Died without a will!

[herbialfa]

My father in law passed away recently without making a will. His spouse is still alive & there are 3 kids.

His Estate is crica £100, 000.

Would you legal guys pay a solicitor on an hourly rate to sort it out, or go for one of those companies that take 1% of the estate????

Thanks in advance!

[Rude-boy]

I would pay a solicitor to do it but tell them to get the details together and talk to one first.

I would avoid the 1% lot like the plague.

A bit late for your FiL but seriously anyone who has more than a few £K in assets really should have a properly drawn up Will and have it reviewed every so often. Probate departments make the vast majority of their fees as a result of dealing with estates where there is no Will or where the one that exists has been home prepared...

[Lurking Lawyer]

Rude-boy said:

I would pay a solicitor to do it but tell them to get the details together and talk to one first.

I would avoid the 1% lot like the plague.

I agree - but then you'd expect that, wouldn't you?

Seriously, I'm not a probate practitioner so have no personal stake but I do deal with professional negligence, contentious probate and inheritance claims so I know how badly estate administration can go wrong if you get clowns dealing with it.

The estate here should be relatively straightforward, I would have thought. No IHT to pay and the intestacy rules will determine who gets what out of the capital that falls into the estate - do the legwork for the solicitor in identifying what assets exist, where they are and what debts have to be paid, and so minimise their work to the more technical bits like getting the Letters of Administration (althogh in reality even that is pretty straightforward, as I understand it).

Edited by Lurking Lawyer on Thursday 29th April 14:11

[ShadownINja]

Your M-i-L should sort out a will!

[herbialfa]

Many thanks guys!

Just made one job easier in these difficult times!

Thanks again!