Court orders solicitor to compensate Cork family for unpaid funeral bill

A man who asked a Cork solicitor to administer his deceased father’s estate found out two years later that the funeral expenses had not been paid, the High Court has heard.

Counsel for the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA), James Daly, told the court it was very upsetting and distressing for the deceased man’s family when the funeral directors told the son they still had not been paid out of the father’s estate, and asked for payment directly.

In the High Court this week, solicitor John Moylan of Richard Moylan and Co, Mallow, Co Cork, was ordered by a judge to hand over the file relating to the man’s late father and his estate to another solicitor.

He was also ordered to pay €1,500 in compensation for time loss incurred as a result of legal services of an inadequate standard.

Counsel told the court that the man’s father had died in early 2023, and Mr Moylan was instructed to make the necessary application and to do the necessary acts to administer the estate.

It was claimed that the solicitor had repeatedly ignored emails and phonecalls from the man and another family member, and the last contact between the solicitor and the son had been in March 2023. Another family member had contact with the solicitor in June of last year, and it was claimed that Mr Moylan had promised to revert with an update the following week, but it is claimed that he failed to do so.

It was also claimed that the solicitor had not provided a value breakdown of the deceased’s estate.

The son made a complaint to the LSRA in September last year, and the complaint was later categorised as one of inadequate service.

Counsel said Mr Moylan was invited to resolve the matter informally but there was no response, and there was no response to further correspondence.

In April this year, the LSRA determined that the legal services provided were of an inadequate standard and Mr Moylan was directed to, within 35 days, transfer the file and all original documents to another named solicitor and pay the €1,500 in compensation.

The solicitor in September this year had sent a copy of the deceased man’s will to the new solicitor, it was claimed, but not the rest of the file.

The court heard that the compensation directed by the LSRA to be given was not paid.

Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins ordered that the solicitor comply with the directions of the LSRA.