‘We’ll have the bill (of costs), please’

If a beneficiary of an estate or trust is unhappy with the level of legal fees that the personal representatives (PRs) or trustees have incurred and paid out of the fund, what, if anything, can he do? Over the past decade or so, several cases have grappled with this apparently simple question. The result seems to be a patchwork quilt of subtly inconsistent decisions. The latest instalment is Kenig v Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP, which provides yet another curve in the winding road to an answer, with potentially far-reaching implications, both for beneficiaries and for solicitors instructed by PRs and trustees.