Probate solicitors/specialist recommendations

[LFBash]

My father passed away almost two months ago and I am an executor of his estate.

Due to a variety of genuine reasons, including having to care for a severely ill relative, haven't made much progress with probate but am acutely aware that time is not on my side and I need to push on with it.

However, am really struggling with finding a solicitor or specialist who I am comfortable with in terms of competence and pricing - as soon as I think I have found one, a Google search throws up a bad review(s) which then throws me off course.

The estate is relatively large so warrants hiring someone as opposed to a DIY approach.

Would genuinely welcome some advice/guidance/recommendations as am somewhat overwhelmed by it all but feel, perhaps naively, I could still get back on track if I act swiftly.

TIA.

[fca2019]

I'd ask around friends and family so see who people recommend.

Have you done the valuations? This is the donkey work of phoning round, sending death certificates and getting values at date of death of investments back. You save yourself a lot of fees doing this step and it's not difficult. Then pass to solicitor.

[Dod101]

I suppose I would try to discover who drew up the Will. That might be a good starting point although you also want some firm which is relatively local. Asking around for recommendations is the best way and you do not want to leave it! Best to get things underway as soon as you can or someone will need to spend time disentangling what has gone on between the date of death and seeking Probate and if you are tied up with other matters that may not be you.

Good luck

Dod

[Chrysalis]

Have you met with the people on your shortlist? I’d make your own decision rather than put too much weight on internet reviews. A recommendation from someone you know is also a good starting point.

We had solicitors, boy they were slow, but they did the job competently and certainly earned their fees, which were transparently quoted and actually came in less than we had feared. I suspect they were a little over cautious in their quotation, which is actually a good thing, so don’t necessarily go with the cheapest. It’s important you get the measure of who you are dealing with too and can establish a reasonable working relationship.

[Avantegarde]

When my father died I employed a local high street solicitor who was a one-man band. Despite being very affable it became clear he didn't know much about probate (that is a polite way of saying he was incompetent) and was excruciatingly slow. My advice: use the services of a big but local high street firm which has an actual department dealing with probate work, headed by a partner who knows what his or her staff should be doing.

[deadeyedjacks]

STEP is the society for specialists in probate and inheritance matters.
https://www.step.org/step-directory
Find one near you with the above link.

[AndyPandy]

My father died just under a year ago and we got a price from a local Solicitor, the one my parents had used for years for general matters.

Their fees shocked me somewhat, including 1% based on the Estate value, nothing to do with work actually carried out. I queried it on this Forum and got some very helpful replies:

https://lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16965

I went back to my parents' Financial Advisor and he suggested a Company (not a Solicitor) in Bristol that just dealt with Probate. That's all they do. They have minion people for the grunt work and more qualified people to oversee and clarify.

Long story short, we're just approaching the end now with Probate being granted and I cannot rate them highly enough. For what they are charging (about £3.5K compared to the thick end of £10K with the Solicitor) I, my sister and my mother think they are worth every penny. They have kept us informed with monthly emails, we have a login to their website to check progress and, apart from supplying the obvious information, they have done everything else.

They are listed on the Step Directory, linked to, above. Don't know if it's done to mention the Company directly, but should you use the Name search for someone that is Toogood to be true, I think you might just find the Company. Or DM me and I'll spill.

[Avantegarde]

Be aware: After probate is granted the assets still need to be liquidated and gathered in, which may take time and involve hassle; and there may be more tax to pay (by the executor) on behalf of the estate for the period of administration, covering the time from date of death to whenever the estate is completely wound up.

[scrumpyjack]

The approach my brother and I took with my mother's estate was to engage a local firm to deal with the IHT return on an hourly rate basis. We would spoon feed them all the information and it would be our name on the return, not their firms. This enabled us to reject their attempt to have a percentage fee because, as they weren't signing the return, they could not claim they were at risk.

This all worked very well and the total costs were a small fraction of what they would have been had we accepted their initial proposal.

[Chrysalis]

We also paid an hourly rate, although it did work out in the end to about 1% of the estate. However, the advice we got definitely paid for itself.