Hi all. I have been helping my elderly Mother sort out her affairs. During this we have found letter from a solicitor in 1999, confirming safe lodging of documents and a copy of a will. Mother initially said she did not remember this , as she already has a mirror will to my father who died in 1991. It was straightforward, my self and my brother were executors, and aside from some small cash and jewellery gifts, the whole estate was divided equally between their children. This is kept at home in a safe place, but we all know the contents.
This "new" will, is exactly the same, but places the solicitors as executors and trustees. For which I assume they will make their fee from Mums estate. From our conversations with Mum,it looks like she may have been persuaded to do a new will during one of the will month promotions for charity. She is a supporter of several good causes.
It has taken some time to track down the documents, as the firm of solicitors have been bought out multiple times, but we now have and are waiting to speak to somebody about the matter.
Mother has capacity to discuss the matter, This was confirmed at a recent medical check, but we have PoA due to her having increasing problems . She has recently been diagnosed with Dementia so her ability to make decisions wont be there for much longer.
I am cross that she seems to have paid for something she had already, and that people may make money off her estate out of this. That said, How useful would it be in this scenario to have solicitors to act as trustees/executors and how expensive? All her children are adults and her only big asset is her house which is worth under £300K