merin
Collected on:
Be careful with the fees.
I had high expectations when I engaged this law firm to handle my partner's inheritance case. At first, I was absolutely delighted with them and even thought I was very lucky to have found them! They were so accommodating and lovely.
Unfortunately, the experience turned out to be unexpectedly disappointing afterwards, especially in terms of pay. In a rather "elegant" way, they manage to raise their initial fees to double and more and even higher amounts.
They started working without initially explaining to me the whole process and what actions they were going to take. Initially, I thought this was not a problem. I suppose I was flattered by the polite emails we exchanged. I relied on the information on the Osbornes site - they referred me to their site. When I asked them what the fees included, which they initially estimated to be in the range of £7,500 to £10,000, they wrote to me that this was all it said on their site: https://osborneslaw.com/wills-probate-and-disputed-estates-solicitors/how-much-does-probate-cost/. I read what was on their site and from there I figured out what follows. They were so accommodating that I didn't even think there could be any confusion about fees going forward!
Although I read on their site, I had to keep asking to find out what they were doing and I found out late that this meant charging for every single email I received. The more emails they sent to me, the more fees. I am under the impression that this is why I was not informed at the outset of the actions they were going to take on my instructions but was updated piece by piece on the actions to follow.
I was updated at the beginning of June 2024 that the fees had reached £20,000. I objected and they reduced it to 10,000 (which they said was a big reduction) but also wrote that they would charge at new hourly rates starting May 2024. What they called a big reduction was actually a change in the initial fee, which they calculated.
At first, they estimated the fees to be in the range of £7,500 – £10,000. When I asked what that entailed, I was directed to their site. It says that they also deal with tax returns. It turned out that it wasn't quite like that, since they hire accountants to handle tax returns. The accountants they hired asked me for £500 a year and separately for every other action they wanted an hourly rate.
I note again that hiring an accountant from them is billed separately and turns out not to be in the range they originally calculated. They also charge for every email (information) they send to the accountant on my behalf, because they are the accountant's clients, not me. Then they also write to me to "transmit" the information from the accountant to me. You understand how many emails that is and how much they are charging for the same action.
Finally, there were instances where they caused me unnecessary delays and stress. They drafted a probate application in July 2024 based on my instructions from April 2024 and then sent me a corrected probate application in October 2024. They didn't file the probate application until November 2024. Of course, this led to more emails and hounding of the estates left by my partner to update them on the delay.
There is currently unnecessary delay and stress with tax returns, as well. The filing of tax returns has been extremely delayed. What's worse is that after a year and a half since I had instructed them, they informed me that for late submission of the returns, I would incur fines.
I expected much more from a company of their reputation and unfortunately, they failed to meet my expectations. I strongly advise anyone considering their services to proceed with caution and carefully evaluate other options. Regrettably, I have to continue with them, since hiring other lawyers would mean repeating actions, as they themselves indicated to me.
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