my Dad died last month and he'd willed everything to my Mum,However,her name isn't on the deeds of the house......

[cutekids]

so she went to the solicitors yesterday and he said that-because of this-it has to go to "probate".Apparently,she has to have this printed up in the London Gazette and a local paper of ours incase anyone "wants to come forward"...!?!Dad paid off the mortgage years ago and,as far as he was concerned,everything was to go to my Mum and subsequently Me. She's really worried and it's going to cost her £7000.00 too!!!!Is this all correct?

thankyou Katz.funnily enough,that doesn't seem to be bothering her(although by no means is she flush!)as much as the fact that she has to have this announcement put in the paper.she keeps saying that people will think they weren't married etc. must admit,from i've seen,you only usually have to have an announcement put in when someone dies "intestate" not when the will is so,so uncomplicated.

Are you sure this bloke is a qualified solicitor, ck? He wasn't just minding the office for a few minutes when your mum went in

(I'm sorry about your dad btw, meant to say that before - it seems awful that when you're dealing with bereavement you have to pile straight in to this stuff )

oh yes,he's been in the same office for years....think he dealt
with mine and hubbie's wills too.mum said he was a bit eccentric and talked very posh...if it's the same one we had, I actually started giggling uncontrollably-think I was pregnant at the time-as his voice didn't match his body if you know what I mean.Plus,neither of us could understand what the hell he was talking about most of the time!Think he likes to blind with science...!!!Actually,as a rule,my Mum is very able to take things in and listen properly to what's being said so he probably was just babbling a load of legal jargon.

It sounds like what he has said is right. My mother's lawyer charged about £20,000 4 years ago by the way. This time round we're doing my father's estate ourselves and I have already put in about 55 hours of time so don't underestimte the time spend on it. On the other hand at least we have control of it.

It really depends on what assets your father left as onceinalifetimes said when my father died it entailed a few hours filling in the form, an appointment at the probate court and cost me under £100.

basically,a house worth about 120,000;some savings and a few odds and ends.nothing terribly complicated at all.wish he was still here though.

I'm sure you do and you have my deepest sympathy but your mother shouldn't be ripped off.

....7k?

It sounds like a royal rip off.

DIY probate is perfectly possible for a few hundred pounds.

..when I claimed letters of administration (the equivalent of probate where there is no will) after Mrs Goth snuffed it I couldn't face this and got a solicitor to do it. I am told that my final bill of £1.5 k was expensive, even though it involved a prolonged wrangle with a life insurance company.

....there are sharks out there ready to fleece the bereaved. Well done for protecting your Mum!

It's a rip off.

When my fil died intestate - no will, my dh and his sister got a book (which you may even get from your library) and did the probate themselves. And NO, they didn't put an add in the newspaper ( I mean, fgs why would you do that?)

The Solicitor is ripping you off big time.

As someone else said, contact Hulababy. Her dh is indeed a probate solicitor and is lovely. He has done several will related things for me by phone and email (I am in America) and is very efficient and reasonably priced. He is also apparently very good at communicating with the elderly as he managed to explain everything very clearly to my mil to her satisfaction and she usually complains about everyone.

My dad died intestate, with an estate of c £200K (house, shares, savings, insurances etc etc) & a local solicitor sorted it out - because of his 3 children 2 live 250 miles away & the 3rd wasn't up to the job - & it cost nothing like £7K.

Will try to find documents.

hulababy's hubby is great, i'll point hula in this direction.

Hi

Have contacted you via CAT.

Please feel free to have a chat with DH to talk it through

I am a mortgage adviser and if the deeds are in your dads name then it just means that this was one of your dads assets to be added to his estate...whoever he left his estate to (presumably your mum from what you say_ will then be the beneficiary. Just borrow a book from the library thats what my mum did when she sorted out my grandads estate...all that happens is all the assets (eg house, money, investments, life insurance proceeds) etc are added up and then any debts(outstanding mortgage, loans, bills) are deducted and then the remainder gets distributed as stated in his will...its quite simple.

Your solicitor sounds like a crook!

xxx