Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in United Kingdom

Re: Fees

Wow!! This sounds to me more like fraud than overcharging. What I wonder can a dentist or indeed any other person have done in administering an estate to justify �10,000 plus his expenses. Certainly you must take issue with this.

The position of the other co-executor must be established as he has joint legal responsibility for the administration. As a residual beneficiary you are entitled to an explanation and detailed bill of costs. You must ask the dentist for this.

You say that the will contained the usual professional charging clause. Whereas this is an authority for a person who in the usual course of business administers estates to charge a reasonable professional fee, I am far from certain that the same would apply to a person whose usual business is fixing teeth.

Before any definitive opinion could be given I would need to know something of the size of the estate and likely work necessary in the administration, and certainly have the exact wording of the charging clause. Also any appropriate background information. I would be happy to advise further on this.

Andrew Dutton

Legal Zone

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