Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Greeklol

On a serious note... A year ago the opportunity to borrow significant sums of money from the ECB at 1% was probably seen by many institutions as an opportunity to put a "risk free" trade on where they used the ECB cash to purchase longer dated government bonds and then took the turn. A nice little earner on the face of it.
However as we know that has not turned out to be the case and in reality the banks have probably been preparing for the expiry of the 442bn facility by selling some of the assets that they purchased with it in the first place.

Then we have investors service Moody's putting Spain's Triple-A credit rating on review for a possible downgrading because of concerns about the country's economy and plans for deficit reduction.
a bit late in the day spotting that one
Anyone got any good news?

Are yesAndy Murray in the semi finals

Probably old and you all know the answerCynic?
Anyone work out if you can produce a sentence with five ands together one after the otherand the sentence still makes sense.?.. Not that any of mine do
Good luck to SpainGood luck to Jenson and Lewisand good luck to my friends and family eating our BBQ?

The cat and the mouse.

The space between the 'cat' and 'and' and 'and' and 'the' is exactly the same size.

Spot on ExecI was told that the pub sign The Anchor and Hope was incorrectly written.a larger space between Anchor and and etc. Same explanation as yoursso go to the front of the classif you are already theredo a lap of honour!

What a rip off.

A few months ago an elderly uncle died, his will stating that his wife was executor.
As she is in her 90s we went with her to the Solicitors who had retention of the original will.
This will looked fairly simple, with no trusts and leaving everything to the wife/widow.
The solicitor, as they do offered to obtain probate, quoting a fee of 600 plus VAT and plus the 99 standard probate fee.
My auntie asked me if I would try to obtain probate on her behalf, something I had already offered to do.
Although I had never carried out such a procedure before, it took me a total time of 3 hours, not including the gathering of papers etc something the solicitor would want doing anyway.
The 3 hours also included filling in one set of forms twice as I had initially completed them wrong, prior to submission.
The forms were accepted by the probate office without any amendments being needed.
So the solicitors wanted 600 for less than 3 hours work. It would obviously have taken them far less than 3 hours, probably just with a solicitor signing the forms off after a junior had completed them.
Nice work if you can get it.

I do admit that if the will have been more complicated, I would probably not have attempted to do the work.

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Of course you won't have needed to pay for office space and a receptionist, nor insurance for any mistake you might have made. Also you won't have needed to write any letters to your aunt and store the file for years. Finally, you didn't need to cover yourself in case an unforeseen complication took you a few more hours to deal with what seemed at first sight a straightforward case, or even 30...

Greek.I think they have spotted a flaw in your argumentI think I would pay up myself?

Ive done a lot of thinking there?

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Good job Im luckylol

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With solicitors costing about 150-200 per hour, it looks like the firm was going to bill you for about 3-4 hours work plus disbursements.

So a reasonable quote, really. But it does show you how, if you can be bothered to try to do some of these things for yourself, just how much money you can save.

Of course, if whatever it is goes a bit awry, then you will always be able to fall back and use the professional later......

It's not the top man in the practice who does the work all the time, even though that's what the charge seems to indicate. Nevertheless, he/she will at least oversee/manage the underlings who do most of the nitty gritty work.

Comparing the high cost of the simple probate job, as it actually turned out to be, with a typical purchasing conveyance at, say 500-750, then it does seem a bit OTT to me. I'd be up for the DIY effort myself.

Hi mnamreh,

I agree as everything is relative. I would draw a line at operating on myself.
I cant even figure out a TV remote control, and my DIY is about the same standard as Micheal Crawfords in 'Some mothers do have em'.
It is always a degree of discussion as to what is a professional worth.
Take that surgeon for example, it is difficult to put a price on saving a life as you could rightly ague that a life is always more valuably than money. But should that mean that they can 'name their price' I think not.
This is not knocking surgeons, as I do believe that many professionals are worth their large salaries, due to a combination of their skill, and the time and work it has taken them to reach the very high standards that most of them have.
All I was trying to show was that often people are worried, frightened at having a go.
As to "if only law wasn't created for the police to uphold, from where would your cosy lifestyle emanate". I have no augment with that and can't even see how that is relevant to my post.
As you say, a lay person can always miss something and I admit to being surprised when it was confirmed every detail had been submitted correctly.
The main things that can be missed by a lawman are the same things that a solicitor could miss, for example a bank account or not including a valuable item.
Even if solicitors deal with probate they still require someone, usually a close family member to find and supply them with all the details, bank accounts and the like.
They can't include something they are not informed about.

Kayak,

Agree re their overheads, but 600 still appears steep. As to keeping records and the letter. Firstly I agree there is no need for a letter, but I will be keeping a copy for at least 7 years as advised.

I have been the executor twice now. Once for my father and once for an aunt. They both had wills and doing the probate work was very simple. The forms are very easy to fill in. What takes the time is the gathering of all the paperwork and getting information from banks, pension companies, life insurance and coming to a total valuation of the entire estate. Both of the wills had multiple inheritors and one had pensions from foreign countries. It just take a bit of time.

.

I am doing Lasting Power of Attorney forms for 'Property and Financial Affairs' and 'Health and Welfare' for each of my in-laws at the moment. The forms are on a government website. The cost of a solicitor doing this is quite high. Children should encourage their parents to do this.

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Mnamreh,

You say, "My sentence regarding your lifestyle was crass and inappropriate, not at all relevant and for this I apologize".
No prob at all.
1 I am thick skinned.
2 Lost count of the number of times, I have posted comments then regretted same.
I have an impulsive nature, which does not help.

Appreciated, all the same.

Whilst we are talking about being paid for skill/talent.
Although retired, I am thinking of a part time job that brings satisfaction and money.
I am thinking of advertising my talents as a Sex Therapist. Hands on approach obviously.
I asked my wife if I should do this for free, or make a charge equal to my talents and experience.
She advised me to do it for free, to save giving refunds.
Now that 'Was Cutting'.

Michael Schumacher could have killed Rubens Barrichello yesterday when he deliberately tried to push him into a concrete wallthe most dangerous deliberate manoeuvre I have ever seen in F1 if this had been filmed on one of our roads Schumacher would have got prisonthe fcuking idiot was still unrepentanthe received a penalty drop of 10 grid positions at the drivers next eventhe really needed a drop off Beachy Head