Recommend Decent Probate Solicitor Dublin/ Kildare

J

jalvpa

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Hi

Does anyone have a recommendation on a decent probate solicitor (the case will involve fighting another solicitor who seems to have "self appointed" themselves as administator on my Dad's will.

Based on Dublin or Kildare.

Thanks for reading!
 
I have used Carroll Kelly and O'Connor solicitors for probate dealings and was very impressed. They are located in Dublin - website is carrollkellyoconnor.com where you'll find contact details etc. Hope this helps!
 
I have used Frank Taaffe & Co. from Athy and they have been good, although I would start with your own family solicitor. Beware of any cheap legal advise and the very tough thing about family law judgements is that they are not always fair and represent a decision that is binding. Solicitors are expensive, try are sort things out without going to court if you can.
 
what is it with solicitors seemingly 'self' appointing themselves. I have the same trouble, getting charged through the roof, when in reality I feel I can do, and will probably end up doing the donkey work anyway..
 
Be very aware of using Rate-your-solicitor.com as a guide line for choosing anyone. it is a totally anonymous forum and is in reality little more than web graffiti. If you have any kind of a grudge, professional or personal, with our without basis, you can stick it up and influence others. there is no Moderator as there is on this website which seems to be very well run.

I would encourage you to ask your friends and relatives for a recommendation so that you can go to someone where there is a degree of trust from the outset.
Don't choose anyone based on price alone, although of course it has to be a consideration, but please dont let Rate your solicitor be your final decision on whether or not to go with a particular solicitor.
 
I didn't realise you could do this probate yourself. Assumed solicitor that held Will would process will. Does any one know where to get guidelines on Solicitor charges for probate. I am going through the process and the charges are astronomical.
 
Do it your self. I have done 4 of them. A little bit daunting on your first but it's all easy enough if you don't mind reading. It's not super complicated. I take it your dad didn't own loads of businesses or multi-national companies? - That's when it gets sticky.

Your self appointed solicitor has no legal right to administer your dad's estate unless expressly named in his will. Is it writing that he is to do the Probate?

You are the next of kin? Do you have brothers or sisters? Nothing stopping you pulling together and doing it.
Give him his marching orders if you are not happy. As for what he will charge. Ask him. Last time I looked they worked on a percentage scale.

Go into the Personal Applicants section of the Probate office and tell them your plight. Then go to the Law Society and shake the tree. Both offices will help you FOC.
Just so you know, the probate process will take you upto 9 months at the worst. Last one I was involved with took 7 months.

How am I doing Brendan?
 
You can do the probate yourself. I did the probate for my mother-in-law, when the solicitor involved with her had quoted in the region of €10,000 plus – and she was a pensioner with little cash, but owned her house.

It’s straight forward enough, but a bit fiddly. You have to gather relevant documents to use for Probate.

After all my “fiddling” I went to the Probate Office, to learn that they would have done the complicated areas without any input from me. They were most helpful in the PO and the charge was in the region of €600 – this was 2007 so costs might have gone up since but a heck of a lot cheaper than the solicitor.

Get on to the PO website. Their e-mail address was (hope it's still same)probatepersonalapplications@courts.ie and request appointment. They’re located in Smithfield, Dublin 7. They will then send you an appointment to go to see them – in my case it was a couple of months later. In their letter giving the appointment they will list all the documents you should bring with you. They give very helpful notes with the list so that you know how to go about obtaining the information required.

As I said, I had done all this work before getting in touch with the Probate Office – I had a legal book on probate and had used that, but I needn’t have. I had also got an Inland Revenue Affidavit stamped by the Revenue people in O’Connell Street, and I needn’t have done that either.

The Probate people are most helpful. Unless the will/estate is very complicated, there is no need to use a solicitor. Our solicitor had started the Probate when I told them I was going to do it myself because it was so expensive. I had got on to the Law Society about taking over from the solicitor, and they told me I was perfectly entitled to do so, but I would have to pay them for whatever work they had done, and they would have to give you all the files they had on your case. They charged about €700 for what they’d done – which was a rip-off, but it saved thousands in the long run by dropping them. The solicitors told me the preparation for probate was so complicated I wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s not complicated – as I said, it’s just a bit fiddly collecting all the documentation.

There's a lot of gathering of information, but if you are a bit patient and keep all your info in a file you'll manage.

Good luck!
 
Very informative post from hoipolli. I did most of the probate myself on my parents house, and the PO were very helpful. I did need a solicitor for some later aspects of it, and he remarked that I got the probate quicker than he could! The solicitor I used was a really nice and competent guy called Seamus Whelan in Carvill Rickard Raheny, Dublin. Didn't charge an arm and a leg either. I've no connection to him, but I would highly recommend him.
 
When I asked the Probate people they told me about 90% of cases are done by solicitors. People run scared when they hear 'law'. Which is fair enough, some law is a mindfield but probate is not. The first application I did was kindly overseen by the man who teaches probate in a university!. And it's gotten easier since.
 
Kerry365 said:
I didn't realise you could do this probate yourself. Assumed solicitor that held Will would process will. Does any one know where to get guidelines on Solicitor charges for probate. I am going through the process and the charges are astronomical.
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It all depends on what the Will says. The writer of it will state who they want to be the Executor of their Estate. If they name the Solicitor who drew up the Will as the Executor, then that is it, you are stuck with them. They will take out Probate, and when it is granted, they will allocate assets to the beneficiaries mentioned in the will.

It will probably take a year or more, at least. You are just another client to them, and they probably have lots of other people just like you on their books. They couldn't care less how long it takes. The fees are normally a percentage of the overall value of the estate. 3% is the amount that I see quoted most often.

If a person other than the solicitor is named as Executor of the Will, they are under no obligation whatsoever to have the solicitor who drew up the will, take out probate on it too. They can hand it over to a solicitor if they want to, but why hand over thousands of euros to a solicitor unnecessarily?

If the deceased persons estate and its assets are relatively complication free, it is not a difficult or arduous process. As others have said here, the folks in the Probate Office are very, very helpful, as is their website. They will point you in the direction that you need to go re paper work and forms and process.

Once you have all your ducks in a row, you make an appointment with them whereby you present all your paperwork on behalf of the deceased. It is likely that you will have to wait months to get that appointment. That is the main hold up time wise. So once you feel that you are starting to get your stuff together paperwork wise, go ahead and submit your request for an appointment. You can always file for an extension if you are not ready by D-Day.

My brother was Executor of our late mothers Will. He works in the heart of Dublin City, so it was not a big deal for him to pop into the Revenue Commissioners, the Probate Office, my mothers bank branch etc etc. He got going on taking care of Probate in March of 2009. He had all the forms and paper work that he needed by late May. He then applied to the Probate Office for an appointment & was given one in late September. He showed up on the appointed date, everything went very well, and a deed of Probate was granted. It could not have been any easier. All told, the process took 6 months from start to finish & he saved my mothers estate about 10,000 euros by doing all the probate leg work himself. Not too shabby !
 
Hi

I just want to know, what you finally did? Whom you chosen as your solicitor and from which firm. How much they cost you?

Thanks in advance for providing the information.
 
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