how much would a solicitor charge for this ?

unregistered user

Hi,

I apologize in advance at this dumb question, but I am basically trying to figure out how much a solicitor might charge and what would be involved in this following piece of work.

Basically my father passed away a year and a half ago and left a very simple will, leaving everything to my mother. He had a fixed term pension policy that will be paid out past his death until the end of the term. When we contacted the insurance company they wanted a grant of probate on the will before they would pass the payments to my mother. Problem is probating the will, will take some time as the waiting period is about 6 months.

The insurance company offered the following alternative -

they are prepared to consider waiting the Grant of Probate on receipt of the following documentation; -

· The attached Small Estates Indemnity completed by your mother before a Commissioner for Oaths, Practising Solicitor, or other person qualified to administer Oaths, who will add his or her title.

· A Deed of Waiver in respect of each of your father's children (sample wording attached) and to be signed by them and witnessed by a Commissioner for Oaths, Practising Solicitor, or other person qualified to administer Oaths, who will add his or her title.

· A Letter from your Solicitor confirming the net value of the entirety of your late father's estate is less than €25,000.00 and that there are no other possible claimants to the estate.

So the first two points are pretty straight forward, but as we don't really have a family solicitor we would need to find one, but how do we satisfy them that the value is below 25K and that there are no other possible claimants ??

Probating the will, will take a while and cost the min fee of 200, solicitor will be quicker but i have no idea of the cost?

there is no urgency on the pension, but i would like to just get it sorted.

any ideas ?

234

Ask your solicitor for a S68 letter. He should have given this to you already. It will contain estimates of the costs likely to be involved.

Milk & Honey

It is impossible to prove there are no other potential claimants. Up to six months after a grant of probate has issued a claim may be made under section 117 of the Succession Act. Up until that date is reached there could be a claim from any child of the deceased. There is no way of knowing if there is, or is not, a child of the deceased who is living and unknown to the other children of the deceased.
A solicitor will most likely only quote you an hourly rate for work like this. It is impossible to gauge how many hours will be involved. Solicitors generally charge in the range of €150.00 to €350.00 per hour. Even the most simple estate will require several hours work. The solicitor will not want to be sued by the insurance company id he makes a mistake and so will have to check every detail carefully, all at your expense.

dats_right

234 wrote: »

Ask your solicitor for a S68 letter. He should have given this to you already. It will contain estimates of the costs likely to be involved.

I think the point is that the OP hasn't yet got a solicitor.

dats_right

unregistered user wrote: »

Hi,

· A Letter from your Solicitor confirming the net value of the entirety of your late father's estate is less than €25,000.00 and that there are no other possible claimants to the estate.

I don't know that any solicitor will be willing to write such a letter. A solicitor is in no position to be able to know this, particulalrly as you don't have a family solicitor who may have accomodated you if he knew your family circumstances well. The best a solicitor could do is write a letter saying "My clients instruct me that...". This is not the same thing as the solicitor confirming this, rather it is just the solicitor saying what he has been told by his clients. This is unlikely to suffice for the insurance company.