Will and probate - Get a solicitor or do it yourself?

[MyNameIsArthur]

I need to sort out my mum's estate and deal with her will and probate.

My understanding from what my mum told me over the years was that apart from a few bits of jewellery, her estate was to be split equally between my brothers and me, so that bit should be straightforward.

Her estate is her house and some savings, so again that should be straightforward.

Her estate is not enough to attract inheritance tax, so that should also be straightforward.

I read her will but probably because of the wording in legal speak and jargon, I found it a bit difficult to make sense of, but I think the overall gist of it was what my mum said. I've had an initial email communication with the solicitors where the will is held and a solicitor has said that the will is fairly complex. I don't know if this us the case or whether the solicitor is just trying to persuade me to use their legal services.

So should I deal with the will and probate myself or should I use the services of a solicitor to deal with it all?

Do you have a copy of the will? Who are the executors of the will? Is it you and/or your brother?

If so, then you need to make an appt with solicitors to get the original copy of the will, and maybe get them to talk you through it. My mums solicitor tried to tell me she would be doing Probate, but, as our situation was v similar to yours, I told her we would do it ourselves.

If everything is to be split 50:50 and one or both of you are executor(s), then it is very straightforward to do yourself. Probate forms are all online.

There really is no need to have a solicitor do probate if it is straightforward.

My cousin had solicitors as executors, they were painfully slow (my DC were beneficiaries) - took over a year to finalise estate, despite house being sold to a friend within about 4 months. And when they then asked us to take over control of DDs money (she was under 18) they were terrible, very slow, lots of mistakes and generally hard to contact.

Sols will charge a lot, do probate yourself and if you need help with the will pay sol just for that part

Hi Sophie thank you for responding. I have a copy of the will and I am an executor along with the rest of my brothers apart from one because he was living abroad at the time the will was drawn up but is now back in the UK. Everything apart from a few bits of jewellery is to be split equally with my brothers and me.

If I was to use a solicitors I would use a different one to the ones holding the will but I'm not telling them that just yet. They are in a different county to me, my brothers and where my mum ended up in the final years of her life. I also think the will has been made overcomplicated compared to my own will which is a reasonable comparison. I also think the wording in a few areas is clumsy. Finally in reply to my first contact email to say my mum had died and I was enquiring about the will, the reply I got back started with "Morning," without even saying my name and there was no offering sympathy because my mum had died. It seemed rather unprofessional and has put me off.

I echo what everyone else has said and do it yourself. I have done it, very similar situation, house and Savings no tax implications. The forms are easy enough to complete just be methodical in your approach. There is a probate helpline who are really helpful and I dare say you could make an appointment with a solicitor for 30/60 minutes if there are any aspects you are really struggling with.
As you say the solicitors who are holding the will at the moment do not sound overly professional or sympathetic (and it is difficult to deal with in terms of your grief and needing to wind everything up) trust your instincts.

Sorry for your loss 💐

Hi my apologies to everyone who replied and offered advice to me on this thread for not getting back to you earlier and thanking you. I really appreciate your advice, support and kind words, thank you