Probate News: Final Duties Probate Broker

Historic probate solicitors firm closes after 250 years of business

An historic West Midland law firm has closed its doors after 250 years of business.

Hall Pratt & Pritchard, based in Wolverhampton, is one of the oldest law firms in both the region and the country as a whole. Although it provided general legal services to its clients, since it first opened in 1772, it has focused upon private client instructions such as wills and probate, family law and residential property and conveyancing.

However, the firm has recently gone into administration, closing both its offices in Wolverhampton and Womborne. The Birmingham Post reports that the firms existing clients have been picked up by another Midland law firm, Challinors.

Challinors was brought in by Midland-based recovery and insolvency specialists Leonard Curtis to ensure that service was not interrupted for the firm's clients.

Andy Hodges, chief executive of Challinors, told The Birmingham Post that some 900 files have been transferred to his firm from Hall Pratt & Pritchard and his firm is writing to advise former and current clients of the development.

"We were approached to help Hall Pratt & Pritchard who were about to go into administration" said Hodges, who said his team and partners "didn't hesitate" when asked if they would be able to take over all legal work for clients.

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Brothers and sisters fight over farm in contentious probate

A contentious probate case has recently been resolved at the High Court, with the judge overturning a Norfolk farmer's last will on the grounds of lack of mental capacity.

The case, which has been locked in the probate service for the past two years, concerned the state of Mr George Key who died in 2009 at the age of 90. The dispute arose between Mr Key's surviving family - between his two sons and his two daughters.

In a will executed in 2001, Mr Key left the bulk of his estate to be divided between his two sons Richard and John, who had managed the farm for many years. His two daughters, Jane and Mary, had moved away several years ago and were left with £15,000 each.

However in 2006, Mr Key's wife Sybil died and both women returned home to comfort him. When the family solicitor visited to hand over the parent's wills, the daughters discovered they would not inherit a share of the farm. A week later Mary drove her father to the solicitors where he executed a new will dividing the bulk of his estate equally between the daughters - and leaving the sons no share of the farm.

When he died in 2008, the sons challenged the will on grounds of want of testamentary capacity and want of knowledge and approval. They alleged that the sisters had behaved improperly.

The sisters vigorously defend the case, until last week when a High Court judge found the 2006 will invalid and expressed doubt over their account of events.

The judge was highly critical of the solicitor who drew up the 2006 will, saying that he contravened the "golden rule". The solicitor should have arranged for a doctor to check Mr Key's mental state said the judge.

Instead, he had "accepted instructions for the preparation of the 2006 will from an 89 year old testator whose wife of 65 years' standing had been dead for only a week, without taking any proper steps to satisfy himself of Mr Key's testamentary capacity." The judge also criticised that the solicitor had failed to take notes on his meeting with Mr Key and Mary, when the instructions for the will were given.

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National Will writing week

Next week is National Will writing week so it seemed appropriate to write an article on preparing a will. The internet is full of offers of cheap wills but consumers need to be aware.

The first thing to ensure is that the will writer is properly trained, qualified and insured. At the present time will writing is an unregulated profession. So anyone can prepare one. The consequences of getting it wrong can be very serious indeed.

The next thing to ensure is that the will writer does not appoint themselves as an executor or joint executor. If they do so it may prove very difficult for your beneficiaries to remove them when the time comes.

Thirdly it is worth checking to see what fees the solicitor or will writing firm are likely to make for obtaining probate. Many relatives ask the firm holding the will to act for them because they do not feel like shopping around when they have recently been bereaved.

Finally make sure that your will is stored somewhere secure and can be found when it is needed.

Approximately 1/3 of all wills in secure storage facilities are never retrieved.

Final Duties offers a range of will writing services ranging from a will at £69 + VAT to a bespoke face to face will

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Probate fee survey

In the weeks that follow a bereavement most people do not feel up to shopping around for probate quotes and the vast majority of families use the solicitor who is holding the will or go to a local high street firm. All too often this can prove to be a expensive mistake.

Final Duties the independent probate broker recently obtained quotations on 6 different probate cases from 10 different providers. The difference in the fees charged was staggering. As you can see from the table below the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive probate fee can be as much as 821%.

Estate Value	Final Duties	Average Solicitor	Bank
£20,000	£420	£450	£800
£70,000	£570	£1575	£2800
£180,000	£1520	£4050	£7200
£260,000	£3076	£5850	£10400
£405,000	£1135	£9113	£16000
£750,000	£4700	£16875	£30000
£1,500,000	£7306	£33750	£60000

Commenting on the results of the survey Adam Walker Mangering Director of Final Duties said “In most areas of life the maxim you get what you pay for holds true but this is not always true when it comes to choosing a probate provider. The cheapest quotation actually came from one of the largest firms of specialist probate solictors in the country.”

Adam Walker has the following advice for bereaved families.

1 – Always obtain more than one probate quotation.
2 – Ensure you obtain a fixed fee probate quotation not an estimate that may increase later.
3- Insure that the probate quotation is confirmed in writing before you accept it.
4 – Make sure that the work will be handled by a fully qualified probate soliuctor with specialist knowlewdge of wills, trusts and probate matters.

Final Duties provides a probate fee comparison service for further details go to www.finalduties.co.uk

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A cheap will could cost you dear

For as long as anyone can remember banks solicitors and will writers have offered cheap wills as a loss leader. Their objective is insert themselves in the will as executors or joint executors. Once they have done so they know they can charge what they like to obtain probate when the time comes. Fees of two three four or even ten times the proper rate are not uncommon.

Final Duties the independent probate broker is campaigning to change what it sees as a very unjust business practise. Adam Walker - Final Duties Managing Director has the following advice for consumers.

1 – if you are writing a new will ,insist that that trusted friends or relatives are appointed as your sole executers. If they need help when the time comes they will be free to appoint a solicitor of their own choice.
2 – if you have an existing will, check to see who is named as executors. If a bank, solicitor or will writer is named as either a sole executor or joint executor you should prepare a codicil to remove them or write a new will.
3 – if you have no suitable friends or relatives to act as executors then you will need to appoint a professional firm. If you do so make sure that you get a detailed written estimate of their charges for administering the estate before you commit yourself .

Final Duties offer a unique probate pre-payment option were you can fix your probate fee in advance.

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Final Duties is featured in the Sunday times

Final Duties - The independent Probate Broker was featured in a Sunday Times article on the 30th November. The article explored the case of one of their clients, a Mr Francis McCrory, whose late father thought that he had appointed the Woolwich Building Society as executors of his will. When he died his son found that the Woolwich Building Society had subcontracted the work to a third party provider who wanted to charge Mr McCrory over £20,000 to administer his late father's estate and refused to renounce their role as executors.

After a 6 month battle the Woolwich Building Society which is now part of Barclay's Bank group, agreed to renounce their position as executors. Final Duties will now handle the administration of the estate for a fraction of the fee originally quoted.

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Final Duties appears on BBC 1

Adam Walker, Managing director of Final Duties- The independent Probate Brokers was proud to contribute to the BBC 1 television program 'Rip off Britain'. The programme was shown on BBC1 on Tuesday 1st December. The programme which was presented by Angela Ripon, Gloria Hunniford and Jenny Bond took a critical look at the probate market and featured two cases where a bank and a solicitor had tried to charge the beneficiaries nearly ten times the proper rate for obtaining probate. In both cases the bank and solicitor were appointed in the will or as executors and in both cases they refused to renounce their positions, presumably because they wanted to protect their fees.

The programme demonstrated how a determined beneficiary can bring pressure on a bank or solicitor to renounce their position as executor and asked whether the law should be changed to prevent professional executors from abusing their position.

If you have appointed a bank or solicitor as an executor or joint executor in your will then Final Duties is offering a codicil service to remove them. The cost is £99.00 +VAT.

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