Probate woes

[Fairyliz]

I am executor for an elderly relative who was widowed, didn’t have children and has a complicated estate.
The solicitor is getting on my nerves for several reasons, eg she seems bemused that I don’t have a copy of the probate for relatives first wife who died over 50 years ago when I was a child.
However we have a final draft which I don’t really understand but I respect her profession judgement. However she has told me that I need to understand it all as I will have to sign the documents and basically if it’s incorrect it’s my fault!

Now if I knew how to complete all of the paperwork why would I have appointed a solicitor, I could have done it myself and saved thousands of pounds.
Is this correct? Will I be in trouble with HMRC if the figures are wrong?
As you might imagine I am regretting taking this on. My advice to anyone is never be an executor.

The solicitor could have ordered a copy of the will and the grant of probate using the Probate Office's on-line search in about 2 minutes, all that is needed is the name and the rough date of death or the approximate date probate was granted. Of course it would be cheaper to do it yourself. I suspect that solicitors see will/probate and POA's as a nice little earner, that they can get a paralegal to deal with, while charging the full rate for an equity partner.

oh dear you seem to have chosen a duff solicitor....or maybe they were named in the will?. She is right that you need to understand what you will sign but she should be capable of explaining it to you. I was in a similar situation with parts of my late husband's estate. There were parts of the work that I could not have completed but the solicitor explained what he had done sufficiently that I could do my part. Is there any way you could change solicitor?