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Another misunderstanding that frequently occurs is that beneficiaries often do not realise that legal fees are being accrued while claims against the estate are being resolved. Beneficiaries often think the lawyer is not doing anything during this process, but in actuality he or she is reporting to the court throughout. It is prudent for lawyers dealing with estate claims to advise the executors about the fees and delays that are likely. This would be especially wise in situations where one of the beneficiaries is the person making the claim, otherwise the beneficiaries may complain that the lawyer allowed the conflict to persist in order to run up their legal fees.
Complaints about delays Of all the complaints submitted about delays last year, 25% pertained to estates. The administration of an estate can be a lengthy process – typically beneficiaries will have to wait around six weeks for probate to be granted and then six months from there before any distribution can be made. Complications can make this process take well over a year, and in some cases several years. Beneficiaries who are unfamiliar with the administration of estates do not expect this process to take so long. It is important that this process is explained to them at the outset, and that they are reminded about
COMPLAINTS
Recognising that this can be a particularly tricky area of law, we have reviewed the complaints about the administration of estates from 2016 to identify what some of the most common issues were. Many of these complaints could have been prevented with better communication.
the steps that need to be taken and provided with updates. This is especially important in situations where events indicate there could be significant delays. One complainant said: “We understand that there are complications but we do not ever receive regular account details or detailed [explanations of the] process that is being followed. It has been nearly 5 years and we do not know the current account status or how much we owe to the lawyer and even though we have told him that the delay in dealing with the estate is causing family issues and concerns… it does not seem to matter to [our lawyer]. We were thinking that surely [our lawyer] should have been regularly sending us at least quarterly information of the current estate status and some kind of indication of when he expected the issues to be resolved.” 39