Advice re Final Account from Solicitor

[Strengthofhope]

I hope someone might be able to advise? We have recently completed a Probate sale on my late Mother’s property. We were quoted £2180.40 and had to pay a £399 deposit. In September we received an invoice from the Solicitor for “Interim Legal Work” which including VAT totalled £399. They stated they would deduct this from the money held on our account. Having completed the sale, I’ve then received a final invoice which lists all their legal fees and amounted to £2348.40. This final invoice makes no reference to the £399 deposit paid, or the “Interim Legal Work” carried out? It almost looked to me that they had “forgotten” to deduct our deposit from the money we owed as all listed fees matched their quote expecting an additional Bank Transfer fee (£54) & a Price Change fee (£114). The difference between the quote & final fee. I phoned them this morning to query this and they state that the £399 paid for interim work and this wasn’t included on the final statement. Am I right in thinking that the final invoice should include ALL the work they have carried out and the fact that we’d paid a deposit? They’ve made me feel that I’m being unreasonable in asking for an invoice that includes ALL work carried out by them showing a final fee less our deposit?

Accounts payables person here, dealt with invoices all the time.

Am I right in thinking that the final invoice should include ALL the work they have carried out and the fact that we’d paid a deposit? They’ve made me feel that I’m being unreasonable in asking for an invoice that includes ALL work carried out by them showing a final fee less our deposit?

IMO no, you aren't. Politely ask for a fully itemised invoice of all work done since you retained them as it appears that your deposit and the interim work has been missed off. Tell them you'd like a statement of everything charged and paid and the dates the work was done for your records to clarify the issue of what you've paid from the start and what you owe. The whole point of paying a deposit is that it comes off the final figure.

In September we received an invoice from the Solicitor for “Interim Legal Work” which including VAT totalled £399.They stated they would deduct this from the money held on our account i.e the deposit. Do you have that in writing?

Can you work out from what they've done what the difference is between what they're charging and what you expect to be paying? what amount do you expect to be paying?

It could be that as the deposit and the interim work were the same figure that they regard them as cancelling each other out, now I come to look at it - in which case they wouldn't refund it, but they still should be shown on a final statement of costs.

OK, have checked your figures and the final invoice comes to quote plus additional charges. Issue seems to be that they haven't included the deposit and interim legal fees, so you have no proof the deposit was used for those or that they were done - on that basis it looks as if they owe you either £ 399 or a full statement of charges and work done from the start - which is what you need to ask for.

Thank you for your reply. You confirm what I was thinking. I contacted initially via email to enquire if the £399 deposit had been missed from the final statement as this seemed to be the only discrepancy between the estimate and the final invoice. They ignored my email! When I phoned they explained that the deposit had gone to pay for the interim work and when I pointed out that this work wasn't listed. They said it wasn't their policy to include it in the final invoice as we'd already been sent a separate invoice for this. They seemed to imply that I was asking too much of them for a final invoice that listed all that we were paying for and how much we had already paid. It all seems slightly suspicious to me!

As you received an invoice for the interim work (presumably showing the payment of the deposit) then they have accounted for everything, albeit not on one final statement. I get a bit anti when companies say 'it's not our policy' because I don't work for them, I'm not bound by how they work.

I'd be insisting on a closing statement showing everything from the start to cover myself but I'm a belt and braces type of girl. 😁

You have already been invoiced for the Interim Legal Work. If they also include it in the final invoice, it will look to the VAT man like you've been invoiced for £2348.40 plus £399 (the interim legal work) plus £399 (the original invoice for the interim legal work). The only way they can show the interim legal work on this invoice would be if they issued a credit note to reverse out the original invoice.

A final statement is another matter. That could include everything. But the final invoice should only include work that you haven't been invoiced for already. And, as your deposit was used against the interim legal work, it won't appear on the final invoice.

A final statement would be fine, but they weren't offering that either. It just seemed very coincidental that the quote and invoice almost matched each other & when I took into account the extra charges that were accountable it looked as though the discrepancy was just the £399 deposit. They've explained that this was interim work, which again coincidentally was £399, but currently I have no record of what the £399 was used for?

Didn't you get an invoice for the £ 399? that should tell you what it was for and that they used the deposit.

The quote at £2180.40 was broken down into £1078.80 Legal fees, £598.80 Leasehold fee, £54 Bank Transfer fee, Archive fee £46.80, Probate fee £358.80 & Land Reg, etc £43.20. The final invoice at £2348.40 was broken down into £1078.80 Legal fees, £598.80 Leasehold fee, £108 Bank Transfer fee, Archive fee £46.80, Probate fee £358.80, Land Reg, etc £43.20 & Price Change fee £114. We were invoiced in the interim for £399 "Interim legal work". I think I'd assumed that this amount would be deducted from the "Legal fees" section of our final invoice, but instead has been classed as additional legal work. I think I've just accepted that this was an unanticipated cost of the legal work they provided for us. It just seemed a coincidence that the cost of this additional work was exactly the same as the deposit we'd paid hence my confusion. Perhaps a clear statement of accounts would have cleared this up for me & I have requested a copy of this for my records! That you everyone for your replies.

You’ve had two invoices. One was paid using the deposit. It would be bizarre to include the first invoice’s charges on the second invoice.

If you want a statement of account that’s different and you need to ask for one.