Query re professional fees for administration of estate

[bluestilton]

Good afternoon,
I posted before under another thread and thank you for the advice then provided. My late father died intestate and I am assisting my mother in tidying up his affairs. We visited solicitor who advised us to get valuation of home and small piece of land. Value of home €100k (my mother lives there on her own), land value €42.5k. His fees are set out as follows: 3% on first 10k value of estate, 2.5% on second €10k value of estate, 2% on balance. Unless I am calculating this wrong it is going to cost her over 3k for solicitors fees and this is just to cover return to Rev Comms., extraction of Grant of Probate and all "non contentious work re distribution of assets and compeltion of administration of estate except transfer of property". My mothers only source of income is old age pension and she does not have any other means. Is there another way of getting this sorted without shelling out such large sums of money? There are seven siblings and we all intend to transfer our interest in the estate back to her so she can make a will. I have looked at free legal aid but she does not appear to qualify for same from my reading of the regulations .
Thank you.

 

[noproblem]

Unless she's going to sell it, why not leave well enough alone. When she passes on many many years from now her children will inherit. Cost of that is zero.

 

[Sleepy]

Dont try calculate the fees yourself - ask the solicitor for an estimate. They are obliged to do this before you agree to accept their services. Having got an estimate of what their charges will be you can then decide whether to go ahead or not - there's no obligation on you to proceed. Make sure the estimated fee they give you includes not only their fee (number of hours involved etc - which should not be more than a few hrs work for them)..but also the charges for rev comm, land registry etc. They might give you their own fee for services provided but could omit to tell you what rev comm and land registry etc will be charging. and most of the above will also be subject to vat. Get the clear picture before you decide what to do. Also some solicitors will sort a payment plan that might make it easier for your mother. Re the charges - certain percentage of the estate etc - I am probably wrong but is this not only when a solr handling the sale of property ?? Is the solicitors charges for what you mention not just their standard hourly rate?

 

[Feemar5]

We had a similar situation some years ago and my brother filled out the forms himself - he found the people in the probate office very helpful. You would need to check if your dad was in receipt of a non contributory pension as I believe any overpayment has to be repaid to Social Welfare. You should also check fees with another solicitor - some may do deals.