How long should it take for an estate to be distributed?

[Nandiniti]

My DM had an entirely uncomplicated estate - her property plus a small amount of cash, all well under the nil rate band, no gifts or transfers etc etc.

She had a will and named a solicitor as executor - probate came through quite quickly, and although it's taken 18 months, there was finally an offer on the property and it completed a couple of weeks ago.

The solicitor has been wilfully bloody obtuse and non-communicative since DM died, although to be fair I am "just a beneficiary" so I have no rights. It's just that I was POA when DM fell ill with Alzheimers, and I managed everything for her for two years including arranging care for her when she could no longer stay at home. This solicitor has known me and DB since we were teenagers, and was a friend of DMs, so I thought she would at least keep me informed - but I had to remind her several times to send me her TOB (as she sent all other beneficiaries except me); had to beg her to liaise with the property manager to pay for a plumbing issue; and I wasn't even allowed to arrange for clearance of the flat, she insisted that she would need photographs and a valuation of every single item. 12 months later when the flat hadn't sold and I'd moved 200 miles away, she allowed the property managers to arrange clearance without any such valuation.

So whilst I'm faintly aggrieved that things weren't handled a little better and she wasn't a bit more human, I'm glad it's all done now - but based on my (limited) knowledge of managing a client account, surely the funds should be distributed to the beneficiaries virtually immediately once everything has completed?

It's not the money, it doesn't matter to me if it turns up tomorrow or in six months, I just don't want that bloody pompous solicitor to get one over on me drag it out even further and inflate her fee.

How long is deemed reasonable for a non-complex distribution?

After one year, known as executors year you can go to court to have her removed.

I sympathise, my dad died a year ago and despite having a very clear Will it’s still not finalised. My mother died 3 months later and it’s barely underway despite an even simpler will.
Bl... solicitor is utterly useless, £250 an hour, plenty of excuses like ‘I’m working from home with three small children’, ‘I’ve had COVID and I’m still feeling poorly’.
I’ve had no updates whatsoever from her at any point, she doesn’t answer emails or phone messages.
Sick, sorry and tired of the whole shebang.
At this rate I reckon March 2022 at the earliest 🤬

My dad died in April last year. He had a diy will. I was his only beneficiary. My dh and I were executors. I filled out the probate forms myself and Probate came through in August. I think it was all so easy because there was no solicitor!
Selling the house was difficult because my solicitor changed three times because of Covid and furlough. The one we ended up with was incredibly busy covering the absent solicitors. Our buyers solicitor was a complete pain. He finally got a new solicitor and the sale went through in less than six weeks. His house was on the market from October and finally sold in April this year.
I was like you and had PoA for my dad but was told it made no difference as PoA ceases on death. Annoying as I had managed everything for him until that point.

When my DMs estate was settled, the house was sold mid April, an interim payment was made at the beginning of May and the residual balance of the estate was paid in July. The house sale went through 12 months after DM died so the house sale was the final thing to be sorted. The Executors were a legal firm acting on behalf of a High Street bank (DM was a bank pensioner). Clearing the house out was left to us to do - although the Executor's rep did visit to give it all the once over first.

It was a long time ago (over 30 years) so things may have changed since, but when my PIL died they left very simple wills - everything was coming to my husband, their only child, no IHT payable, so he did the executor work with a bit of help from me. It was pretty straightforward, and finalised in well under a year (can't remember now, may have been just a few months). I'd be reluctant to pay a solicitor in a similar case unless I just had no time to tackle it myself.

I had no idea that I wasn't executor as I didn't read the will properly until after she died, which was May last year - as I was POA I had already put the flat on the market, as her care was burning up the cash super fast. It was so weird living and breathing everything to do with mum when she first got poorly, all the dramas and the dark times while we tried to keep her at home, the agony of moving her into care, then her getting sepsis just after lockdown started so I couldn't visit her in hospital, and finally getting to see her one last time when she was no longer talking and then seeing her body and clearing out her room.

And then literally overnight, I had to hand everything over and lost all control, to a solicitor that won't give me the time of day. In a fit of grief and annoyance I put all her paperwork, her house keys and her bank cards in an envelope and sent them the lot. All I had was her handbag which still had biscuit crumbs in it.

Anyway, we have digressed somewhat - I think my original question was, assuming all the legal work has been done over the last 19 months, the property sale has completed so the money is in the solicitors clients account and all that remains is to farm it out - how long can she legitimately string out the simplest estate ever?

I thought the money couldn't sit in the account for long at all, I thought there were SRA rules.

*Client Account

I’ve today finished the accounts for the estates for my DF and DM (passed away in Jan and April this year) which included liquidating all assets (including selling their house). Distributions taking place next week once beneficiaries have signed off the final accounts.

So it can be done much quicker but I suspect an executor who is not a beneficiary doesn’t have much incentive to work fast.

It does sound like the solicitor is stringing you along. No doubt the longer she takes the bigger her charge? I found it incredibly frustrating dealing with our very simple house sale and all the solicitor hold ups. Your situation is awful. If I was in your position I would find another solicitor to take over. You can get advice here.

www.lawsociety.org.uk/en/public/for-public-visitors/using-a-solicitor/complain-about-a-solicitor

Mr DF passed away end of June this year. I am executor and probate took 10 days (don't know if that was a fluke!) and just finishing off the last few bits now. The longest is employing a solicitor to transfer the house title to mum! I'm an IFA though so have an advantage of being able to move things along especially with pension providers and insurance companies. Simple will, everything to mum.

She had a will and named a solicitor as executor - probate came through quite quickly, and although it's taken 18 months, there was finally an offer on the property and it completed a couple of weeks ago.

I can't comment on your solicitor's conduct but we would be getting final utility accounts at this point and usually start paying out about a month after completion (assuming all the other assets have already come in).

My father passed away in August
I used a probate firm rather than a solicitor to the the probate form for me so it was done correctly but I am in full control of everything
My father had a will I’m the executor there was some cash and a house
house has been sold STC but obviously need probate certificate
I get weekly updates from the firm and probate was applied for about a month ago so I’m hoping to get it by the new year

Just to update I received the probate certificates yesterday so probate took from
5th oct to 24th November
So just over 7 weeks to get probate which I’m very impressed with
I used probate firm Farewill and the service and communication I received from them was first class
It cost £750 in total to do a full inheritance tax form
I did my mums myself but as my dads was a full inheritance tax form and a bit more complicated I was happy to pay this to make sure it was done correctly