told us that he had not prepared it so we wrote repeatedly and asked.We have never received an invoice from them.
We spoke to the head of the firm who was rude and said he did not have our file then the court letter arrived out of the blue.
The CAB had written to the firm (beginning of May) to ask what the solicitors were suing for, where the remainder of the estate had gone and why had it taken so long to settle a very straightforward and very modest estate.
The solicitors have not replied to the CAB yet have had 7 weeks to reply.

One beneficiary (who had been excluded from the will) excercised common rights and received a payment but the other named beneficiaries received nothing.

So- you have not actually been billed up to now by this firm in any way and then they are now pursuing you for payment of their fees, is that right? You've received an actual court summons? What does it say by way of detail of the claim?

Sorry for so many questions but I am trying to get the facts straight and it seems pretty odd for a firm to be raising a court action in this way without having made any other attempt to settle the account with you. I would imagine any court would take a very dim view of such a claim unless the firm could show evidence they had made reasonable efforts to claim the money owed from you by other means first.

The actual court summons "For the payment of the sum of £ with interest at 8% annually from the date of service and expenses".

I will categorically state that we did not receive a bill despite repeated written and spoken requests. The will is still unsettled.

The CAB found the whole thing odd.I have letters asking how much the fees were after the firm had sent their fees to the Auditor of Court. It is the first time I have seen this list (ie on the court summons) and that is why I am shocked.

That is absolutely shocking. And very odd. I am reeeeeallly curious to know who the firm is, if you want to PM me. :)

OK, you need to do two things. First, you need to raise this with the firm's client relations partner. Phone and ask for the name of that person and then call them and explain the situation. That partner may not be the same as the head of the firm.

If you get no joy you should make a formal complaint to your solicitor, in writing, prior to the raising it with the Scottish legal Complaints Commission. Take a look at this:
www.lawscot.org.uk/forthepublic/making-a-complaint

Do this separate to any court action.

Secondly, you need to respond to the court summons. You might want to get the CAB to help you with that. Don't ignore it because you could get a decree made against you. Basically you will need to tell the court you are going to defend it. The court will set a hearing so you can go and explain your side of the story. Don't feel intimidated about representing yourself. The court and the clerks won't put your case forward for you but they will give you lots of assistance to keep you right on the procedure. Small claims is designed to be user friendly and for people to represent themselves. I would take copies of any relevant correspondence to show that you tried to find out what was owed and the firm would not tell you. How are you supposed to pay a bill if they don't tell you what to pay?

Erlack, I actually feel sick. The In-Court CAB lady told me not to respond to the court summons as "I owed the solicitors something". I explained to her that we had no proof of what the solicitors had been asking for (plus a query of one item listed which was a copy of the bank statements of the deceased which I paid for myself and handed in to the solicitors).

I told the CAB court woman that we had asked for a breakdown of the costs (only mentioned on the court sheet) but they were not forthcoming.
I am so scared. A decree will have been issued now.

Ok, firstly, do not panic. I may be missing something from the information you were given-I cannot understand why the CAB would advise you to do nothing in response to a court summons!? You do almost certainly owe something but from you are saying you are not disputing that- you are simply asking your solicitors to tell you what you owe so you can pay it!

It should say on the form how long you have to respond. What does it say is the "return" day on the form? It should be on page one in box 6. Did you get a full form 1a?