This review is for a different branch.
I used Jeff at Curwens for Probate on my mother’s estate because he had written my mother’s Will. My mother was a ‘value for money, no frills’ person and this is exactly the service that Curwens offer. Jeff was knowledgeable, thorough and always quick to respond to questions and when I told a friend how much I was being charged, they were impressed by how cheap it was and it’s only now, that I understand why it was so cheap, because I was paying a fixed fee for Jeff and his team (who were also excellent) to ‘apply for probate ONLY’ which is exactly what they did and did it well.
However, in that initial consultation with Jeff, I was never made aware that there was WAY MORE to dealing with someone’s estate than just applying for probate and in all honesty, had I realised how much pain I was about to face over many months of trying to deal with, and unpick the exceedingly complicated finances that my mother had left me, then I most certainly would have employed Curwens to do the whole job (I wasn’t aware that was an option and I should have been made aware). Anybody facing the same situation that I did, please realise that financial institutions DO NOT want to deal with executors and they make life as difficult as possible, they obviously would deal with solicitors much more favourably. This is the route we are taking with my father’s affairs, even though it’s much less complicated and this allows me time to grieve, a luxury I had to do without for my mother.
I have no doubt that had Jeff and his team taken on the whole task then they would have made a fine job of it.