Will Writers are not solicitors. They are not required to have any professional qualifications, and many may not even have a legal background.
The Will Writing industry is unregulated which means that there isn’t a professional body governing all these Will Writers and requiring them all to meet a certain standard. There are also no obligations on Will Writers to ensure that they are keeping up to date with the latest developments in the law, and if there were problems with the work that they carry out it may be very difficult to seek redress.
The Risks of Unregulated Will Writing
Quite often, Will Writing companies will prepare the Wills remotely and may not even see the clients face to face, which poses a greater risk to the clients should their Wills ever be challenged based on a lack of capacity to make the Will or undue influence. If a client has not been seen in person, then how can this be properly checked?
On the other hand, Solicitors and Legal Executives are heavily regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and will have had years of legal training and experience behind them before they are able to offer their services to the public. Solicitors and Legal Executives are also required to keep up to date with legal developments and undertake training each year to retain their ability to practice law.
I often find that clients come to me having had a Will prepared by a Will Writing company which does not meet their needs at all. Often, inappropriate trusts have been included which cause problems with inheritance tax, or they have been persuaded to transfer their main residence into a trust for the children in a bid to avoid care home fees and probate.
In fact, transferring a property in this way may not avoid care home fees, and it causes complications for the clients who no longer own the property that they are living in. In addition, on death, although probate may not be needed as the clients do not own the property, HMRC still want to know all about why the property was put into trust and complicated forms need to be submitted to explain the transaction. This can be very distressing for clients who I find often tell me that they didn’t understand the implications of what they were doing.
Clients are equally as distressed by the fact that they have often spent a lot of money preparing the Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney which are inadequate for their needs when they come to us to review them, or result in further costs being incurred post death.
The Competition and Markets Authority is so concerned by the Will Writing sector that they have considered that the Will Writing sector poses a risk to customers, which has led to them issuing some draft guidance to protect consumers.
However, this is only draft guidance and the sector remains unregulated.
Choosing a Reputable Law Firm
At Timms, we pride ourselves on having a fully qualified team of Solicitors and Legal Executives who all work within the regulated sector and who collectively have over 70 years’ worth of experience. We are careful to ensure that we meet our clients to ensure that they have fully understood the implications of their instructions and the documents that we are preparing for them. We also have several members of the team who have gone on to undertake further qualifications with professional bodies such as STEP and Lifetime Lawyers Association.
As a part of the process, we also assess our clients capacity to prepare their Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney, and ensure that appropriate steps are taken where additional protection against potential future claims against the estate or challenges to the Will are a risk.
We pride ourselves on offering a high standard of client care and a fair pricing structure.
I would always recommend that you see a Solicitor or Legal Executive at a reputable firm when you’re dealing with something as important as preparing a Will and/or Lasting Powers of Attorney to ensure that you are given the most appropriate advice and to ensure that your wishes will be met.
Next Steps...
If you have any questions about preparing your Will or Lasting Powers of Attorney, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01283 214 231 or at c.day@timms-law.com.
