Lawyers

[Drago]

One laywer in small town will starve. Two laywers will make each other rich

And three will eat each other.

 

[oldwheels]

This is indeed in Scotland and there is a lack of paperwork to follow up. I am next of kin and yes I could probably get probate but this has to be done in person a long way from home unless a lawyer is involved. It seemed easier at the time to do this with a firm a friend had used for property transaction. For example one task they seemed unable to do as could not trace any details eventually took me about 10 minutes making phone calls to sort out. It looks like I am going to have to do all the paperwork which to be honest I am not good at which is why they were employed in the first place. Nothing is ever simple. The undertakers in contrast were very good and efficient without being unduly expensive.

 

[furball]

I've had to deal with a lawyer over my aunts estate but there was a will and we were join executors. I live over a hundred miles away from where my aunt lived so much of the communication was by e-mail. Replies tended to come from a paralegal rather than the lawyer himself, but I did get replies.
Having cared for my aunt I had a lot of the relevant information that was needed. I just passed it all onto the lawyer. He took control of the bank account and dealt with incoming bills (which I had to collect from the property then forward to him). It was reasonably straightforward.
You need to speak to your lawyer and get him/her to explain what they are doing and get an idea of timescales.
I take it the funeral has happened.Did you arrange and pay for that?

 

[Flying Dodo]

As I stated above, you don't need to involve lawyers. I've obtained probate for my dad's estate which was extremely complicated due to the variety of investments including a foreign property and took over a year, but I know it's saved a large amount of money in legal costs.

In some ways, in going through his paperwork, it's also helped from an emotional point of view.