header-logo header-logo

Solicitor fees & unwelcome surprises

12 May 2023 / Kris Kilsby
Issue: 8024 / Categories: Features , Profession , Costs , Legal services , Wills & Probate
printer mail-detail
121606
Provide clients with accurate costs estimates for administering estates, or risk a challenge from disgruntled beneficiaries, warns Kris Kilsby
  • Solicitors must ensure that accurate estimates for administering estates are provided and that beneficiaries are kept informed of the costs being incurred.
  • Failure to do so may leave solicitors open to challenges from unhappy beneficiaries and a reduction in costs recovered.

The decision of Costs Judge Brown in Kenig v Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP [2023] Lexis Citation 357 is an important one for all solicitors who practise in the administration of estates, as it may have opened the door for beneficiaries to bring applications under s 71 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (SA 1974).

The claimant and his sister were the sole beneficiaries of their late mother’s estate in this matter. The defendant solicitors were retained by the sole executor of the will and the deceased’s brother, who played no active part in the application.

There was a formal engagement letter between the executor and the defendant

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll