LPA - £1,500 + VAT bill - is this the norm?

[CathT]

Last September,I instructed a solicitor to make arrangements for LPAs (health & welfare and propety & financial) for both my mum and dad.

After numerous telephone calls to their office, I have had a call from them today to say the final forms have been returned by the Office of the Public Guardian.

I would like to know if it is normal practice for LPAs to take so long to process (8 months) and whether the cost of £1,500 + VAT is reasonable?

The legal practice was recommended by our local Alzheimers office so I didnt shop around for other estimates as I presumed this would be sufficient and a practice with such a recommedation wouldnt be ripping us off.

We were told that my parents would qualify for a reduction in certification fees due to their low income. Apparently, the cost of this was £280, so the rest of the bill, ie £1,220 is for the legal work.

I now wish I had processed the LPAs myself but with the stress of taking care of my folks and my own family, I didnt have the time or energy to take this on.

Anyhow, I would really appreciate feedback on this matter as I would be very sad if my mum and dad were being taken advantage of. If they havent got enough to contend with without paying exorbitant legal and care home fees. At this rate they will be destitute in a very short time.

 

[carolsea]

Hi
For comparison, we had a Finance only LPA done for my Mum last year. The cost was around £500 and it took 6 months (ish).
Hope this helps
CArol

 

[parrypamela]

Hi, I did the LPA for Finance and Welfare myself with a pack. It cost me, without any exemptions, just over £300. Your bill does sound quite excessive but I did not approach solicitors. It was very simple to do and I had no problems.

It took about 2 - 3 months for registration and everything was fine.

 

[sue38]

Hi Cath,

Can I ask if you/your parents were provided with a costs estimate at the outset?

 

[concerned1947]

I obtained some quotes from Solicitors before going ahead. I felt able to do it myself but was concerned that my husband would have difficulty agreeing to me doing this. The solicitor was able to explain the process and by involving his son (we both have children from previous marriage) and my daughter as I wanted her to be APOA for me, we were able to sort it out. It cost about £700 for both of us just for financal POA. It did seem alot of money to pay for something that I could have done myself but as I said it wass less stressful to get a solicitor involved.

 

[JackMac]

I think that is far too expensive. My parents both got LPA's and Wills done about 6 months ago and it was about 800-£900! That included the wills! The lady came to their house a few times and went through everything in detail so the service was great too.
My dad's came through in about 2-3 months and my mum's was a few months longer I think because she kept giving them the wrong forms!

My dad is glad he went through a company to do the LPA's as along with everything else none of us wanted that work! It might sound simple to some people but it wasn't to us.
We thought it was expensive what they paid but did some research and found that it's reasonable especially as Wills were done too.

I take it you can't leave these solicitors now and go to someone else?

 

[Soobee]

I had financial LPAs done for my parents plus non-standard wills (i.e. normally wills are mirror-image for both in a couple). It took the best part of a year even though I was quoted 4 months. But I think it cost less than £1000 + VAT all together.

I went for solicitors for peace of mind because I believe that mum may challenge what I've done with her money later.

 

[RobertE]

I had a financial LPA drawn up for my mum by a solicitor as I hate forms and I really didn't want to risk getting it wrong as I've heard the Court will return it if there is even a tick not completed.

The cost was - as I recall - around the £1,000 mark. Start to finish it took six months, a month's delay of which was due to it having to be returned to the Court as they had forgotten to stamp two of the pages.

Hope this helps.

 

[Resigned]

Hi

The cost and the time seems very excessive to me but I did the forms for my mother myself and the whole cost was £250. It took about 6 weeks to get them registered and the whole thing was very simple. I didn't get any quotes from solicitors.

I know that solicitors have to do some extra paperwork you don't need if you do it yourself, this is to safeguard themselves. My financial advisor is now able to do LPAs and told me all about the extra bits he'd have to do. I then decided to do it myself.

I don't suppose you can get out of it now but I think you should make your opinion on this known to the firm.

R

 

[morrisons2006]

Hi

We had an EPA dealt with by a solicitor and the final bill was around £1,500

Hope this helps

 

[jimbo 111]

I did the LPA's (financial] for my wife and myself
but I can understand why any one is put off when they see such a formidable 'bundle' of application forms and guidance notes
But as has been already mentioned , it is not as difficult as it appears.
Perhaps your local Alzheimers office should be made aware of the high costs of the recommended solicitor.

There are Solicitors and Solicitors, I have made my own mistakes . I recently renewed my will at the solicitors who dealt with my wifes probate and it cost me £400 for the simplest will you could imagine.
I should have known better because I knew their fee for doing probate was very high.

As many members will note you pay for the posh offices , where as many high street firms are just as proficient and so much cheaper.

Regarding your own costs , whilst it ended up dear, from what you say you had a total of four LPA's (2 your mom 2 your dad)
so the overall cost compared to some of the member examples
does not seem overmuch, but still a hell of a lot of money

If its any consolation you will have the peace of mind in knowing that you have done the right thing in being prepared for future possibilities

Hope all goes well

jimbo 111

 

[Missy]

We had four LPAs drawn up for my inlaws last year - 2 Health and 2 finance through a solilcitor and the total cost was £1200 plus VAT.

 

[jenniferpa]

FYI The Law Society says

Solicitors don't always charge a fixed fee for a particular job. The bill will often be worked out on an hourly basis, so the longer it takes, the more it costs. A solicitor must give you a cost estimate at the outset, usually at the first interview.

 

[Nebiroth]

Unfortunately, I think this merely highlights how expensive solicitors can be (and usually, the larger and posher the firm, the more they cost and the worse the service!). They charge huge sums for doing just about anything, it wouldn't surprise me to see, in an itemised bill, hundreds of pounds charged for just sending out simple notification letters to the correct relatives.

They charge for every single second of their time, and it all adds up terrifyingly fast.

In short, I think that solicitors take advantage of everyone. Most of the public are terrified to engage in anything even faintly resmebling legal matters and solicitors encourage this. They charge shockingly high rates for the simplest of matters (like instructing a secretary to post a letter).

It is always worth shopping around and getting quotes.

The LPA forms etc look worse than they actually are.

Sadlt, as the work has been done, you're left with little option but to pay up. I think you have been taken advantage of, but not in any exceptional way, in that shockingly high fees are the norm. Nearly everyone who deals with a solicitor is shocked by how much they charge for how little but often feel they were left with no choice because it involved something "legal".

I executed my late father's estate and did all the inheritance tax forms (the big one!) etc myself. The solicitor wanted £500 as a base fee, with extra charges as required for valuing the estate, doing the IHT forms, probate etc. It wouldn;t have suprised me to see a final bill of several thousand pounds. I did it myself for free. Most things are simpler than they look once you get started on them.

 

[CathT]

LPA still not received!!!



Well finally received a letter to say the LPAs (financial & health) were ready for collection at my solicitors along with a bill for £1800 for the legal work.

We instructed the solicitor which had been recommend by the AZ society last September. Following numerous progress requests I eventually got a letter about 6 weeks ago to say my dad's LPAs were ready for collection but there had been some problems with my mums (never found out what they were). However, it is my mum's we desperately need and I said I would collect my dad's at the same time I collect my mum's.

So off I went to collect them today and surprise surprise my dad's wasnt ready for collection. I had a sense of foreboding when I was signing the collection receipt - they had got my mum's name wrong! Attention to detail doesnt seem to be their strongest point. The clerk said there had been a problem when the forms had been stapled and they were now back with the Office of the Public Guardian. I asked whose fault this was and she said it was the Public Guardian. However, I have my suspicions that this isnt the case and my legal bill has crept up from the original (verbal) estimation of £1200 to £1800 on top of £200+ already paid for the certificates. I feel as though I am being made to pay for someone elses mistakes. We have already had to resubmit and sign forms which I feel should have been checked by the solicitors.

I let the solicitor know how disappointed I was by this latest mix up. I am desperate to get my mum's finances sorted as she is currently in an assessment unit and it is looking likely that we will have to start paying for her future care very soon. I know I can do this now for her, but what a stressful time it has been trying to get this process sorted. I am sure I could have done a better job myself.

The thing is, how can they expect payment if the job hasnt been fully completed? The bill states they want payment by the 13th May but I am reluctant to pay them until I have full LPA documentation. However, I am afraid they will start adding interest and goodness knows what else. I am afraid to ring them up and ask further questions in case this adds to the bill.

 

[Margaret W]

I am sticking up for solicitors cos, as an accountant, I have had loads of dealings with solicitors over the years. The new LPAs might be more complicated, but my experience with small family solicitors (and LPAs are well within their scope of capability) is the cost is about £300 for a basic LPA plus about £100 for a will.

£1,500 is way over the top, but if you have agreed to it, there probably isn't much you can do.

Love

Margaret

 

[Derek D]

Derek D

I quite agree with Margaret - but I have now been interrupted and shall have to comment again more fully later!

 

[nitram]

"...The clerk said there had been a problem when the forms had been stapled and they were now back with the Office of the Public Guardian. I asked whose fault this was and she said it was the Public Guardian..."

The now defunct OPG site contained advice that the OPG was a paperless office where all documents were scanned on receipt and that documents should not be stapled,bound or have have holes punched.

Can't find any reference to this on the new site but OPG (Scotland) says:-

"Please note that all documentation submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian is scanned onto our computer system therefore staples should not be used. The use of staples could result in an added delay with documentation being processed."
http://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/forms/index.asp

 

[lin1]

Hello Personally I think 8months wait for LPA is dreadful

I dont know what can be done about the fees going up so much from what you had been told at the outset,
I know it was an estimate not a quote , but I would expect the fee not to have gone up by so much , without you being kept informed of what why ect

Im afraid dads and my experience of a couple of solicitors has not been that good . I will say that the solicitors we had problems with did NOT charge us for there mistakes

 

[CathT]

Margaret and Derek, I do not have a problem with solicitors at all and am a firm believer of making sure matters are legal and proper, hence my appointing them. What I do have a problem with is a shoddy and over expensive service. I was just trying to ascertain whether it is acceptable for an estimated bill of £1,200 to rise so much and whther 8 months (and rising) is feasible time frame. I now have the final bill and it is now a total of £1,942.50 which includes a reduced certificate fee of £180 due to my mum's low income. The bill broken down is:

£1,500.00 (legal fees I suspect)
£ 262.50 VAT
£ 180.00 OPG
£1,942.50 TOTAL

The cost is not the only issue. We instructed the solicitors on the 17th September 2010 and I am still awaiting the paperwork for my dad's LPA eight months later.

The solicitor blamed the OPG (mentioned something about incorrect stapling) so I decided to give the OPG a call to find out what their side of the story was. The OPG kindly read out all the case notes and it seems there were mistakes made by both parties, eg incorrect case numbers, scannings, imperfect dating to name but a few. I asked the OPG if they would send me a copy of the case notes but they declined, however, I understand I may be able to obtain these under a FOI request which I intend to do.

I instructed solicitors presuming they would enable the LPA process to run smoothly, but sadly this has not been my experience.

My advice to anyone appointing solicitors is to shop around, get a written estimate of how much the work is likely to be and keep your fingers crossed!!