Making a complaint to the Law Society, worth it?

P_1

Hi all, just wondering on behalf of a family member who has been messed about by a solicitor in relation to selling the family home following their parents death.

First issue was the solicitor sending them off on wild goose chases regarding documentation that actually was not needed.

Second issue was a general lack of communication.

Third and potentially most serious issue. The home was sold, money paid, it's occupied but the solicitor is taking their sweet time in sending the money to the family members. Latest news is that a cheque is to be sent about a week after the house being occupied.

Is it worthwhile complaining to the Law Society over this or is this generally how the sale of willed homes and the transfer of money from said sale tends to proceed?

johnnyskeleton

Well a complaint is free so dont feel there is anything to discourage you financially.

However, the complaints with the exception of the lack of communication dont seem to me to be serious breaches. The lack of communication depends on how bad it was. Its a matter for yourself but if youre not out of pocket and the job is done, well you can make your own mind up.

P_1

True, is it usual for there to be such a hold up between the house being paid for and the money making it's way to the parties willed though?

Or is it a case of the family members being unused to how the process works and just feeling somewhat 'cold' by the entire process?

johnnyskeleton

P_1 wrote: »

True, is it usual for there to be such a hold up between the house being paid for and the money making it's way to the parties willed though?

Or is it a case of the family members being unused to how the process works and just feeling somewhat 'cold' by the entire process?

Well there can be delays in such things. If a solicitor gets a cheque it takes however long to clear (used to be 3-5 working days). They may also have to distribute outlay etc so needed to finish off a few things before releasing the final amount. If youre talking about days or a few weeks from when the sale closed it probably isnt he worst. If its a delay of a month or more you should ask the solicitor for an explanation

P_1

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Well there can be delays in such things. If a solicitor gets a cheque it takes however long to clear (used to be 3-5 working days). They may also have to distribute outlay etc so needed to finish off a few things before releasing the final amount. If youre talking about days or a few weeks from when the sale closed it probably isnt he worst. If its a delay of a month or more you should ask the solicitor for an explanation

Ah that's grand so. I'm relying on second hand information but it does strike me as the solicitor in question and the family members having communication difficulties rather than anything too untoward.

Little CuChulainn

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Well there can be delays in such things. If a solicitor gets a cheque it takes however long to clear (used to be 3-5 working days). They may also have to distribute outlay etc so needed to finish off a few things before releasing the final amount. If youre talking about days or a few weeks from when the sale closed it probably isnt he worst. If its a delay of a month or more you should ask the solicitor for an explanation

I didn't think solicitors could take their fees and expenses from your money without your say so.

January

In my experience, no it's not worth making a complaint. I'm not willing to elaborate because the case is still on-going and so is the complaint. But it just seems to be going around in circles and the out come was to 'just get another solicitor' because in the end the other one wasn't willing to work on our behalf any longer.

johnnyskeleton

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

I didn't think solicitors could take their fees and expenses from your money without your say so.

Usually this will be agreed at the outset

Roubled

P_1 wrote: »

Is it worthwhile complaining to the Law Society over this or is this generally how the sale of willed homes and the transfer of money from said sale tends to proceed?[/QUOT

I've never had any direct experience but I'm having the same problem with a firm of solicitors at the moment. I deliberately put in red italics at the end of every e mail "please acknowledge receipt of this email". It's a waste of time.

Complaining to the Law Society has always struck me as being a bit like a chicken complaining about a chicken plucker to a committee made up of his fellow chicken pluckers.

Export

Is there an outstanding invoice payable to the solicitor?

shanered

Make a complaint and take it to a small claims court if he doesn't pay up in a reasonable time period, which I would take as 28 days.
It shouldn't matter if he is a solicitor or not, I'd do it in a flash if something like that was going on, it will only cost you €35 or so to lodge a complaint and I reckon all the legal knowledge in the world won't get a solicitor off the hook when he simply is not giving you your money.
That's the line of action I would take anyway, once and only if he genuinely was taking the p*ss.

Pro Hoc Vice

shanered wrote: »

Make a complaint and take it to a small claims court if he doesn't pay up in a reasonable time period, which I would take as 28 days.
It shouldn't matter if he is a solicitor or not, I'd do it in a flash if something like that was going on, it will only cost you €35 or so to lodge a complaint and I reckon all the legal knowledge in the world won't get a solicitor off the hook when he simply is not giving you your money.
That's the line of action I would take anyway, once and only if he genuinely was taking the p*ss.

Small claims court in relation to the proceeds of a house. Seriously.

OP when a solicitor receives a cheque for the sale of property that will be lodged to the solicitors client account, the solicitor can not draw funds from that cheque untill the cheque has cleared, it's a serious offence by a solicitor to allow a clients ledger to be overdrawn. Also the solicitor will need to make sure revenue are sorted and any undertakings and work out what each person is to receive. How long exactly since the cheque was received by the solicitor.

P_1

So as an update, cheques have been issued, assuming that they're not made of rubber I'd imagine that is the end of it. Seems nothing untoward went on, just the family members not quite understanding how the process works and perhaps the solicitor not being the best at explaining how it does.

Don't think going down the Law Society route will provide any solace that simply not darkening the solicitor in question's door in the future won't.

Pro Hoc Vice

P_1 wrote: »

So as an update, cheques have been issued, assuming that they're not made of rubber I'd imagine that is the end of it. Seems nothing untoward went on, just the family members not quite understanding how the process works and perhaps the solicitor not being the best at explaining how it does.

Don't think going down the Law Society route will provide any solace that simply not darkening the solicitor in question's door in the future won't.

How long did it take from solicitor getting cheque to sending out his cheque.

P_1

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

How long did it take from solicitor getting cheque to sending out his cheque.

About a week give or take a few days I think. Ah it was just down to the family members not knowing how things work I suppose. In a perfect world I suppose the solicitor could have explained how they do but I think I'll put it down as a customer service issue rather than a legal one.

Pro Hoc Vice

P_1 wrote: »

About a week give or take a few days I think. Ah it was just down to the family members not knowing how things work I suppose. In a perfect world I suppose the solicitor could have explained how they do but I think I'll put it down as a customer service issue rather than a legal one.

Are they serious a week. I know solicitors most have in excess of a few hundred to a few thousand files, the proble here is not customer service or the solicitor it's people with a serious over expectation issues. A week I can't believe they talked about law society complaint over a week, it's people like that make me delighted I decided not to become a solicitor. A week a week I can't believe it it takes between 3 and 5 days working for a cheque to clear. If I was that solicitor I would politely tell them to shove the next instructions.

Export

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Are they serious a week. I know solicitors most have in excess of a few hundred to a few thousand files, the proble here is not customer service or the solicitor it's people with a serious over expectation issues. A week I can't believe they talked about law society complaint over a week, it's people like that make me delighted I decided not to become a solicitor. A week a week I can't believe it it takes between 3 and 5 days working for a cheque to clear. If I was that solicitor I would politely tell them to shove the next instructions.

They'd be lucky if they have 10 active files per partner. A solicitor willing to throw a client away because they themselves had not the gumption to communicate timelines or delays to a client would have far fewer files. One with cash-flow problems, would have fewer files still.

P_1

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Are they serious a week. I know solicitors most have in excess of a few hundred to a few thousand files, the proble here is not customer service or the solicitor it's people with a serious over expectation issues. A week I can't believe they talked about law society complaint over a week, it's people like that make me delighted I decided not to become a solicitor. A week a week I can't believe it it takes between 3 and 5 days working for a cheque to clear. If I was that solicitor I would politely tell them to shove the next instructions.

Well if they were told how the process would work and have a rough timeline of how events should run given to them then we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation.

I don't know how you do business but generally I find that it's best to tell people what's going to happen and how long they should expect for it to take.

Pro Hoc Vice

Export wrote: »

They'd be lucky if they have 10 active files per partner. A solicitor willing to throw a client away because they themselves had not the gumption to communicate timelines or delays to a client would have far fewer files. One with cash-flow problems, would have fewer files still.

10 active files per partner lol, this is not Boston Legal. Also this is August the traditional time solicitors take holidays, i kid you not a solicitors receptionist told me this week a client said when told the solicitor was on holiday "but he never told me" i know for a fact that solicitor has currently open active files that are in the hundreds. I am not saying a solicitor should throw away business just business from people who thought about a complaint after a week, they are the type to sue. for no reason, a claim against a solicitor even one that goes nowhere can cause serious problems for insurance even a complaint not upheld causes serious issues.

Pro Hoc Vice

P_1 wrote: »

Well if they were told how the process would work and have a rough timeline of how events should run given to them then we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation.

I don't know how you do business but generally I find that it's best to tell people what's going to happen and how long they should expect for it to take.

Solicitors cant give even rough time lines a house sale can take days to months and in exceptional cases years, a personal injury matter can take months or years, a separation weeks months or years. People dont listen when the solicitor tells them this. In any area of business a week turn around is very good. I can tell from experience that the issues was not with the solicitor who seems to me to be very quick and efficient.

It very difficult to tell a person what exactly will happen in the law, a huge number of variables, the documents the solicitor sent the person away for may not have been requested by the other side but how would you have reacted if solicitor did not arrange them and then other side asked for them. A solicitor can not say you will have x by y date when he is waiting for another person to do x.

P_1

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Solicitors cant give even rough time lines a house sale can take days to months and in exceptional cases years, a personal injury matter can take months or years, a separation weeks months or years. People dont listen when the solicitor tells them this. In any area of business a week turn around is very good. I can tell from experience that the issues was not with the solicitor who seems to me to be very quick and efficient.

It very difficult to tell a person what exactly will happen in the law, a huge number of variables, the documents the solicitor sent the person away for may not have been requested by the other side but how would you have reacted if solicitor did not arrange them and then other side asked for them. A solicitor can not say you will have x by y date when he is waiting for another person to do x.

Hang on there's no need to be getting so defensive. They didn't know what was going on and panicked a bit. Now in my eyes the best way of resolving a panic is to get information, something that I've done here. I've since relayed the information and the panic has dissipated.

Pro Hoc Vice

P_1 wrote: »

Hang on there's no need to be getting so defensive. They didn't know what was going on and panicked a bit. Now in my eyes the best way of resolving a panic is to get information, something that I've done here. I've since relayed the information and the panic has dissipated.

Just go back and look at the title of the thread and the OP. If it had been how long should a cheque take or is a week too long for a cheque, I would agree with you but the OP or the title never asked that question, in fact the OP or subsequent posts never said anything about how long this cheque was in coming.

Pat Mustard

Export wrote: »

They'd be lucky if they have 10 active files per partner.

Party and party costs are costs that are usually awarded in favour a party who wins an action. These costs must usually be paid by the loser of the action.

In the USA, party and party costs are relatively low, compared to Ireland. This means that attorneys can't usually expect to be paid from legal costs that may be awarded. Therefore, they tend to charge a contingency fee, as a percentage of the award or settlement in the client's favour. These arrangements are not allowed in Ireland, except in debt collection cases.

In the USA, personal injury attorneys often charge 33% or maybe as much as 40% of the value of a PI settlement/award as a fee. At 33%, if they settle ten cases in a year, aggregating to $600,000, they might expect to bring in $200,000 in fees.

That doesn't happen in this country.

In this country, party and party costs are higher than in the USA. This means that lawyers often expect to get paid from these costs, if an action is successful. That said, party and party costs are not usually anywhere near as high as the contingency fees charged by personal injury attorneys in the USA.

In this country, solicitors often have hundreds of files.

A solicitor with ten files wouldn't expect to keep a business open very long.