Private Client

The Court of Protection has cancelled six lasting powers of attorney because the certificate provider, though a member of the Society of Will Writers, was a convicted fraudster.

A judge has criticised a solicitor who failed to ensure that an elderly testator with Parkinson’s disease understood a change made to his instructions.

A solicitor rebuked by the SRA for “substantial and unexplained delay” in the administration of an estate has failed in an appeal to the SDT.

A private client solicitor has transformed his law firm into a specialist fixed-fee service which aims to unblock stalled probate matters.

A law firm owner who acted “based on her recollections as opposed to checking facts” has been rebuked after letting administration of an estate drift for six years.

A solicitor who acted as a deputy for 16 years and did little to protect her client’s interests in that time has been suspended from practice for six months.

A solicitor who continued to act for both executors of an estate after a dispute arose between them has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Legal Ombudsman has reported a 41% increase in the number of complaints about conveyancing, driven by delays, poor communication and post-completion problems.

A man who threatened to “beat the shit” out of solicitors who acted as administrators of his aunt’s will has been found in contempt of court by the High Court.

MPs have called on the Ministry of Justice to increase the minimum threshold at which estates must pay probate application fees from £5,000 to £20,000.