The Gazette 1967/71

he noted that Mrs. Byrne had not assented to the bequest in the Will so he drafted an assent and had it approved by the building society's solicitors. He then engrossed it, had a memorial drawn, had these documents signed by Mrs. Byrne and paid the commissioner's fee. He then attended to lodge the assent, paid stamp duty on the assent and on the memorial and had the two documents regis tered in the Registry of Deeds, He had also observed that Mrs. Byrne had not had the grant of probate noted in the appropriate branch of the local authority and he had this done. It was for tunate that he remembered when he did, that Mrs. Byrne had not assented to the bequest, because of course he had to recite the Assent in his already rather voluminous and complicated assignment. The deed having now been executed by all parties the solicitor lodged it with a copy for adjudication of stamp duty and to speed matters up sent his valuer's report and a note of the rate able valuation. The adjudication office assessed the stamp duty at 1% as he had taken the pre caution of putting inter alia a relationship certifi cate into his Deed. He paid the stamp duty and had the memorial stamped. All was in readiness now to make an appoint ment with the building society's solicitors at their office to complete the matter and he had to make sure that he had everything they required in readi ness. At this stage he fortunately adverted to the fact that a certificate of discharge from death duties would be required; he drafted this, had it copied in duplicate and lodged in the estate duty office and by exertion there had the business dealt with expeditiously. He then had judgment, bank ruptcy and sheriff's office searches made against his clients and paid for them. He also obtained from his clients up to date vouchers for the ground rent and the rates and he requisitioned and paid for a hand search in the Registry of Deeds as requested by the building society. Having obtained it he satisfied himself that he could explain and did explain an act thereon. Immediately prior to making the appointment to close with the building society's solicitors he obtained a letter giving the up to date figures as to the amount outstanding by way of principal and interest on foot of the mortgage so that the build ing society's solicitor would be able to insert the correct amounts in the deed which was done on the closing. The closing took half an hour and the

solicitor handed over all the outstanding docu ments, including the certificate of discharge from death duties. Having now finished the work he was rather surprised that it had taken him just five months although he could see from his file that he had dealt with each point expeditiously as he went, and he was equally surprised when he noted that his outlay was as follows :— Paid loan on deeds fee .................. £110 Paid valuer's fees ........................ £6 6 0 Paid local authority law agent's fee ... 2 2 0 Paid building society solicitor's approval fee ........................... £4 4 0 Paid for judgment, bankruptcy sheriff and hand search ..................... £4 10 0 Paid two commissioners' fees ......... 10 0 Paid stamp duty on assent ............ 10 0 Paid stamp duty and registry fees on memorial to assent .................. £2 12 6 Paid revenue commissioners' stamp duty on assignment ..................£16 0 0 Paid stamp duty and Registry of Deeds fees on memorial of assign ment ...................................... £2 12 6 Total £40 8 0 When he noticed the number of letters he had written in connection with the work he thought it quite reasonable to charge 15/- for postages and parchment. At this stage the Solicitor was in somewhat of dilemma because his client was a typist who had the full responsibility for maintaining the home and who had £13 a week in salary and whose mother had pending an application for Widow's Pension. What to do about his own charges now gives the So'icitor more worry and trouble than any of the work and he is still wondering what to do about this. BAR PRESSES FOR LEGAL AID FEE RISE Comparisons with British and N.I. Systems Unfavourable THE MEMBERS OF THE BAR. at the annual general meeting of the Bar Council, held re cently, voted by an almost three-to-one majority to remove their names from the legal aid panel 109