Anecdotal evidence recently exchanged around the office appears to show that solicitors are expected to:
- When acting as executors, even after the end of the administration, maintain the grave of the deceased at no cost to the estate, as a matter of course;
- Provide initial free advice as a “statutory free half hour” on any topic;
- During such initial advice, complete IHT400 forms – for no fee;
- Give tax advice in relation to estates for no fee, when such estates would normally attract a significant Inheritance Tax liability;
- Travel to see a client residing more than fifteen minutes drive away at no additional fee, at a time convenient to a client;
- Provide copies of entire files for no fee;
- Answer questions relating to the preparation of a will for no fee.
I really don’t understand – you don’t expect your hairdresser to cut your hair for free – or a plumber to come out and look at your boiler and not charge for their time. You don’t roll up at the airport, board a plane and then fly to New York for no money or expect that a return flight is automatically included because you purchased an outward bound ticket. You regularly pay for your car to be serviced and have new tyres, but expect a will to be an unusual and unnecessary expense, and the advice connected with it to be worthless.
I appreciate lawyers are “lefty” when they do their job for people whom the last government disliked, or amongst the lowest of the law (the aforementioned government/parliament, estate agents etc) but we seem to be asked to do so much, compared to other professions, and to be vilified in the same breath, all for free…
Wills and the rest 