The report<\/a> identifies several recurring issues in these complaints, including delays in progressing matters, poor communication with clients, and failures to manage client expectations.<\/p>\nWhile these issues can arise across different areas of legal services, LSRA chief executive Niamh Muldoon said that their impact could be more acutely felt in the context of wills and probate, where people may be dealing with difficult personal circumstances.<\/p>\n
Case studies<\/p>\n
The report also includes anonymised case studies that illustrate how these issues arise in practice and highlight the lessons that can be learned for both legal practitioners and the public.<\/p>\n
Among the key messages the report sets out for solicitors is that the respective roles of the executor and solicitor should be clearly explained at the outset.<\/p>\n
Clients should also be advised that the solicitor corresponding individually with beneficiaries may significantly increase costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegular and timely communication should be maintained through the administration, particularly where issues arise that may cause delay,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n
\u2018Storage fee\u2019 warning<\/p>\n
One case study in the report concerns a solicitor who was given a warning after charging a \u2018storage fee\u2019 to an executor who wanted the will so that she could instruct a different solicitor to handle the estate\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The solicitor claimed that the fee was justified as the original charge for making the will was discounted in the expectation that the same firm would deal with the administration.<\/p>\n
A complaint against the solicitor was upheld and the fee refunded.<\/p>\n
Delay<\/p>\n
The report points out that clients are not obliged to instruct the law firm that drafted a will to deal with the administration of an estate.<\/p>\n
The LSRA report adds that the legal fees for drafting a will are no different to any other legal costs and should be discussed and agreed with the client.<\/p>\n
Another case study involved a failure by a solicitor to hand over a client\u2019s file promptly after a dissatisfied complainant engaged new legal representatives to administer an estate.<\/p>\n
The report warns practitioners that they have no entitlement to exercise a lien on an original will and should hand it over once requested, without any unreasonable delay.<\/p>\n
Penalty<\/p>\n
The LSRA states that any failure could result in a penalty, even where the file is ultimately handed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn circumstances where there is a difference of opinion on how best to handle a particular matter, it is important to discuss this with your client and agree a way forward,\u201d the LSRA advises.<\/p>\n
Failure to follow a client\u2019s instructions can cause unnecessary delays and may undermine the client\u2019s confidence, it adds.<\/p>\n
Clear instructions<\/p>\n
The public must also be clear and concise in their instructions to a solicitor, the LSRA says.<\/p>\n
A client should always receive a costs notice, setting out charges in clear language, or the basis on which the legal costs will be calculated, even if actual costs are not yet known.<\/p>\n
The LSRA also urges solicitors to engage fully with it on any complaint matters, to avoid unnecessarily prolonging the investigation process.<\/p>\n
\n Gazette Desk
\n <\/a><\/p>\nGazette.ie is the daily legal news site of the Law Society of Ireland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pic: Shutterstock The LSRA\u2019s latest report includes an examination of complaints relating to wills and probate. Such complaints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":["post-406018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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