Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

[Dilys]

In a nutshell:

Four beneficiaries receive four equal amounts (over £60K each) end of last year.
In February solicitor writes with a new set of figures wanting repayment of £4250 from each of the four beneficiaries.
All beneficiaries complain, and the "care partner" of the firm admit they have made a mistake due to "human error" and reduce amount to £4000 from each beneficiary and waive some of their fees. They say the error occurred because care home fees amounting to £36K are still unpaid - however they provide no proof of this - and they want £16K back from the beneficiaries (£4K each) and will make up the rest from shares which are still to be sold from the estate of the deceased.

The two sets of figures they present are a mess and do not make sense at all as to where the shortfall really lies - the care home fees are shown as a liability in both sets of figures , but we have no proof whether they were paid or not.

I understand the law does make provision for firms to reclaim overpaid inheritance, but their incompetence has caused a lot of distress and we are going to defend this.

My question is: is it best to get the Legal Ombudsman to investigate this issue (they have said we qualify for an investigation because as beneficiaries we are recipients of legal services) or should we employ the services of a solicitor?

[Dilys]

Re: Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

...have decided on Legal Ombusdman route so no need to reply, though any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

[Kati]

Re: Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

[MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] [MENTION=77627]Openlaw15[/MENTION] ... any advice??

[Openlaw15]

Re: Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

In a nutshell:

Four beneficiaries receive four equal amounts (over £60K each) end of last year.
In February solicitor writes with a new set of figures wanting repayment of £4250 from each of the four beneficiaries.
All beneficiaries complain, and the "care partner" of the firm admit they have made a mistake due to "human error" and reduce amount to £4000 from each beneficiary and waive some of their fees. They say the error occurred because care home fees amounting to £36K are still unpaid - however they provide no proof of this - and they want £16K back from the beneficiaries (£4K each) and will make up the rest from shares which are still to be sold from the estate of the deceased.

The two sets of figures they present are a mess and do not make sense at all as to where the shortfall really lies - the care home fees are shown as a liability in both sets of figures , but we have no proof whether they were paid or not.

I understand the law does make provision for firms to reclaim overpaid inheritance, but their incompetence has caused a lot of distress and we are going to defend this.

My question is: is it best to get the Legal Ombudsman to investigate this issue (they have said we qualify for an investigation because as beneficiaries we are recipients of legal services) or should we employ the services of a solicitor?

Ok, if the estate has still not been distributed I believe you could simply get a caveat (a legal pause) to stop the estate interests being dealt with. Is the estate still being dealt with by the executors? It only costs £20 for a caveat. Is this something you would like to do? Do you need to get a lawyer or Legal Ombudsman involved at all at this stage? Whose solicitor said that the 4 of you each owe £4250 to cover the care home fees? Or who said the debt is reduced to £4000? Just request in writing a break down of all apparently outstanding debts. This is a normal request. How long has this matter been going on? Is there any reason the care firm has given for not yet providing an itemised break-down of all outstanding payments? Which staff in the care company have you dealt with? Who was your last contact in your complaint to the care company?

[Dilys]

Re: Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

Thank you - lots of questions there! I don't know what a caveat is? Yes the estate is still being dealt with my the firm: there are still shares (valued at roughly £21000) which have to be encashed which will have to be offset against the care home fees of £36000. If they can sell the shares for more than £21,000 they say they will give any left over back tot he four beneficiaries. (I made a mistake when I said they have reduced the amount to be paid back from £4250 to £4000 - it has always been £4000 they wanted back from each beneficiary). The firm said the liability of £36,000 care home fees were not paid and not taken into account by the original "fee earner" in their firm: so they are saying the £36,000 care home fees will be paid by sale of shares £21,000 plus £16000 paid back by four beneficiaries. It seems likely we will be pursuing the pathway of Legal Ombudsman if a satisfactory final response is not received from the firm. Have asked for proof and figures to be evidence but this has not been forthcoming.

[Dilys]

Re: Overpayment of Inheritance: Solicitor Wants Repayment - how should we proceed?

Also in answer to some of your other questions - the correspondence has been with the firms "care partner" - a senior partner in the solicitor's firm which is one of the executors (the other executor is an elderly family member who was also a beneficiary and has paid back his £4000 as he didn't want the hassle of defending this). One other beneficiary has also paid back the £4000 - the other has yet to decide what to do, I will probably go down ombudsman route: the figures in the two sets of accounts to not make sense, also the firm really should not have paid out so much of the estate on interim accounts only: maybe made smaller interim payments (say of £40K) pending final figures - it seems very incompetent. The original "fee earner" (who has since left the firm) is not our responsibility - it is the responsibility of the partners of the firm surely to employ competent "fee earners"?