Yahoo News Ayr solicitor's 'unacceptable' delay after taking four years to wind up estate
An Ayrshire solicitor has been fined £2,000 after being found guilty of professional misconduct.
Kevin John Boyd, of Mathie Morton Limited, in Alloway Place, Ayr, was found to have delayed an executry for a deceased man’s estate for more than four and a half years.
Mr Boyd, 62, a solicitor with nearly 40 years’ experience, was found to be in breach of rules B1.4 and B1.9.1 of the Law Society of Scotland Practice Rules (2011) and was censured during a virtual hearing at Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal.
Mr Boyd was engaged back in October 2018 to assist in dealing with the estate of a deceased man, brought about by two surviving members of his family.
However, in many instances over the course of the four and a half years, Mr Boyd took “no action” or “did not reply” to correspondence.
The Fiscal involved in the case, Breck Stewart, said it was a “serious and reprehensible departure” from the standards of competent and reputable solicitors and therefor “constituted professional misconduct.”
He also claimed this case should have been a “relatively simple” matter, although he did concede that some of the period had been subject to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
However, the delay “went beyond these,” according to Mr Stewart and the complainers had received “a very poor service” from Mr Boyd.
Acting for Mr Boyd, Glasgow-based William Macreath, he said his client accepted that the delay in the case was “unconscionable,” but there were “difficulties” with the matter, as the deceased had left a long term partner and child, his partner was pregnant at the time of the death, and there were “complex family relationships” attached to the case and arrears on a mortgage built up during the delay.
Mr Boyd, it was revealed, experienced some “health and family difficulties” at the time too.
Mr Macreath explained that at one time there were three regulated professionals at Mathie Morton but one of those solicitors left in December 2019, leaving Mr Boyd and his partner to take over his work.
And the post-covid conveyancing boom left them “very stretched.”
In terms of the estate, progress “had been made” and it is in the process of being wound up “appropriately” by Mathie Morton, who will “bear the cost” of the mortgage arrears and the expenses of the court action.
And the composition at the firm is now “better structured” and that Mr Boyd’s professional situation had “improved.”
An assistant solicitor had been engaged by his firm and a new practice manager appointed to “oversee” the Ayr office.
Tribunal papers said: “All of the respondent’s work is reviewed. The Directors have full sight of his in-box. He cannot sign on behalf of the partnership. The firm has modernised its IT systems.”
And an extract from the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal report added: “It is not acceptable to delay dealing with a matter for so long and to ignore requests for information from clients and other solicitors.
“The Fiscal and Mr Macreath disagreed about the complexity of the case. However, it was rightly conceded that the delay in this case was unnecessarily lengthy. There were numerous periods where absolutely nothing happened.
“In all circumstances, a censure and a fine of £2,000 are appropriate to reflect the seriousness of the misconduct.”
Mathie Morton Solicitors said in a statement: "From the moment the firm was made aware of the matter by Mr Boyd, all resources were committed to addressing the matter. There was no dishonesty or lack of integrity on the part of Mr Boyd and the Firm has reviewed all case files relative to Mr Boyd and put appropriate control measures in place. The Firm has ensured that no party involved in the matter has or will suffer financial loss."
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