Concerns about Solicitor

[medsecslave]

What would happen if your solicitor went bust whilst dealing with your case? My uncle's estate of 100K is being dealt with by a small office which doubles as an estate agent. It's been five months since he passed and they seem to be dragging their heels, the latest is that the DWP have overpaid his tax credits and this could take another two months to sort. Our main concern is what would happen to the money if they went bust as they never seem to be very busy in fact my uncle got to know them before he passed as he used to call in for a chat and a cup of tea. The solicitor even came to the funeral. Is there any insurance we can take out?

[KJN]

I think you will find that the funds should repeat should be kept in a "client account" which is separate from the company accounts, I put should as there have in the past been Solicitors that have not done this, (not very common though) as far as protection is concerned the Law Society see to this. I have recently had the same problem re DWP nd it took just under three months for them to sort the matter out.

[tonywiltshire]

You do not need to take out insurance all practicing solicitors in private practice must have professional indemnity insurance with a minimum compulsory level of cover of £2million.
The solicitors code of conduct (principle 10 of which is to protect client money) and the solicitors’ regulation authority also provides you with protection.
Some estates can take some time to deal with and if you are concerned over any delay make an appointment to see the person dealing with the matter and explain your concern.

[medsecslave]

Brilliant - thanks for the replies, one less thing to worry about!

[BradyJa]

Have you had any money to date?.
When my father / mother passed away I can remember having a phone call about once a week asking for small cheques to be collected and normally within a day for larger cheques.
The cheques were made out to us.
Oddly most of the estate was settled within about 3 months.
The soliitor had trouble with a small life assurance policy which only amounted to £100 and that took about 6 months to come.
He said it caused him almost as much work as the rest of the estate put together.
Good job he was on a fixed fee.