Solicitor fees

[holdmybeer]

Sorry its so long but I want to give the full background.

DM died in June after a short illness. DB and I were left quite shaken up.

We instructed solicitors (large national firm) to obtain a grant of probate and I signed and returned the terms of engagement without fully understanding them. These state that professional charges would be a minimum of £1,200 plus VAT and disbursements however as it was a complex case fees were expected to be between £1,500 and £2,000 and the statement "I will let you know if our costs are likely to increase above this level"

I emailed a week or so later to clarify the fees and received a comprehensive email stating that the solicitor would undertake the work on a fixed fee basis with an upper limit of £2,000 plus VAT and disbursements which would total approx £3,000. We thought this was steep but we were both emotionally drained and could not face tackling it ourselves at that time so agreed to go ahead feeling it would be money well spent.

There have been numerous delays some down to DB and I but a lot down to solicitors. We have had to chase them at every stage and despite regular contact, were surprised to receive an automatic reply at the end of October simply saying our solicitor had left and to contact a general number to find out who had taken over our case. I emailed our new solicitor advising that I thought they now had all the information that they needed and heard nothing for 3 weeks when I chased them again. At this point our new solicitor made contact and advised that our case is not as straight forwards as first thought (despite everything being laid out at our initial engagement meeting) and a more complex application would be required.

We are now advised that our case is far more complex than first thought and they have had to revise the fee to a standard charge of £1,500 plus time spent (this is already over £4,000!) Plus VAT and disbursements taking us to approximately £7,500 to date and the work is not even finished yet!

Obviously we're not happy with this and have had it referred to the head of department who has agreed to waive the £1,500 and only charge time spent but this still feels wrong.

What are our options now? I'm not prepared to pay even £2,000 for what amounts to basic admin. I am at a point where I want to ask for the paperwork back and just deal with it myself. Can I do this? Could I still be charged for time spent despite this not being agreed by us?

Please can anyone offer any advice?

Ask for a detailed print our of the time on the clock. You should not pay for duplication (new sol reading in) or tasks done by a sol that a PA could do. See how far the bill brings down the costs.

Approach another solicitor and ask for a quote to compare.

Finally, the general rule is you shoulsn't have to pay more than quoted. The ombudsman might be able to give you some useful info.

Beware that solicitors can exercise a lien over documents for unpaid fees, i.e. you don't get your docs back till you have paid your fees.

Did the email with the 3k fixed fee include any assumptions? Did it use the words 'fixed fee'? If it didn't include assumptions (or the ones included weren't breached) and it says fixed fee I would stand your ground. They're trying it on.

There may have been a time assumption in there, in which case challenge on any delays that are down to them.

Also even if it said 'estimate' then say you're not paying for any time incurred over and above the agreed fees before they notified you of the need to increase fees.

Thank you. Mumsnetters are a knowledgeable bunch.

The email states "based on the information received to date, I am able to continue to undertake the work required on a fixed fee basis, up to an upper limit of £2,000 plus VAT and disbursements" which clarifies things even further as the new solicitor is saying that our case requires a more complex form due to things they have known about since the initial meeting which was prior to this email.

We feel they are no longer working in our best interests and frankly are morally corrupt preying on people at vulnerable times.

Get back to them and explain you intend to hold them to the fixed fee, and to deal with your case promptly. If they fail to agree to hold themselves to that you should make a formal complaint and when you’ve exhausted the complaints procedure you can take your case to the Legal Ombudsman,

They're not being morally corrupt - looks like someone got the fixed fee wrong do they're trying to recover it. When lawyers have to 'write off' time (ie charge less time than they've spent) they're usually under massive pressure to get at least some of it back.

Just reply forwarding the email and say you've gone back through correspondence and as this matter was quoted for on a fixed fee basis (see attached email) you expect them to honour that agreement.

Although I should say that it sounds low to me (not a probate lawyer but currently dead long personally with an estate) - someone mucked up - but that's not your problem. If you'd had the higher quote initially you might have shopped around more.

If the £2000 fee quoted was to do all the work to conclusion of the case then they haven't held up their end of he bargain. Ask for a Costs and disbursements breakdown within the next 7 days - records are computerised and this should be easy. If you don't get it or aren't satisfied contact the Law Society in London for advice
Costs sound very steep for obtaining a straightforward grant of private tbh

dealing not dead long. Sorry for the inappropriate typo