Wonder if you could advise on the following and let me know if the family are expecting too much or if we're within our rights.
Back story. Mum died November 2018 and my Sister and BIL were dealing with the estate and assisting my Mum's partner who was classed as vulnerable (for ease, call him Dad). Estate was easy to settle as everything was left to Dad.
Fast forward to August 2019 and BIL died (expected) but prior to that advised everything had been settled and only thing outstanding would be for me to be made PoA for Dad once BIL died. Obviously Sister had a lot to deal with but come September 2019 I started to ask where we were in the PoA process and then it became apparent that the money from the estate (approx £130k) hadn't been transferred to Dad and he was getting very anxious.
Sister tried getting in touch with solicitors but phone calls weren't being returned. End of November 2019 I asked if she wanted me to step in and play bad cop!
Managed to get an appointment, which was cancelled due to solicitors own family bereavement and so rearranged for a week later. She came into the meeting having not done any of the PoA and with prior agreement, I advised that they weren't to work on the account anymore, we would go somewhere else to get it done and we wanted the money transferring to Dad. Promised that this would be done by 5pm that day.
Lot of phone calls within the next 24hrs when the money didn't appear and very unprofessional phone calls from solicitor advising how stressed they were (this is a one man band firm). Money finally received however ignored my request for full statement of account.
I raised a formal complaint to the solicitors early December and gave 7 days to respond. Unfortunately, Christmas and the death of FIL resulted in me not picking this back up until early Jan 2020. No response was received, so I chased for full statement and also raised a complaint with Legal Ombudsman.
Within 24hrs received a statement but I don't think it's correct and poorly laid out but I can't find anywhere were it advises what should be on there.
It basically says:
Estate Account
Monies due - £130711
Interest - £43.98
Monies due to you - £129635.90
There are no dates on there and doesn't advise at what rate the interest is paid at and over what period. Am I wrong to think the above is insufficient and if so, what should we be asking for.
They've acted very poorly to my Dad and we want to ensure that he has got all that he is entitled to.
Thank you for your help in advance