Conduct and service

Finish the jobIt is curious but true that probate matters, more than any other type of work, generate complaints about delay.

Yet it often transpires that the bulk of the work has been done, and at a reasonable pace, leaving only the final accounts to be drawn.Why the file is put to one side and apparently forgotten is a matter for conjecture.

Maybe it is the desire to get on with other work.

Or the feeling it will not take long to do the accounts and they can be done when there is less pressure from other directions - but of course there never is.

Perhaps it is the solicitor's reluctance to do something he or she finds a chore.Whatever the reason, some of the resulting delays are startling.

One firm was instructed in January 1993 to obtain probate of the estate of the complainant's late husband and administer the estate.

The solicitors promptly gathered in the assets and five months later obtained the Grant of Probate and made distributions.

What they did not do was draw up the estate accounts or deal with a specific devise of some land.Eventually, in September 1997, the executrix ran out of patience and instructed another firm to obtain the papers and finish the work.

The new firm requested the file, but it was not provided until June 2000 - and only after numerous letters demanding its release.

To make matters worse, the solicitors ignored further letters of complaint demanding an explanation.When the complaint reached the OSS, the file was obtained.

It showed nothing had been done on it after early 1994.

Neither had the client been sent the information required under the version of Practice Rule 15 that was in force in early 1993.The upshot was that the firm received no fees for the work they had done, satisfactorily, in gathering in and distributing the realisable assets.

Also, they were ordered to pay the executrix compensation of 1,000.Few cases are as bad as that, but far too many should never have seen the light of day.

It is hard to imagine what the solicitors in this instance hoped to gain by ignoring the letters requesting the file.

l Every case before the compliance and supervision committee is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents.