SRA: Delay was unacceptable
A Surrey law firm that failed to deal with an estate it took on after merging with another practice has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
The errors of Morr & Co kept beneficiaries out of their money for more than five years.
The Redhill-based practice became responsible for administering the estate following its merger with Cozens Moxon & Harts in May 2013. Cozens was holding around £50,000 of funds that were owed to the beneficiaries.
An SRA notice said that, over the next five and a half years, staff at Morr & Co failed to finalise the estate “in a timely manner”, meaning the money was not paid to the beneficiaries.
For much of that time, it failed properly to notify the executor that the funds had been retained, and why, and also did not keep the executor informed about the costs incurred.
Morr & Co admitted the various breaches and that this represented a failure both to provide a proper standard of service and to act in the best interests of each client.
In mitigation, the firm pointed out that it had no regulatory history of similar breaches and had taken remedial action to distribute the funds, with interest. It said it has put improved processes and controls in place to reduce the likelihood of similar breaches in future.
The SRA said this indicated there was a low risk of repetition and that a rebuke was appropriate, given that the clients “have not suffered significant or lasting harm”.
At the same time, “the delay experienced by the beneficiaries was far longer than can be considered acceptable”, meaning “some public sanction” was required to uphold public confidence.
Morr & Co also paid the SRA costs of £300.
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