Forrester Sylvester Mackett Solicitors Reviews 

We recently completed our first house purchase and had an excellent experience with Emily and Caroline throughout the entire process. They were incredibly patient, organised, and always responsive whenever we had questions or needed updates! Would highly recommend FSM!

Jess in the Wills Department explained everything, and made sure we understood the implications with everything to do with our new Wills and Lasting Power of Attorney's.
The whole thing was made easy by her patience & professionalism.
I recommend FSM to everyone on this basis.
Our son recently bought his 1st property using FSM and was delighted with the service they provided also.
Customer service Excellent.
Well done all at FSM

We have used FSM Swindon office to make Wills and LPA's recently.
Excellent service, reasonable fees,
All delivered with kindness and care.
Also their conveyancing department, was excellent when we moved house a few years ago.
Would highly recommend.

Throughout FSM acting as executor for my late mother's estate I was constantly chasing for communication. Felt very much kept in the dark. Even when it was eventually finalised (?) I was then contacted to say they'd missed an outstanding council tax payment. Unimpressed.
They then handled the transfer and registering of the property deeds. It took 18 months for them to register them in the wrong name, and address all documentation to my dead mother...
Another year on, zero communication, and they still can't get my name right. They have consistently made me feel incredibly unimportant.
If you have not started dealing with them, don't.

As one of two executors I received poor service from the Chippenham branch of FSM about my aunt's estate. Her affairs were in good order but this firm was extraordinarily slow. She died in March 2023 and in January 2026 I was still asking for a copy of the final accounts by email. I am still waiting for that now despite a promise by return that they would be sent. Even allowing for the slow sale of the house this is an extraordinarily long time for the administration of a simple estate (a house to sell and some money in the bank and ISAs, thirteen beneficiaries plus some charities). It was handled by an employee who had recently been elevated to partner, which frankly I think was a mistake! I repeatedly received no reply to my countless emails and calls or a very late response after a number of weeks and much chasing. Very odd excuses were given for the failure of this solicitor to be in touch. This firm had originally been an independent business in Malmesbury. They handled some of the wider family's legal matters which is why my aunt chose to lodge her will with them. FSM then took that firm over, much to their detriment and so my aunt's affairs were handled at the Chippenham office. I have no doubt that this employee is competent in law but their customer service leaves a great deal to be desired and needs work. They also need to be much faster in carrying out tasks and responding to emails and phone calls. I should mention that the conveyancing department was far more efficient and dealt well and speedily with a problem with the Land Registry.

This account reviews the admin of a will. The testator died in a care home on 23 September 2024. The three executors were FSM and two people aged 76 and 77 who instructed FSM to undertake the entire admin of the will. The estate comprised UK bank/building society accounts. Its value was well below the inheritance tax threshold, there were no property or other assets to sell or chattels to disburse, no loans to repay and the beneficiaries were all descendants of the deceased. Proving the identities of beneficiaries required them to download a third-party app and upload a video and other info to it, to supply bank details and subsequently receive cold phone calls from FSM about them.

The fee to FSM was between £9000-10000. Probate was obtained on 5 March 2025. The proceeds were distributed to the beneficiaries over a couple of weeks comprising the end of August 2025 and beginning of September. Two working days after receiving payment, one beneficiary was asked by FSM to return some of the money given to them.

Overall I felt the fee was excessive for a simple estate, the disbursement of funds took a long time despite some chivvying of FSM and the means of identifying beneficiaries unacceptable.

Update 2 February 2026. I received a letter saying I and other beneficiaries had been underpaid, with a cheque to correct the error. Thus the beneficiary who had been asked to return money had actually received the correct amount.

Trying for 5 weeks to get hold of power of attorney that Sylvester Macketts completed for my parents and stored for them. Awful customer service don’t return calls or action request to access documents

I used the Trowbridge office for both my sell and purchase and found them to be professional, thorough and communicative. It was a pleasure to work with Hiba as she explained the processes involved and dealt with some complexities which arose and I felt she had my back. I would highly recommend them.

I used the Frome branch for my move. The timing was at one of the most difficult times in the housing market for decades.
I had a few quotes from different companies and FSM were slightly cheaper than the other quotes whilst at the same time giving me great customer service vibes so I chose them.

I wasn't disappointed. I had a house to sell and a house to buy at the same time. This is one of the most stressful things you can do, and it did get very stressful. However, FSM were always so professional, always, ALWAYS did the things that needed to be done promptly. They were transparent with their fees, I never had to chase them for things that they should have done weeks ago. They were patient with me when I got upset. They called back when they said they would. They went above an beyond to solve problems. They chased the other solicitors when they dragged their heals. They were friendly and kind and all the things you need and look for in a solicitor when you move house, they were.

I am so grateful for all their hard work and can not recommend them enough.

I did see a review on here prior to writing this today who said they charged him too much for searches. I'm sorry but they are very clear how much searches cost, and the searches are expensive. I can only assume that reviewer did not read his paper work correctly as the cost of searches are entirely out of fsm's hands.

When moving house, there is a huge amount of legal paper work to do, and some of that is paid to other parties. It really is up to us to read our paper work properly.

Please be careful with these guys, they will charge more money for the work which it is not done.

I tried to purchase a property last year Oct 2022 and due to various reason it did not go well but I initially paid £400 and they said £110 is searches fees which is fine and they asked £392 more for the work which they did not do, I challenged how £392 is calculated as there is just one email sent from seller solicitors and they said like they charge £360/hour for conveyencing which they did not mention anywhere.

Intresting part is this conversation happened last year October 2022 and when I challenged £360/hour is way to high and there is no reply to that and they woke up after a year and sent a email on Aug 2023
and said me to pay £392 otherwise you will face penalities.

Bunch of jokes.