Solicitor at McGarry Law LLP
Michael Bernard McGarry
Solicitor
SRA ID: 308612
Michael Bernard McGarry is a Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration with McGarry Law LLP. He has 20 years' experience in the areas of Housing & Property, Agriculture, Commercial Property, Wills, Trusts & Probate working as a solicitor.
21 Galgate, DL12 8EQ
Licensed for 20 years
Practice Areas
Housing & Property, Agriculture, Commercial Property, Wills, Trusts & Probate
- Wills, Trusts & Probate 25%
- Commercial Property 25%
- Housing & Property 25%
- Agriculture 25%
3 Client Reviews
Overall experience
- Value For Money
- Approachability
About Michael Bernard McGarry
Michael Bernard McGarry is a Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration with McGarry Law LLP. He has 20 years' experience in the areas of Housing & Property, Agriculture, Commercial Property, Wills, Trusts & Probate working as a solicitor.
Languages Spoken: English
Contact Michael Bernard McGarry
Resume
LICENSE
Country
Status
Acquired
Updated
United Kingdom
Currently Registered
01/11/04
18/03/25
We found no instances of professional misconduct for this solicitor
WORK EXPERIENCE
Title
Name
Duration
Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration
Mcgarry & Co
?-present
Terrible experience
Michael McGarry is a crook.
He cannot be trusted.
Preys on old vulnerable people so he can take their inheritance.
Treats family members in an applauding manner . At the worst time of your life loosing a loved one he shows only hatred making a difficult situation, 100 times worse .
Please do not use this firm
Lawyer named in this review: Michael Bernard McGarry
Was this review helpful? Yes
Lack of care and attention to detail
When my mother lost mental capacity without a Power of Attorney, the family agreed to the appointment of Mr McGarry as independent deputy to manage her finances. This lasted just over 1 year until her death in 2020.
I identified many errors during the deputyship and on reviewing files after assuming role of executor on my mother’s death. Despite errors being identified early in the deputyship, nothing appears to have been done to ensure similar errors were not repeated, many of which were down to a lack of care and attention to detail.
A small example include: -
Email from firm cancelling an appointment with myself, Mum and the Court of Protection visiting officer to discuss the problems, their email stated a different date to that which had been pre-arranged.
Several overpayments of expenses I incurred on behalf of my mother. When I made the firm aware of these, I was given incorrect bank details to make the refunds.
A payment of £7551 in care home fees paid with an incorrect care home reference, when a family member queried the nonpayment of fees the same amount was paid again.
Failed to insure my mother’s property for nearly 7 weeks, despite my help in providing quotations and reminding the firm it was due.
On my mother’s death he failed to provide a complete and accurate handover of financial information, including the omission of a significant investment made by the firm.
They stated closing balance on one bank account was £6k less than the actual closing balance.
Failed to inform me, that they’d engaged the services of a 3rd party to manage a large investment made by the firm. This resulted in the third party continuing to take advisor fees for several months after her death.
A bank transfer for a large investment was made to both an incorrect account number and incorrect reference, thankfully the payment failed.
Deputy accounts submitted to the Office of Public Guardian contained significant errors. Value and quantity of shares held were incorrectly recorded e.g. only 12 shares in one company were recorded, instead of the 1755 owned. 27 in another company instead of 217 and 4924 shares in another company were completely omitted. More concerning was that the errors were carried over from one year’s accounts to the next.
Included in my late mother’s file was documentation containing the full names and confidential financial information relating to 3 of the firms other Court of Protection clients, correspondence relating to a deceased client’s estate and the home council tax bill for Mr McGarry. Despite notifying the firm of these data breaches, they did not respond.
Entries on their bills of costs claimed fees relating to closure of a bank acct. The entry was dated before I handed over any financial information to the firm and 3 months prior to the first bank account they declared as having closed.
Taken payment of fees which exceeded the total of their bills of costs by £305.
Charged court fees for the Senior Courts Cost Office (SCCO) assessment of bills of costs which exceeded the fees paid by the firm. Fees which were never agreed or discussed with me as executor beforehand.
On assessment, amongst other deductions the SCCO reduced his hourly rate by £45 per hour, resulting in a refund due of £2451.70. Despite several requests, over several months, they failed to refund this money, respond to my formal complaint or hasteners to another partner.
As a final attempt to recover the money owed, I made a court application. Only when notice of my court application was served on the firm did they finally refund the money owed in April 2023, with no interest paid, no apology or reason for the delay.
In my opinion, the service provided by the firm could be described as poor at the very best, if my mother had mental capacity, she most certainly would not have allowed the firm to act for her in any capacity.
Lawyer named in this review: Michael Bernard McGarry
Was this review helpful? Yes
APPALLED. LET DOWN SERVICE.
Michael McGarry has dealt with my grandfather's situation APPALLINGLY! Our family has been going through emotional turmoil with his declining mental state and Michael McGarry was the appointed deputy dealing with his affairs which include the sale of a property through Court of Protection. His children and his wife have been stressed with the hold up, not the courts hold up but because of McGarry and Co. not responding to them, not actioning things, not involving the family, not chasing things up in a timely manner. At current, nothing seems outstanding yet the property sale proceedings are still halted. I have tried to contact Michael McGarry myself but the office just flip me off in a "not your business" attitude! This is my family McGarry and Co are upsetting and that's really been hard to watch on top of what's going on with my granddad. Please run far away from them! I've just read another review where they've let a property rot away for over 3 years!!! I am from a legal background myself and will be looking to make enquiries with the Law Society and Courts on having Michael McGarry audited and investigated on his approach to dealing with CoP matters as evidence suggests this man is UNFIT to deal with them!!! I cannot believe mine and so many other families in a fragile state are left to trust this man with their livelihoods!!
We had many ideas on ensuring my granddad experiences the best of life but McGarry and Co. sure have put a stop to all that. They are definitely playing games and I will urge the regulation bodies to investigate them.
Lawyer named in this review: Michael Bernard McGarry
Was this review helpful? Yes