enduring power of attorney

chrisss

An elderly relative has been billed 800 euro to make a straightforward will and set up an enduring power of attorney. This involved 2 visits to the solicitor, 3 phone calls to organise and 2 phone calls from the solicitor to the GP. I know nothing of usual costs and was not involved in setting up the origional appointment so did not get a price quote. This bill seems huge to me. Anyone know if this kind of price is normal?

ResearchWill

How much of the bill is VAT how much is outlays how much is for medical report if same was requested, or is the €800 the solicitors fees pluses all other possible costs.

jblack

chrisss wrote: »

An elderly relative has been billed 800 euro to make a straightforward will and set up an enduring power of attorney. This involved 2 visits to the solicitor, 3 phone calls to organise and 2 phone calls from the solicitor to the GP. I know nothing of usual costs and was not involved in setting up the origional appointment so did not get a price quote. This bill seems huge to me. Anyone know if this kind of price is normal?

Enduring Power of Attorney is not a simple matter, €800 seems way too cheap.

I hope your relative has been properly informed by the solicitor of the effect as it is a hugely powerful device.

chrisss

Thanks for replies. ResearchWill, I only know the amount from a phone call. Thats the total as far as I know. It may well be that this is standard but it does seem a lot. There would have been no outlays beyond the normal.
Too cheap you think, jblack, hmmm! What's your profession I wonder and what sort of fees do you like to charge?

ResearchWill

chrisss wrote: »

Thanks for replies. ResearchWill, I only know the amount from a phone call. Thats the total as far as I know. It may well be that this is standard but it does seem a lot. There would have been no outlays beyond the normal.
Too cheap you think, jblack, hmmm! What's your profession I wonder and what sort of fees do you like to charge?

Without knowing exactly what the breakdown and how difficult the work was no one can answer you. It's like getting your car serviced two people get exactly same car serviced. One pays total of 1000 the other 500 on the face of it one was ripped off but say the cheaper guy is not VAT registered, say the cheaper guy did not need to replace say the clutch that the other guy did because the driver was a bit heavy on it. So now looking at both bills it's possible that the 1000 bill was in fact better value.

jblack

Simple thing is to ask for a breakdown from your solicitor.

Farcear

jblack wrote: »

Simple thing is to ask for a breakdown from your solicitor.

This should be on the bill that was sent out already.

If not, the elderly relative will need to ask for this, as you are not the client in this case and general rules on confidentiality apply.

jblack

Farcear wrote: »

This should be on the bill that was sent out already.

If not, the elderly relative will need to ask for this, as you are not the client in this case and general rules on confidentiality apply.

It won't be the relative but rather their nominated person holding power of attorney.

Farcear

(As it's a relatively recent power and a will was made at the same time, I've assumed that the elderly relative is still compos mentis and that the enduring power hasn't activated yet; and, hopefully, will not be needed for a long time to come.)

jblack

If so, the o/p can possibly expect another bill when the High Court application is made.

chrisss

Thanks again to all for replies. I will be visiting in a couple of days and will see the bill and check things out. The power of Attorney is not being invoked, its just being set up by an older person who lives alone to guard against any difficulties in the future.