Essentially, my granny passed away in early February and her solicitor has been supposedly putting things in order and organising probate. There was a small estate (classed as small, from what I've found online so far, because it came in at under £300,000) but the solicitor failed to locate around £60,000 of it despite having formerly notified the people it was invested with, that my mother had power of attourney. Anyway that's a side issue, but still, they haven't been able to give any kind of explanation OR apologised for their error.
Anyway - mum was in on Tuesday, she was under the impression this was to sign the forms to release the funds, but it transpired that the solicitors hadn't even applied for probate yet.
Basically, I'm trying to get a clearer idea of accepted timelines for this kind of thing (there is a will which was witnessed by, and produced in conjunction with, the solicitor in question, so it should have been relatively straightforward from that point of view) as it seems to me that *counts* four months is a little long to wait before even applying for probate. Considering their other oversights and incompetances both before and after my granny passed away, I have a feeling they are trying to put one over on an old lady and a dead lady or at best, trying to get away with the bare minimum of effort.
It sounds like they're certainly guilty of poor communication if nothing else. It's reasonable to ask the question of why they haven't applied yet.
They may be waiting for information from other parties which isn't being forthcoming - before they can apply they need to have the full picture of the estate's assets and liabilities to go on the inheritance tax form which I believe has to go in at the same time.
This company has been my grandmother's solicitor for years and is in posession of all her financial paperwork.. and have been for a long time.
I've asked the question on the forum you suggested; I'm hoping someone will be able to give me a better idea of what's going on before tomorrow - they haven't confirmed receipt of my identity for the small legacy that I've been left yet, so I want to make sure that's going to happen (I'm already having to cancel going away next month because the money won't be through in time) but I want to have a good idea of what's happening before I speak to them. If I lived closer I would be going in with my mum.. she's currently pretty much penniless and the bank won't extend her overdraft until the solicitor confirms the inheritance that's due. Needless to say the woman agreed to do it straight away and then went AWOL.
Anyway - mum was in on Tuesday, she was under the impression this was to sign the forms to release the funds, but it transpired that the solicitors hadn't even applied for probate yet.
Basically, I'm trying to get a clearer idea of accepted timelines for this kind of thing (there is a will which was witnessed by, and produced in conjunction with, the solicitor in question, so it should have been relatively straightforward from that point of view) as it seems to me that *counts* four months is a little long to wait before even applying for probate. Considering their other oversights and incompetances both before and after my granny passed away, I have a feeling they are trying to put one over on an old lady and a dead lady or at best, trying to get away with the bare minimum of effort.
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They may be waiting for information from other parties which isn't being forthcoming - before they can apply they need to have the full picture of the estate's assets and liabilities to go on the inheritance tax form which I believe has to go in at the same time.
Or they may just be being crap.
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I've asked the question on the forum you suggested; I'm hoping someone will be able to give me a better idea of what's going on before tomorrow - they haven't confirmed receipt of my identity for the small legacy that I've been left yet, so I want to make sure that's going to happen (I'm already having to cancel going away next month because the money won't be through in time) but I want to have a good idea of what's happening before I speak to them. If I lived closer I would be going in with my mum.. she's currently pretty much penniless and the bank won't extend her overdraft until the solicitor confirms the inheritance that's due. Needless to say the woman agreed to do it straight away and then went AWOL.
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