Dealing with Solicitors

[pp111]

A relative died a year and three months ago, leaving a simple will and choosing a local solicitors as the executive.

The relatives house has been sold and the solicitors have sat on the money for some ten months, waiting to see if anyone is to come forward that is not mentioned in the will.

Contacting them a few days ago, they are still unable to give a date when the will is to be concluded. Apparently they over-paid on the tax and that needs to be claimed back, and there is an issue with some items that need to be sold.

Thing is that this seems to be a ridiculous amount of time, especially when you consider they still have no idea of final dates and so on.

One of the worst things is how vague they are about delays, costs and so on. They clearly just want to take their time and have no real idea what they are doing or how much it will cost.

I don't want to incur costs chasing them, but seems to me they are doing a really bad job. How do I get them to move a bit faster?

 

[pp111]

you’d be within your rights to complain if they have not been transparent with you over fees and their costs. Alternatively you could request a costs schedule to see where they’ve been spending the cash. You could also ask what future costs are involved and what timescales are involved.

seems a bit unfair if they’re charging without saying what for and giving you no idea on how the costs are likely to be incurred.

They avoid every question that is asked of them. They either just don't answer questions or the do so with a really vague answer. We are completely in the dark.

 

[pp111]

Turns out ( when pressed ) they have done nothing in the past nine months. You will be glad to know it's Covid's fault. I also talked to an old friend who happens to know the legal system well and he basically said that unless they are really incompetent it is not worth trying to do anything about it. The main issue is that it was the relative who signed them up to do the job and should have ensured that their terms were acceptable. I guess the lesson there is if you intend to get a solicitor to act as executor don't just assume they will do a good job. Find out how long they take and how much they charge.