Dispatching of a will

Raytown Rocks

HI guys

Just looking to see if anyone round these parts know about this stuff.

My Dad passed away last year leaving a will, with his solicitor.
The solicitor has dispatched the will and is just about complete on the probate.
The will is split between 5 of us all siblings.
His estate is shared equally, house plus savings.
( not sure if you need values of them) and its a bog standard house.

The charge we are told will be €4000 plus vat at 23%.

Can anyone tell me if this is a reasonable/cheap/expensive amount to be paid to the solicitor.

Cheers

chef

Raytown Rocks

Found a few links myself, but still interested if anyone has done this recently

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=47054

mathepac

Are you sure? That round-sum figure sounds like the solicitor's fee + VAT, but there are outgoings as well, payable to the Probate Office, etc and presumably to estate agents, etc if the house is to be sold. Ask again what will the outgoings amount to and if they are included in the €4k.

If the will is straight forward with no lumps or bumps the it sounds expensive. Is the solicitor the executor, because if so there may well be executor expenses as well (executors cannot charge fees but may be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in performing their duties)?

coylemj

chef wrote: »

The charge we are told will be €4000 plus vat at 23%.

Can anyone tell me if this is a reasonable/cheap/expensive amount to be paid to the solicitor.

It's kinda too late now, you should/could have negotiated the fee with the solicitor before he went ahead with the probate or you could have done it yourselves as it sounds like a relatively simple will.

Solicitors tend to charge based on the value of the estate which while it will reap less fees nowadays because of lower property values, nevertheless means that the fee is calculated with no reference to the amount of work involved or the complexity of the estate.

Just because a solicitor has the will doesn't mean you have to use him to do the probate, even if there is a clause in the will stating that that solicitor should be used for the purpose. Drawing up a will and executing the probate are completely separate processes.

Is it a fair fee? Probably but you're stuck with that solicitor now and can't really do much about it.

Raytown Rocks

Thanks mathepac.

Its €4000 exactly plus vat.
The executor's of the will are my Brother and sister.
We already had the house valued by an estate agent and we paid for that privately and gave the solicitor the results.
My brother also got all the death certs, the insurance certs etc and gave them to the solicitor to be filled out

My brother has been told we will get a full receipt, listing charges??

Thanks for the input thus far

Raytown Rocks

Update

So my brother rings today and says it seems a bit steep.
OK he says make it €3000 plus vat.
So a grand off straight away, leads me to think he's just picking numbers randomly????

iluvcake

Hi Chef, has your Solicitor sent you out a fee note yet? Otherwise, I would ask for one as this is a break down of fees, i.e. how much the probate office charge to do the probate etc..

Raytown Rocks

iluvcake wrote: »

Hi Chef, has your Solicitor sent you out a fee note yet? Otherwise, I would ask for one as this is a break down of fees, i.e. how much the probate office charge to do the probate etc..

Not yet, but he says he has it ready to go, and will give us one on completion of the task.

My brother is going to tell him its still too expensive next time they speak.