My dad passed away in February. He lived in a house owned jointly by him and my disabled sister (no mortgage outstanding). His will stipulated that his share of the property plus all his belongings, money etc was to go to disabled sister, bar a couple of very small/no monetary value bequests to a couple of family members.
Myself and my DB are executors and my sister (the main beneficiary) let dad's solicitor know when he passed so the legal process could be started. Everything has now been largely sorted by me and DB - pensions informed and stopped (nothing owed or outstanding) and a small death benefit/funeral policy claimed and all debts settled from that.
I have the balance from the funeral payment in my account and planned to transfer this to my sister now everything has been paid. However, the solicitor wants me to pay £400 now (which might be refunded apparently) and has advised that the minimum bill for sorting probate/the estate etc will be £1200. As far as I can see, the solicitor hasn't done anything other than send us a copy of the will and ask for the contact details of the beneficiaries.
All beneficiaries have received the items they were to receive (a watch to a friend, a painting to a neighbour) - organised by us and have had no contact from the solicitor.
My sister already lived in the house and had all bills etc in her name. Other than the bit of cash left over from the plan, there was no money as dad was in a care home for the last few years of his life and the savings disappeared to pay for that.
My question is, do we need to instruct the solicitor to go anything else (and end up with a bill) or can we just pay whatever is owed up to now and call it done? Or will this adversely affect my sister in some way?