Metamorph is Executor

[t2t]

This is a difficult one :/ my Mother and her best friend did their wills together at the local solicitors which was then taken over by Metamorph, Mum's friend has died a week ago and we discovered she has the original solicitors as executor, what can we do? We have applied for the will through the SRA, which apparently takes a year, but even when it's received what do we do about the executor? There is a copy of this will.
My mum is almost 90 and currently in hospital, she can't remember who her executor is or where her will is if she has a copy, I have filled out the SRA form with her but I doubt she will live another year and may not recover enough from her illness to make a new will :/
What can we do?

[JustAThought]

Can you mum do another Will?

[t2t]

I'm hoping she will recover but she's quite ill at the moment :/

[PallasAthena]

If her illness is mainly physical and she still has mental capacity she doesn't need (legally) to recover to make a new will. If it can't be found making a new will sems the obvious solution. Possib;y a new solicitor could visit her to take instructions? How large and/or complicated is her estate likely to be? Does she own a house for example?

I'd never heartd of Metamorph but looking them up eventually I got to this page which points you to who can help find the Will.. You probably know it already but if not here's the link:

Metamorph: SRA Intervention - Gordons LLP

[t2t]

Thank you she is currently confused but that's due to her illness, hopefully she will recover. I have got her to fill out the forms to retrieve her will through SRA but what happens if she has the old solicitors as executor?

[t2t]

Thank you she is currently confused but that's due to her illness, hopefully she will recover. I have got her to fill out the forms to retrieve her will through SRA but what happens if she has the old solicitors as executor?

[JustAThought]

The new solicitor who holds her file may allow a codicil to change Executors only. But some solicitors do not add codicil's to Wills that they did not do originally.

On your mother's medical notes the nurse has to complete a yes or no to a question of Capacity about her medical treatment. Not to say tgat capacity is the same as mental capacity to make a Will but at least that might help. With the SRA matter and former solicitor, your mum will need to give her consent and perhaps that to authorise you as a contact.

I agree with the previous answer about getting a solicitor to visit and take new instructions.

I appreciate the circumstances and having a close relative being unwell and all that you have to do including hospital visits... Could you make arrangements to get details of your mum's assets together. Just write the key points on a list e.g. owns house/land at xyz, shares, bank accounts, life insurance, anything in joint names etc, GPs details. And draw out a family tree... It doesn't have to be typed up but if you mum could sign it and date it.


I think you could get a solicitor, with your mum's agreement, by her hospital bedside within a couple of days. Please do remember, once you've made the appointment try not to intervene or be at the appointment or Execution of a new Will. Stay far away!

[t2t]

Thank you there isn't a new solicitor though, all documents are with the SRA and having spoken to others going through this it takes at least a year for the SRA to find them, hopefully Mum can write a new one but what do her friends family do now she has passed?

[PallasAthena]

Do the friend's family have a photocopy of the original signed Will? If so one thing they could explore is whether they could get probate using the copy. It's rare and I couldn't say whether it would work for them, but the possibility does exist

Are copy Wills valid if the original cannot be found? | Buckles (buckles-law.co.uk)

A year to find the Will seems excessive, however much a mess the files were in when SRA closed them down. On the link I posted above it says which solicitors now have the files. Have the friends contacted the firm and explained the urgency because the person has died and their Estate needs to be administered? They also need to be aware of HMRC deadlines for paying IHT if the Estate is large enough for that. I think it is 6 months from date of death.

[atticus]

If the SRA has intervened in a law firm, effectively closing it down, client files and money will have been transferred to the law firm acting as intervention agent. It appears that this is Gordons LLP - see the link posted by @PallasAthena.

If you have not already done so, you should contact Gordons.

The list of firms trading under the Metamorph brand (stupid name) includes, a number of long established and well-respected firms, including two in my area.