Mil is 98 and in good health considering. However it safe to assume that she will be leaving us in the next few years. When she goes she will leave a large estate, properties and money. We feel that the current family solicitor is not really on the ball enough to handle this given that there may be ‘issues’. So it seems sensible to find a new solicitor before the event. Can someone advise on how to find a sh;t hot solicitor who will be able to manage this. All the solicitors I have previously used for house purchase and divorce have been most unimpressive. This does not have to be local but somewhere south of Birmingham would be best. Thanks in advance.

Try Andrew Bradley at Bradley Haynes in Worcester.
He’s my mate, seems to have a good rep.

My solicitor I have a lot of faith in. Edinburgh based tho so not much use to you.

Look for a specialist in Private client, I presume there is need for wealth management/tax avoidance?

I don’t know any south of the border.

Nice thread title, implying all solicitors are shit with nothing to back that up.

We feel that the current family solicitor is not really on the ball enough to handle this given that there may be ‘issues’.

What sort of issues? Does the solicitor think it’s outside their comfort zone? Who would they recommend for that sort of complex work?

If it’s a big estate you might want ….

A solicitor who specialises in wealthy private clients and a tax adviser who does the same.

This is specialist stuff not local high street lawyers. My employer does the accountancy / private client tax stuff and happy to swap PMs and introduce you to that side of what we do and/or get a couple of lawyers names for you.

Your rough geography would be handy – is it Birmingham ish?

I was thinking the same, a financial planner who specialises in inheritance tax efficient investment and protecting family outcomes would be my approach, alongside a solicitor (mainly for updating will be also POA – noting they are cheap and easy to do yourself but sometimes it is worth paying to ensure no challenge and full transparency).

It’s your mils estate and money it is her choice who she appoints to deal with it. The executors will be named in her will. If she is happy with her choice then the want to be beneficiaries will be stuck with it and trying to involve more lawyers will just create more legal bills.
If you have concerns talk them through with your MIL as she will need to make the changes now.
If the estate is too complicated for the family lawyer who i assume drew up the will and it’s terms then you’ll need the expensive wealth management end of the legal world.

I have a lot of experiance in instructing solicitors through my line of work (Financing property development). As with everything you get what you pay for however with the legal professionals their is a huge range.

Typically the domestic house selling and buying conveyencing type work is the bottom of the pile. Its 90% donkey work that can be done by anyone anywhere and lots gets outsourced to low rent service providers. This is they type of stuff that gives firms bad names as it takes a long time and little errors cause long delays. If you use a local firm you can still get decent service if the partner/lawyer you are dealing with is not bogged down with this rubbish.

Then there is mid level firms who have lots of staff and dont get involved with domestic conveyencing. They do the more involved work and do it very well. But will charge a bit more.

And you have the massive corporates that do a bit of the mid level stuff but they exist to work for other big corporates and have massive liability insurance and will charge massive fees.

One other point. It is your MIL who would engage a solicitor for her will etc – you should stay at arms length to avoid any issues. Then when she pops off you can instruct a soliocitor to deal with the estate assuming you and the other executors agree how to proceed. They need not be the same firm, everything is recorded centrally now so the actual paper work and which firm holds it should not be an issue.

Try Wilmots in Cirencester, they have a good reputatio in this area http://www.wilmots.co.uk/

Thanks all for your replies. A few more details that I missed out in my original post. MIL is in good bodily health but she does suffer from dementia and my wife does have lasting power of attorney and is co executor of the will. The issues that I mentioned are relating to family members and large amounts of money, a recipe for discord . My reason for asking the question is based on personal disappointment in the service I have received in the past from the legal profession. I feel that when people are grieving is not the best time to make important decisions.

Hi,

I can give a couple of recommendations for decent solicitors if you are still looking.

I’m a real estate finance solicitor specialising in secondary lending so deal a lot with wealthy entities that fund said lenders. Can put you in touch with the solicitors who deal with their tax structuring/trusts/estate planning if you’d like.