Petition Summary:  When the courts appoint probate solicitors or law firms to administer estates, beneficiaries expect fairness and integrity. Yet, probate solicitor misconduct occurs. When this happens, there’s often no clear path for redress. Probate solicitor misconduct can manifest in various ways, including delayed estate administration, mismanagement of assets, even fraud and theft. Grieving beneficiaries are left to challenge powerful legal entities without adequate support.

Under the heading ‘People’s experience of probate’, the prematurely disbanded Parliamentary Justice Committee on Probate asked how well beneficiaries and the bereaved are protected and supported through the probate process: Justice Committee inquiry into probate 22 November 2023

In my experience beneficiaries and the bereaved receive very little legal protection when probate solicitors’ misconduct is suspected or confirmed. This must change.

We Demand:

1.    Court Responsibility: Courts must investigate allegations of wrongdoing by the probate administrators they appoint.

2.    Independent Oversight Mechanism: Establish an independent review body to handle complaints regarding court-appointed probate administrator misconduct or negligence.

3.    Clear Ethical and Procedural Standards: Set and enforce rigorous standards for court-appointed probate administrators, including legal and financial consequences for breaches.

4.    Economic Accountability: Court-appointed probate administrators must be held financially liable for losses caused by malpractice or mismanagement.

5.    Transparency and Access: Estate beneficiaries must be entitled to timely and complete access to estate records, valuations, and decisions.

6.    Legal Support for Beneficiaries: The creation of a specialist probate ombudsman or support body to assist families navigating probate disputes, distinct from current inadequate systems.

If you have experienced solicitor probate misconduct—or simply believe in justice and transparency for all—sign this petition to call on the Ministry of Justice and the Probate Courts to urgently reform oversight and regulation of court-appointed probate administrators.

The Fake Valuation: How the Law Firm Irwin Mitchell Used Fictitious Property Listings to Undervalue My Late Mother’s Flat.

You can read about my lived experience of a court-appointed probate administrator misconduct here. The court appointed law firm for my late mother's estate has distributed falsified digital property listings in a valuation of my mother's flat, undervalued assets, presided over the misappropriation of estate cash, and submitted inaccurate estate values to the Probate Registry and HMRC.  This is an ongoing situation.