WILL £4O: COSTS £135

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 15 June 1917, Page 1

WILL £4O: COSTS £135

1 REVELATION WHICH SHOCKED A JUDGE. '' When he was informed of the cost of cons struing a poor man's will, u High Courb t Judge was considerably shocked. The wilt s amounted to £4O, and the Law's charges e for construing it—or 'making its meaning plain—amounted to £135. . r The Judge—Mr Justice Astbury, in tha e Chancery Division—was informed that in .addition to the estate of £4O there tras [' a real estate comprising two or three cot- [. tages. The widow was" left £IOO, hut she > could not get- that. She, however, had th» 7j furniture. His Lordship: What, do the costs eoiue to? '.■■-■' Counsel: £135. His Lordship: It is monstrous, and it distresses me to think that poor people cannot have a short document construed for less than £135. Counsel said he was sorry for the jwor people, but it could not be helped if their father riiade such a stupid will. He suggested that one or two of the cottages niiglts be mortgaged, n- His Lordship: I think the solicitors shout;* ii- reduce their costs to the lowest possihlr »d limit, and then they can take a charge by rs which their costs will be paid off by inslnl-,-e ments.