Will Drafters Ltd. - What do they do?

dfarry

My father has just been diagnosed as terminally ill with cancer, the outlook even in the short term is quite bleak.

I have decided to start trying to organise things as best I can but have found that my parents have been paying for all sorts of schemes/plans/insurances most of which I would consider unnecessary.

I was most concerned to find that for the past 8 years my parents have been paying £30 every month to Will Drafters Ltd, apparently for safe storage of the will. They originally paid for a will (my mother believes £90) but she doesn't seem to have any more information about the plan. I can't find any information on the internet and their domain has been suspended, we do have a new telephone number for them and my mother has said that she wants to cancel them and just get the will back.

Having paid nearly £2880 to this company I would like to think that the plan offers a little more than just "safe storage" and for that reason I don't want my mother to just cancel the plan.

Does anyone have any experience of this company or the services that they provide please?

jamesd

It seems that it may offer some executor or probate services in addition to just storage, so with the prospect of incurring those costs fairly soon it seems sensible to find out before cancelling.

From a cached FAQ page

With Will Drafters, should you choose the more comprehensive WillPlus service then any future changes to your Will are completely free of charge. And each time a totally new Will is written for you. This thereby avoids the need for a separate and sometimes contentious codicil.

If you have asked Will Drafters to draw up your Will and taken advantage of its comprehensive WillPlus service then Will Drafters will take care of this for you. Not only will it look after your Will after you have signed it but it will also write to any people you have nominated, including the executors, to let them know the Will is being safely stored by them.

What do Executors do? Executors bring together all your assets, pay your debts and any gifts of money, transfer any gifts or personal belongings and deal with the remainder - your Residuary Estate - in accordance with your Will. In our experience, non-professional Executors often ask Will Drafters to do some or all of the work for them. This is because Will Drafters has a comprehensive WillPlus service, which, apart from other benefits, may also save you and your family £1,000s in probate legal fees.

monkey_spank

Another example of an unregulated willwriter. The OP's dad is presumably paying for some sort of spurious Wills Plus service - storage/probate services of some sort.

MrMicawber_2

The Institute of Professional Willwriters is an organisation whose members have taken special qualifications specifically in will writing. Phone 08546 442042 or go to www.ipw.org.uk to find members local to you. I've just put this on another thread but this might be a good contact if you want the will checked. Came accross this in a Telegraph article a while back.

dfarry

Hi again... sorry for the delay coming back... I have no idea why I am not getting emails when posters respond... anyway...

Sadly my father died last week... so last Friday I called Willdrafters and a person from their probate department called me back in the afternoon. She was very helpful but conceded... in a nutshell... as everything (including home) is in joint names, the savings are low and my mother is the executor anyway there's nothing really they will need to do.

She said if we get anything from the Inland Revenue then let them know but other than that... well that's it.

They did offer a free will changing service for my mother and suggested some other services that might be useful - namely a 1% arrangement fee for managing the sale of my parents home (my mother will never go back to their old home now). The home is about 40 miles away from the rest of the family and where my mum now lives with my sister so having someone to check out the property from time to time and liaise with estate agents would be useful....... but the cost of this will be around £1500!!!

Basically I have come to the conclusion that Willdrafters for my parents at least has been a complete waste of money. There's a load of other things that I am having to deal with at the moment (mainly rip off council tax offices and funeral prepayment plans that are very restrictive) so Willdrafters is low on my priority list but I will be kicking them into touch soon I think!

dfarry

MrMicawber wrote: »

The Institute of Professional Willwriters is an organisation whose members have taken special qualifications specifically in will writing. Phone 08546 442042 or go to www.ipw.org.uk to find members local to you. I've just put this on another thread but this might be a good contact if you want the will checked. Came accross this in a Telegraph article a while back.

Thanks for that... just a bit tied up with other things at the moment.

sloughflint

dfarry wrote: »

Hi again... sorry for the delay coming back... I have no idea why I am not getting emails when posters respond... anyway...

Sadly my father died last week... so last Friday I called Willdrafters and a person from their probate department called me back in the afternoon. She was very helpful but conceded... in a nutshell... as everything (including home) is in joint names, the savings are low and my mother is the executor anyway there's nothing really they will need to do.

She said if we get anything from the Inland Revenue then let them know but other than that... well that's it.

They did offer a free will changing service for my mother and suggested some other services that might be useful - namely a 1% arrangement fee for managing the sale of my parents home (my mother will never go back to their old home now). The home is about 40 miles away from the rest of the family and where my mum now lives with my sister so having someone to check out the property from time to time and liaise with estate agents would be useful....... but the cost of this will be around £1500!!!

Basically I have come to the conclusion that Willdrafters for my parents at least has been a complete waste of money. There's a load of other things that I am having to deal with at the moment (mainly rip off council tax offices and funeral prepayment plans that are very restrictive) so Willdrafters is low on my priority list but I will be kicking them into touch soon I think!

I'm sorry to read this.Your parents have spent a lot of money here and this company is not alone in behaving like this.

I hope you will not take up their 1% offer to deal with estate agents if I read your post correctly.:mad:
Don't estate agents manage sales of properties?

Errata

I'm sorry to hear of your loss- wishing you well.
As this company have ripped off your parents to the tune of £2880 I think they've had quite enough business and money from your family.

For anyone reading this thread: The Probate Office will store a will for a one off sum of £15 and keep them safely until they're needed.
Link here http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1218.htm

dfarry

sloughflint wrote: »

I'm sorry to read this.Your parents have spent a lot of money here and this company is not alone in behaving like this.

I hope you will not take up their 1% offer to deal with estate agents if I read your post correctly.:mad:
Don't estate agents manage sales of properties?

No we most definitely won't be using Will Drafters for any sale, to clarify they would check the property from time to time for security, negotiate on our behalf with estate agents that we choose, solicitors, surveyors... etc... basically act as middlemen. as we all now live a fair distance from the property and are ourselves very busy with our own work and families this sort of service would have it's benefits but not at 1% of the sale price.

A quick tot up of the payment paid to Willdrafters over the past 10 years my parents have paid about £500 to them... not the original £2800 or so quoted when I originally posted (the £30 is made annually)... evenso it's money that would certainly help to pay towards my father's funeral... see my post here... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=612285

Thanks for your help.

sloughflint

Oh dear, You are both having an awful time of things ( I've also read your council tax thread).

Yes I had understood the middleman aspect. I like you thought the 1% was a cheek.

£30 a year is not so bad then.Bear in mind the link Errata gave.

dfarry

Yes will check out Errata's link... many thanks