Complaining to solicitor's ombudsman-worthwhile?

[MarjoriefromHemelHempstead]

Would the solicitor's ombudsman be effective in these circumstances?

I am a beneficiary in a will and I think that the firm of solicitors dealing with the estate is doing a poor job.

1. It's taking years to bring it to a settlement and I'm talking years. No specific reason has been given for the length of time it is taking other than them saying its complicated.

1. Communication. I have had letters and emails ignored, which is unprofessional. I also hardly ever get anything from them updating me on the status of the estate.

I understand that trying to get a new firm on the case could be a lengthy and costly process, so I'm not wanting to go down that route.

Would the ombudsman be able to get them to pull their finger out and just do their job?

The Legal Ombudsman would look at this but you need to go through the solicitor’s formal complaints process first.

@Amonthinthecountry I submitted a complaint to the solicitor some time ago and nothing changed or improved as a result.

Do you know if it was dealt with as a formal complaint? At the end of the final email/letter from them relating to the complaint, did it say if you’re still unhappy, you can now escalate your complaint to the Ombudsman? If so, I’d submit a complaint to the Ombudsman. If not, I’d still give them a call and ask for advice.

@Amonthinthecountry thanks, that's a good point, I'll review that correspondence.

I don't know if it's changed, but when I worked in law (around 7 years ago) my law firm had to pay a fee every time a complaint was referred to the ombudsman - whether they were found to be at fault or not.

So saying you're considering referring it to the ombudsman might shift things

I'd state this in writing along with a brief timeline of your case, failure to tackle issues or respond to complaint

And BTW - a complaint like this (with complaint written on it in caps, doesn't hurt) might mean a case handled by an underqualified paralegal would be passed up the chain to be handled by a more capable solicitor

who knows what's going on at your firm, mine used to have one solicitor supervising about 40 paralegals, none of us knew much and were various gradations of hopeless! But a stiff complaint might get handled by that solicitor from that point

@AuntieJune thanks you. Yes, it's got the feeling of a firm that can't be bothered

@MarjoriefromHemelHempstead did you make the complaint and if so did it help? Considering doing the same
..

There may well be reasons for the delays, but if you're a residuary beneficiary, you're entitled to receive updates that explain that.

To complain to the legal ombudsman, as others have said, you need a final response to a formal complaint to the law firm. There are, unfortunately, very long delays with the ombudsman service too (as in years).

You could consider instructing your own solicitor to write a letter requesting a proper update and timescale for payment. You'd need to pay them separately, though. Whether it's worth you doing that will depend how much you're due from the estate.

@SuperEight no, never got round to it.

@littlespeckledfrog thank you. That's worth considering.

Who are the executors? Isn’t the executors who provide beneficiaries with updates. Unless in executor is a solicitor?