Private Client


Law firm rebuked for not distributing estate after merger

24 October 2024

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.


Delays fall as Probate Service performance improves

20 September 2024

The Probate Service has now been issuing more grants per month than the number of applications it receives for a year, with delays now falling, new figures have shown.


Number of LPAs registered soars by 28%

29 July 2024

There was a 28% surge in the number of applications for lasting powers of attorney last year, but the Office of the Public Guardian still managed to reduce its backlog.


High Court rectifies will after solicitor’s “clerical error”

25 July 2024

A High Court judge has rectified a will after finding it was “beyond doubt” that the solicitor who drafted it “made a clerical error” in failing to implement her client’s instructions.


Solicitor used LPA to steal cash from vulnerable client

3 June 2024

A solicitor who stole cash from a vulnerable client using her debit card while acting under a lasting power of attorney has been struck off.


Neill urges Probate Service to share more data with lawyers

31 May 2024

The Probate Service needs to share more data about its performance so that lawyers can manage client expectations, the outgoing chair of the justice select committee has said.


Use of solicitors for wills falls but firms get better at cross-selling

23 May 2024

The proportion of people using a solicitor for their will has continued to fall and is now down to 50%, five percentage points lower than in 2019, a report has found.


“We bit off more than we could chew” with court reforms, minister admits

22 May 2024

Justice minister Mike Freer has admitted to MPs that the government “bit off more than we could chew” with its £1.3bn court modernisation programme.


Big fine for firm that failed to replace client money wrongly paid out

21 May 2024

A Norwich law firm has been fined £121,000 for failing for eight years to replace client money which it had wrongly paid out to beneficiaries of an estate.


Digitising probate without new rules “an expensive mistake”

1 May 2024

Digitising the Probate Service without modernising the rules was “an expensive mistake”, a senior solicitor has told MPs investigating delays in the service.


Probate manager jailed after stealing £634k from two law firms

29 April 2024

A probate manager who took £634,000 from estates while working at two law firms has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to charges of fraud by abuse of position and money laundering.


Probate delays “have made clients suicidal”, MPs told

18 April 2024

Probate delays have left some clients feeling suicidal because they are running out of money, the head of a leading probate provider has told MPs on the justice select committee.


Law firm £1.3m negligence saga “does not reflect well on profession”

28 March 2024

A City law firm has failed to strike out a £1.3m negligence claim arising from a discretionary trust it set up for a man described by a High Court judge as “serially let down” by the profession.


Probate delays putting law firms in clients’ firing line

15 March 2024

Law firms are suffering a backlash from clients, and increasing unbillable time, as a result of the continuing delays at the Probate Service, the Law Society has said.


MoJ mandarin refuses to say if criminal lawyers will get “the full 15%”

6 March 2024

The top official at the Ministry of Justice has refused to say whether criminal law solicitors will get their recommended 15% pay rise, in heated exchanges before the justice select committee.

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