Probate Solicitors

[Colouringaddict]

Lost our family member last year. I am named as executor of the will. I had always been told by the relative that money had been paid in advance to this company to help me execute said will.

Having never dealt with anything like this before, I notified everyone with the “tell us once” facility. I also notified the bank, utilities etc.

I contacted these Solicitors at that point and they then contacted all the same people that I had already done, total waste of time.

Grant of Probate was signed off last Wednesday, the solicitors have written to the bank so that the account may now be closed. I will now sell the property.

When I spoke to the Solicitor last week, she said that once the bank had forwarded the funds she would then share the money according to the will. I have had a letter from her this morning, recommending that I place all funds into an interest bearing account for 6 months in case there are potential claims under the family provision legislation.

Then she states that there maybe claims by other creditors so they recommend that I place an ad in 2 newspapers at a fee of £200.

I am broke, literally have nothing, I emailed her this morning before receiving this letter to ask for a small advance. She is aware of exactly what cash is coming in as she holds all the information now. I have had no reply.

Do I have to allow the money to sit for 6 months?
Do I have to put an ad in the newspapers?
Can they give me an advance?
These solicitors are currently holding £12,500 without the bank account money which will be around £80,000

I honestly wish now that I had done it all myself

I was also told that when the property is sold, the money has to go through them and they will share it out in accordance with the will.

Do you have any of the deceased's financial peperwork? If the estate was fairly straightforward, is there any reason to think there would be hidden debts?
As an executor/executrix of the will, you do not have to spend any of your own money dealing with settling the will, and can draw reasonable expenses connected with it.

Have to say, I am not a solicitor, just talking from persona experience.

are you named as the only executor or is the solicitor an executor too? Do you know how much the prepaid money wax and what exactly it was supposed to cover?

I had everything, bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills. Once I had written to his private pension etc I had all of that information too. There is nothing I now don’t know about the financial position of my relative. All of the few debts were settled by me from the small amount paid out of his pensions.

I was the only named executor. My relative said they had paid for them to assist me in sorting everything. That wasn’t true they say and their fees are £6637, which she tells me have been settled

In that case tell them to butt out. I am not a legal eagle but I did similar by my choice when my husband died. Solicitor did the jobs I instructed them too because there was some complex stuff and I paid for thise jobs. All of the responsibility for correct distribution of the estate remains with the named executor and they cannot tell you what to do or how to do it, also they cannot hold onto estate monies. My suggestion would be to remind them of this and take back control.

Thankyou @godmum56 . I’ve never dealt with anything like this before, so wasn’t sure what I could do

Sounds like they are relying on that!

It’s all quite normal, but if Solicitors want to put advert in, then this should be paid from them. If the Will isn’t complicated, then they should be able to advance you some money.

I sent her a very abrupt email, following @godmum56 advice, what do you know, within minutes I had a reply agreeing to an advance!
There is no way I will be placing adverts at a cost to me of£200!
Neither will I be forwarding the money for the sale of the property for them to do either

The only thing that I would say about this advert thing is if you have any inkling that there might be a long lost claimant out there, if they turn up after tou have distributed the estate then as executor, you may be responsible for coughing up their share from your own pocket. If you know there are none, as I did, then no need.....and its not you who pays for the ad or for any other estate expenses, its the estate.

Oh and @Colouringaddict well done!

Do I have to allow the money to sit for 6 months?

It isn't compulsory but it is advisable. If you distribute the estate early and there is a mistake, you will be personally liable.

Do I have to put an ad in the newspapers?

Again, not compulsory but advisable. You should advertise to see if the estate owes any money to anyone. If you do not advertise and any claims emerge after the estate has been distributed, you will be personally liable.

We had all the financial peperwork, so knew who would invoicing for payment. When we liquidated all assets, we made sure to make provision for outstanding bills, utilities, carers, telephone etc. and made sure there were funds to cover those. The the monies were distributed to beneficiaries, I think we left about £1000 in the account just in case.

The only bill left is the utility bill , th et lived a very simple life and been quite Ill for a number of years, so hadn’t accrued much debt at all

Sorry if I've misunderstood but have the solicitors costs for probate already been paid or are they going to be charged later? Afaik they are pretty high (banks doing probate often higher).

I was informed that they have already taken their fee! Meanwhile we still didn’t get our interim payment and my emails are yet again being ignored.

IANAL but I did the probate after both my parents' died. I read the Which guide on it and found the HMRC helpline brilliant. As others have said, if it's pretty straightforward and you are confident there are no hidden relatives/claimants and no outstanding debt, I see no reason why you should not do this yourself. It might be worth asking what these solicitors have been paid and what services they will provide in return but many people do act as executors without legal assistance. Sorry for your loss OP and good luck.

Phone the law firm and ask to speak to the complaints handling partner. Hopefully it isn’t the same person! If it is, ask for the Senior/Managing Partner.

They are advising you of best practice, i.e. placing advert and holding on for 6 months. It's advice not instruction, you can choose to ignore it. If you do and you incur liability because eg some debt comes out of the woodwork then they have provided you with the advice and it's your liability. That's your choice, you will have no recourse to say they didn't tell you. The nature of these things is that it covers you for stuff you had no way to be aware of. Could be much more than £200 liability!

The £200 is an estate cost and should be paid out of estate funds. There is a statutory order of payment and estate admin costs (including solicitors' fees) need to be paid first. Otherwise no one would want to do work administering an estate, it's logical.

If you think the fees are excessive, ask for a breakdown. Otherwise, if they've done the work you asked for on the fee basis advised, then I can't see any cause for complaint.

If you want to disinstruct them and ignore their advice then do that. Solicitors are there to provide advice they are paid for. Not to stop people ignoring that advice and making their own (sometimes not great) decisions.

Yes it does seem as though they have acted properly. I'm presuming your relative instructed them to act and it was paid upfront out of the estate? I think the main costs are obtaining the grant of probate. When my dad died the solicitors who did his will assumed they would do probate & didn't advise me otherwise but I gave them the death cert and did it myself, I wonder if this has been the case with you and you've let them act for you out of ignorance that you can 'diy'? When you are greiving and unsure it's easy to get railroaded. When mum died I got a fixed rate fee solicitor as the estate was more complicated. From memory the solicitor wanted around 9k but the fixed rate was 3k and they did a very good job. The advertising in the paper is very sound advice and comes out of the estate.