Uncompassionate, money hungry lawfirm

My mom passed away in 2021. The executor of the estate at the time was Snalam. Ms van Wyk advised that Sanlam would require payment for their services upfront, but she would not and advised that she was compassionate with her clients. (I contacted Sanlam afterward who advised that this was not the case).

Ms van Wyk and I had a mutual friend who referred me to her, not because of her service, but because of the same circle of friends we were in and he figured she would do a good job. I referred my dad to her and they put the process in action. My dad then later requested that Ms. van Wyk put the transaction on hold to to limited funds.

In 2024, my dad passed away. I then reinitiated the process of windng up my mom's late estate with Ms van Wyk and requested that she send me a statement of account including the progress she had made on the case. She requested a installment payment to which I obliged with R20 000. A month later I had sent 2 emails to Ms van Wyk requesting an update. After not receiving a response on the 2ndf mail I threatened legal action with the LPC(Legal Practice Counsil). Upon hearing this, Ms van Wyk called me and informed me that she would no longer continue with my case and sent me a bill of what she referred to as "services rendered" that were not listed on the original statement of account.

A week later, Ms van Wyk called me to ask if she couldnn't rather finish the winding up of the estate and she would give me a discount on her fees, to which I agreed.

In this process, I found out that she had not cloed my late mother's bank account (note this is 3 years later), She constantly blamed her staff for delays in the windng up of my late mom's estate - until I called her out on it, and she visited the Master's office herself and was able to get the documentaton she required.

She then requested a gaurentee of payment for the final installment - I provided her with one from the executor, the agent hanlding my late father's estate (as Ms van Wyk initially advised her account could be settled with the funds from the winding up of my late dad's estate.) She had since changed her mind and demanded the final payment up front. (So much for compassion).

This is just a warning - do not be fooled by her speech of compassion and lies that other institutions would demand the payment up front. I would not recommend using Fred van Wyk Attoryneys at all.