Letter before Claim Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol

[Jewellery]

My daughter has submitted a Letter before Claim against a solicitor's firm for alleged Professional Negligence using the Pre-Action Protocol.

Has anyone else on this forum done this, and do you have any tips for avoiding pitfalls as a layperson with no legal background? (Other than engage a solicitor which my daughter cannot afford).

At the moment, the firm's insurers' solicitors keep saying "Well, just sue my client then" when a Larke v Nugus request is submitted to obtain information about the meaning of phrases used in her grandmother's will.

The solicitor in this instance appears to hold all the cards, and refuses to answer any reasonable questions or provide any evidence regarding a phrase which has important significance around the distribution of the residuary estate.

Any suggestions for the next steps to take?

[atticus]

Your daughter will do well to read up on what is involved in pursuing a court claim. There are numerous resources on this forum, including guides in the thread linked in my signature, below .

[atticus]

A further point. The purpose of a Larke v Nugus letter is to obtain information about the circumstances in which a will was made and executed (signed), not about interpretation of clauses in the will.

What are your daughter's grounds for saying that the solicitor has been negligent?

[Jewellery]

The issue is the purpose, meaning and use of the clause "PROVIDED THAT if any child of mine dies before me or before attaining a vested interest leaving issue who survive me then
such issue shall on reaching the age of eighteen years take equally the share which his her or their parent would otherwise have taken" which is in the will of the testator.

The one typewritten (post) attendance note that has been supplied by the solicitor who drafted the testator's will does not include any details of instructions that may (or may not) have been given by the testator to include this clause, nor any details of advice that may (or may not) have been given by the solicitor as to why he has inserted the clause. The attendance note is scant, and does not mention this salient point.

The reason for the alleged negligence is that the distribution of the estate has not been made as per the contents of the will to include the living issue of the testator's son who died before her. My daughter and son are her only grandchildren.

The Larke v Nugus request that my daughter has made asks about the circumstances of the instructions the testator gave, and what the solicitor advised and did when drafting the will. The attendance note lacks the detail a competent solicitor would include.

[atticus]

What you say gives ground to think that there may be a negligence claim to be investigated. It seems that there may have been insufficient enquiry about the testator's family and consequently her wishes in relation to her family including your daughter.

In one of your previous threads I said that you might be able to find a solicitor willing to take this case on conditional fee (i.e. 'no win, no fee') terms. Have you explored this?

[Jewellery]

At this point, my daughter is trying to use the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol and follow recommended avenues in the protocol to avoid court action i.e. mediation or ADR. She realises that court action is expensive and a last resort, but it looks like a 'David v Goliath' scenario where the solicitor holds all the power. The Executor of the will (her Uncle) has not engaged whatsoever with my children (no contact from him since the testator's funeral). He and his sister apparently have been given a residual share of the money that, according to the wording of the will, should have been distributed to my daughter and son. This is in addition to the share they inherited in their own right.

Is there any legal redress against the Executor as well as the solicitor? She does not want to do this, but she just wants the instructions of her grandmother to be honoured.

[atticus]

This is where professional advice is strongly advisable. If the claim is against the executor for not distributing to your children in accordance with the terms of the will, it is hard to see how a claim against the solicitors who drew up the Will can succeed, and vice versa.

[Tofros]

The will wording seems quite clear that if any of the testators children predecease her then, provided all the children were provided for in the will, the predeceased child's own children are entitled to the inheritance which their parent would have received had they outlived the testator.

Not sure what the role of the solicitors who drafted the will is in the administration of the estate, but your daughter and son’s action should be against the executor(s)

[Jewellery]

The solicitor (and his firm) who drafted the will are the solicitors who have administered the estate on behalf of the Executor. It appears that the will-drafting solicitor did not personally perform the work of administering the estate, but may have been the line manager of the person who did. This point still needs to be verified, but any requests for disclosure around this are continually refused. (i.e. not answered).

Upon reflection, who should the claim be against? The will is not considered invalid, but the person who administered the will did not follow the instructions contained therein. Should it be that particular solicitor who should be the respondent to the claim? The solicitors firm has put the will drafter into the position of the potential respondent.

[Jewellery]

On another note, a request for information regarding the quantum of the potential claim has been continually refused. To make a potential claim, one has to quantify the alleged loss. A request for the final statement of account for the estate has been submitted, but pre-action disclosure has been refused by the potential respondent. How does one go about getting this information?

[Tofros]

Have the solicitors been appointed as attorney for the executor or are they just advising the executor?

[Frank1]

Slee Blackwell Solicitors have published an article "The rights of a beneficiary to see estate accounts " available to read online.
In the case referred to in the article the executor was ordered by the court to pay the claimants' legal costs of £8k from his own money, not from the estate.
In the first instance your daughter should write to her uncle executor politely pointing out his legal duty to provide estate accounts and distribute the residuary estate as the will states.

[Jewellery]

Have the solicitors been appointed as attorney for the executor or are they just advising the executor?

The solicitors' firm in question both drafted the testator's will and has acted as solicitors to the Executor in the administration of the estate.

[Jewellery]

Slee Blackwell Solicitors have published an article "The rights of a beneficiary to see estate accounts " available to read online.
In the case referred to in the article the executor was ordered by the court to pay the claimants' legal costs of £8k from his own money, not from the estate.
In the first instance your daughter should write to her uncle executor politely pointing out his legal duty to provide estate accounts and distribute the residuary estate as the will states.

Thank you for this information. I will research the article on my daughter's behalf , and my daughter can decide what action to take.

[atticus]

On what you say in the latest posts the claim is against the executor, not the solicitors advising him/her.