Probate with assets in UK

T

TheManWho

Registered User
Messages
86
If a deceased Irish resident has assets in their will which are located in UK financial institutions does it require probate to be taken out separately in the UK first to get hold of the UK assets, and then following that for probate to be taken out in Ireland?

I understand that a solicitor is legally obliged to provide section 68 letter outlining costs upfront. If, in the case I outline above, probate needs to be taken out in the UK first, should the Irish solicitor be outlining the costs of carrying out UK probate for which they will engage the services of a UK solicitor?

In terms of the section 68 letter, is the legal requirement that the solicitor must furnish this, upon request, prior to instruction or they are only obliged to do so once instruction is received from client?

If I get email quotation from a solicitor to carry out probate for say €6,000, can I request a section 68 letter before proceeding with instructing them to act on my behalf or I can only request the section 68 letter after I instruct them?

I am wondering what position I would be in if they quoted me €6k over email, I then instruct them to act on my behalf, I request a section 68 letter and the costs are higher than the €6k quoted originally via email. If a chose to not continue with the solicitor at that point, what charges would I be liable for assuming they had not begun the work?
 
Cant advise you on the cost side, but I got Irish Probate first (deceased resident in Ireland), then having had a traumatic time with my solicitor who said he would organise UK probate, engaged by own agent in the UK to do the rest..
 
On the first point, in my experience, you'd usually take out the Irish Grant first and then follow up with a UK Grant.

On the remainder, see this helpful note:
www.crowleymillar.com

Changes to the Legal Costs regime under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015

The Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (LRSA) has updated the way solicitors deal with legal costs. Section 150 of the LRSA came into force on 7th October 2019, replacing the previous requirements under Section 68 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994. This new section, among other things...
www.crowleymillar.com www.crowleymillar.com

The S. 68 letter is now a S.150 letter.

I deal with a UK solicitor in these cases and her charges are very transparent. But difficulties can always arise and there will always be a caveat about increased costs should issues arise.

We are only obliged to issue a S.150 letter when we receive instructions but agreement will usually be reached in advance.

There is a cooling off period after the issue of the letter. So, if you decide not to go with the solicitors, there should be no fees due.

But you should it make it very clear to the solicitors that you do not want them to do anything in the matter until you instruct them to proceed.

mf
 
Thanks for the replies. I am just beginning to look into this for the first time, so my terminology and understandings are not the best.

In terms of the S.150 letter, is it a reasonable expectation that it should include costs of the Irish solicitor engaging services of a UK based solicitor to carry out UK Grant? i.e. I should have a reasonably accurate figure upfront for all legal costs that should be incurred, leaving aside the possibility of issues arising.

For UK grant there are 2 bank accounts and 3 savings bonds. There are 2 beneficiaries, both Irish resident. Famous last words, but I am thinking this is relatively straight forward for a UK solicitor to provide reasonably accurate estimate of fees for.

How do assets (i.e. cash) get from UK to Ireland when UK Grant is complete? Is it as simple as funds go from the financial institution into UK solicitors account, the UK solicitor then transfers funds minus their costs to Irish solicitors account? Irish solicitor then distributes funds to beneficiaries?
 
I asked this question on another thread, but no reply, so just keeping things in one place. What is the significance of the solicitor who holds the deceased persons will also holding the title deeds to their property? In terms of if I decide to use a different solicitor to carry out Irish Grant?

The solicitor who holds the will is not executor of the will. The deceased property has no mortgage, solicitor was merely holding for safe keeping as I understand.

My thinking is if I choose to use another solicitor to carry out Irish Grant, then that other solicitor can simply request the deeds be sent to them. Is there something more complicated and costly that I am missing here?
 
Expect the solicitor who has been holding both the will and deeds for safekeeping to issue a bill for holding them securely.
 
Dave Vanian said:
Expect the solicitor who has been holding both the will and deeds for safekeeping to issue a bill for holding them securely.
Click to expand...
What would a solicitor typically charge for holding will and deeds? Would it be a yearly charge?

I gather then that the concern from the other thread on this topic is that solicitor will charge an exorbitant fee for holding will/deeds if they aren't getting the probate work?

Surely solicitor can only charge a reasonable fee for holding a piece of paper. Same way banks do for holding wills, they have an annual charge? Any exorbitant fee from solicitor would surely not be a runner if you report to Law Society?
 
My brother died abroad where he was domiciled. He had a bank account in UK but I believe because the amount was less than 10k, it did not require separate probate.
 
metricspaces said:
What would a solicitor typically charge for holding will and deeds? Would it be a yearly charge?

I gather then that the concern from the other thread on this topic is that solicitor will charge an exorbitant fee for holding will/deeds if they aren't getting the probate work?

Surely solicitor can only charge a reasonable fee for holding a piece of paper. Same way banks do for holding wills, they have an annual charge? Any exorbitant fee from solicitor would surely not be a runner if you report to Law Society?
Click to expand...
I think a charge of €50-€60 per annum is fairly entry level - so I was quoted when I redeemed my mortgage - I bought a fire-proof box in the local DIY shop instead
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top