How do you find out who the administrator of a will is?

TargetWidow

In the situation where there is some animus between the potential beneficiaries of a small enough estate (a property worth circa €200k which will have a life interest given to beneficiary A, who has mental health issues and lived with the deceased and who would know the relevant details but refuses to disclose them, and a small amount of cash <10k, to be divided between beneficiary B and his children Beneficiaries C & D) some issues arise.
The local probate office has been contacted to check if any letters of adminstration or grant of representation or probate has been applied for in the estate (9 months since deceased died).
Nothing has been applied for.

Beneficiary A knows who the solicitor is but won't say. To be honest it's in his interest for the estate to go through probate properly as he is to get a life interest in the property but he's not well and this hasn't occurred to him/he's enjoying inflicting hurt on the others involved.

In the event that the deceased's solicitor does not know she is dead and that is why probate has not begun...

How do we find out who the solicitor/executor/administrator is?

The deceased always talked about having her will and what was in it. She just often changed solicitors and even left the county to employ new ones occasionally.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Do we phone them all up/send out letters ourselves to every possible one informing them of her death and asking if they are acting for her estate?
Do we get a solicitor to do it?

There must be a generally accepted protocol in this situation, as wills often cause rifts in Ireland so I'm hoping there's a process someone can tell me exists.
There's no hope of getting this info from beneficiary A. He hid her illness, hid her hospitalisation Beneficiary B only found out she was dying in hospital when he met a neighbour who saw the ambulance at his mom's house and he missed her death by minutes. Beneficiary A had her cremated and her ashes scattered contrary to her wishes.

I'm also hoping it's cheap as we are broke.

Claw Hammer

There are classes of people entitled to take out a grant of administration. First step is to advertise for a will. most people instruct a solicitor advertise in the Law Society Gazette asking any solicitor have or having knowledge of a will by X of Y address to get in touch. If there were wills made through solicitors this should bring them to light.

nuac

As Clawhammer says. Also
1. Check with undertaker as to who give instructions re burial.
Undertakers like to ensure that whoever is giving such instructions will be able to pay. .
2. If the deceased was in hospital in recent times there would be a record of any visits from a solicitor.
( in most hospitals a solicitor calling to make a will has make prior arrangements with the hospital. That could include making some arrangements for privacy. In some cases a medical opinion may be required as to testamentary capacity)

TargetWidow

Thank you. This sounds very sensible.