The Last Will - do i need a solicitor?

Just The One

A friend's dad died recently and is leaving everything to his wife. His daughter is executor of the will and needs to get access to bank accounts as her mother has no money.

Does she need to get a solicitor involved and incur extra expense. What should she do?

grumpytrousers

Yes, she does.

dats_right

grumpytrousers wrote: »

Yes, she does.

That is not correct. She is perfectly entitled to extract a Grant of Probate without recourse to a solicitor, now, whether that is a wise step given the enormous legal responsibilities it is hard to say in the absence of further information. In fact, it may not even be necessary to extract a grant depending on the value of assets involved.

Maximilian

Presumably, there is a house involved and the conveyancing element is certainly not something they can do themselves.

They should get a solicitor however, shop around. With the lack of business these days, I imagine a person can get some pretty competitive quotes.

dats_right

Maximilian wrote: »

Presumably, there is a house involved and the conveyancing element is certainly not something they can do themselves.
.

Again not so. In all likelihood the house was held in joint names, so at common law, on the death of a joint tenant, the property automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant by survivorship. The majority of titles in this State are registered and if this is the case here: Under Rule 101 of the Land Registration Rules1972, where one of two or more persons registered
as joint owners dies, his or her name shall be withdrawn from the register on proof of his or her death. The death may be proved by probate, lettersm of administration or death certificate.

The Land Registry will require:
(a) The application should be on affidavit in the Form set out in the APPENDIX 1 hereto,
(b) accompanied by proof of death.
(c) Original Land Certificate (if issued) must be lodged (Section 105 of the 1964 Act).
(d) Completed Form 17
(e) Land Registry Fees of €25.00.

In order to make good title for the purposes of subsequent sale, remortgage, etc. it would also be necessary to obtain a CAT Clearance Certificate (Form CA11). But, none of this is particularly urgent and could be left to some point in the future when the property is being sold. Many, many people do exactly that i.e. nothing and leave it until it needs to be done when the property is being sold. This would have the advantage of not incurring any fees at this stage.

One thing I do agree with you on Maximillan is that the OP should be able to obtain some pretty competitive quotes from solicitors.

Reloc8

Just The One wrote: »

A friend's dad died recently and is leaving everything to his wife. His daughter is executor of the will and needs to get access to bank accounts as her mother has no money.

Does she need to get a solicitor involved and incur extra expense. What should she do?

I'd say she should go for a chat in the Probate Office - the staff are very helpful - and see how she feels about it following that. If following the chat it all seems very convoluted and difficult, then it would seem sensible to engage a solicitor.

I suppose it does hinge somewhat on the complexity of the particular estate but probably more important is her own confidence in dealing with it alone - a quick dip of the toes down in the Probate Office will probably clarify that for her.

grumpytrousers

dats_right wrote: »

That is not correct. She is perfectly entitled to extract a Grant of Probate without recourse to a solicitor, now, whether that is a wise step given the enormous legal responsibilities it is hard to say in the absence of further information. In fact, it may not even be necessary to extract a grant depending on the value of assets involved.

fair dinkum. What I meant was (and i shouldn't have been so flippant) that in order to get hands on money (and other assets if in the name of the deceased), a grant would be needed and that the will would need probating. Obviously it can be done 'solo' without the need for professional assistance.