Solicitors fees, is this acceptable?

[name1change1]

We are in Scotland, just in case it matters.

I appointed a solicitor to act on my behalf as executor to a relatives will back in Feb 2025. I handed over everything they needed, including details of a tax return which was just outstanding (should have been filed end Jan 25). It turns out this tax return was not done until recently, despite me chasing it up months ago when I got a sent a penalty for £1800. I was sent it as HMRC had my details from me notifying them of the death. I told the solicitor straight away, and that I wasn’t happy about it. Now I have been told HMRC has been paid and everything else taken care of. I am awaiting the final executory account being sent to me for my approval before final payments are made to beneficiaries.

My question is, if this final paperwork shows that the estate has indeed paid £1800 penalty to HMRC, is this something I can complain about and potentially have ‘sorted’? The solicitor has charged absolutely thousands to manage this but I don’t think they have done it well at all and the liability should be theirs, not the estates, surely?

Was it already late when you gave the solicitors instructions? What would the penalty have been then? Presumably it didn't go straight from £0 penalty to £1800, so where were the penalty notices sent? What was it agreed the solicitors would do and what was the time frame? What were the terms of your retainer?

Yes it was late, it would have been £100. I only received one notice from HMRC, don’t know about any others, perhaps to an old address?

I instructed them to manage the estate and part of that included the tax return. We went through all the details of things to be included (there were several small pensions and a rental property) so it isn’t that they didn’t know.

Yes go through their complaints process. Ultimately you can use the legal ombudsman.

Did you appeal to HMRC? I had a similar problem when DH died, and they waived the fines.

No, because everything had been given to the solicitor so I notified them as they were acting for me. They should’ve appealed it imo, not me as I no longer had any access to/or information.

Thank you, I’m clearly out of my depth and not very good at managing these things. This is what I needed to know, i shall see if I can find out more re the process.