Looking for probity at probate

SOUNDING OFF: Ripped off? Stunned by good service? Write, blog or text your experience to us

A reader called Una got in touch recently letting us know about an incident which she hopes will be an eye-opener for readers.

“A friend of mine recently needed to go to a solicitor to sort out the probate on his late father’s will,” she writes. The solicitor had been appointed as the executor of the will which was, she says, “a very straightforward document, drawn up by this particular solicitor 10 years ago”.

The will splits the inheritance, a house and a small amount of savings equally between the three children. “The house is not being sold so there are no fees attached to this,” she continues.

He was quoted €6,000 for sorting out the probate on the will. “As he had no idea what the charges should be, he left the solicitor’s office in shock. It was only when I expressed my horror at the price that he returned to the office to discuss this outrageous charge. In the space of a five-minute conversation the solicitor dropped her price to €2,500.”

Apart from overcharging, this woman also seemed to be taking advantage of someone who was quite vulnerable following the sudden death of his father.

“I am horrified that such a thing could happen and only that my friend had the confidence to return to tackle the solicitor about this, he would now be forking out €6,000 for what appears to be very little work, other than a trip to the probate office and filling out a few forms.

“I have no idea myself how much something like this should cost, but if the solicitor could drop her price by €3,500 so quickly, something is very, very wrong.”

The Law Society has a policy of not talking to the press about the fees charged by solicitors, so instead Pricewatch went to a number of solicitors in connection with this story to ask what sort of price would be fair for a job like this. The consensus was that €2,000 would have been about right, while every solicitor we spoke to expressed amazement at the initial quote of €6,000. We were told that, until the early 1990s, there was a set scale of fees recommended by the Law Society for acting in probate cases but this had largely been dispensed with as house prices rocketed through the 1990s.

One solicitor we spoke to said that it was not uncommon for members of his profession to overcharge when it came to probate fees and asked us to remind readers that they are not tied to their family solicitor. The executor of a will can simply ask for the will and choose an alternative solicitor.

We were also told that it is not difficult to handle simple cases such as this one without any legal training and that the Revenue is quite willing to talk people through the complexities of the process.

Price doesn’t compute

Gerry McDonnell sent us an e-mail pointing out that Aldi is currently selling a 10-inch Mini Notebook Computer (Medion Akoya E1210) for €399.99. “They will be selling the same computer in the UK for £279.99. This is a difference of nearly 43 per cent, while the exchange rate between the two currencies shows a difference of about 11 per cent. Enough said!”

Grapefruit with a Lidl help

Recently we carried a complaint from a reader about the price of grapefruit in Superquinn. The reader was accustomed to buying 12 red grapefruits there every week. Sold loose, he paid 49 cent each until last September when the price went up to 59 cent. In November, Superquinn in Sutton stopped selling loose grapefruits in favour of a pre-packed nets of three and the price jumped up to €2.49 per pack – equivalent to a price of 83 cent each. He compared this price unfavourably to prices in Dunnes and Nolans of Clontarf.

Another reader had a good idea. “Why doesn’t he pop down the road to Lidl in Baldoyle where he will get four red grapefruits for €1.59? Beat that for value. The quality of the fruit and veg in Lidl is excellent.”