Free Will: November's WillAid Month

dprovan

I work with the NSPCC, (one of the benefiting charities) on the basis of the posts here, this seems to be a PR problem. There does seem to be a great deal of discrepancy from participating solictiors, which I fear will unfortunately result in the aims not being as well achieved as they may have.

Very unfortunate, if this proves to be the case. It seems ironic that heavy handed attitudes of solicitors, giving their time, may result in fewer donations.

To the will aid press officer, could your organisation not offer to look into this, surely these kind of stories do little for the aim of the event?

Tight_as_a_gnats_chuff

does Martin Lewis have any comments/advice on the matter?????:money:

MSE_Martin

Im going to put a call in to the Will aid press office. If the donations are compulsory then unfortunately it defeats the promotion and is effectively a "get a will and we'll give you a fixed fee and our take to charity" as oppossed to "free will as discussed."

Im sure the will-aid people mean well - though I think the solicitors signing up to this need to follow it through - as far as the will-aid week states - there is no set donation. If solicitors want to be a part of this they need to accept the whole tems or the thing needs to be recatagorised.

Martin

mrs_baggins

th solicitors I contacte did say that it was a voluntary contribution and SUGGESTED £75 but dont think they would hold you to it. they also didnt have any age restriction. it just had to be fairly simple ie I leave everything to X y and Z type of thing

Freefall

LizEstelle wrote:

You can get an off-the-shelf will writing kit from WHS for peanuts.

The charitable aspect aside, as a money saver, the last people in the world I'd approach with a view to the tightening of my purse would be legal hacks.

An "Off the Shelf" will pack from WHSmith wouldn't include advice regarding Probate law (i.e. "who gets what" and "what you should put in your will") which can be somewhat complex nor does it include advice about intracacies of Tax Law in respect to Inheritance Tax.

Freefall

Eck wrote:

Its all a big con people, rip off Britain at its best.

No it isn't. It is a scheme which allows people to get a reduced price will whilst benefiting some worthwhile charities.

Adrian_london

I have just booked my appointment for a day in November and I've been told that there is a charge of £75. Simple as that. No "don't worry if you can't afford it" no "Just give us what you can".

I don't mind paying for it but I would have liked to have been given the option.

My will is very very simple. All I want to do is leave all my possesions to one or two people. What are these wills that can be bought that are on a CD (I think WH Smiths sells them for £25-£30). Are they any good for non complicated will?

Also, IF i bought one from WH Smiths and completed it where would I leave it so that when I die someone knows where to go to get it (if you know what i mean)




Cheers

willaid_press_officer

dprovan wrote:

I work with the NSPCC, (one of the benefiting charities) on the basis of the posts here, this seems to be a PR problem. There does seem to be a great deal of discrepancy from participating solictiors, which I fear will unfortunately result in the aims not being as well achieved as they may have.

Very unfortunate, if this proves to be the case. It seems ironic that heavy handed attitudes of solicitors, giving their time, may result in fewer donations.

To the will aid press officer, could your organisation not offer to look into this, surely these kind of stories do little for the aim of the event?

So sorry that a few people have been having difficulties with some solicitors. All our solicitors have been sent materials explaining the basis of the scheme and should abide by the letter and spirit of the voluntary donation If we know who these solicitors are we will remind them that the donations are voluntary.
However, solicitors are giving their time to support charity. They want to raise as much as possible and so are obviously going to want to discourage those who make it clear they aren't going to donate anything like the amount suggested - or indeed anything at all!
This is not a free will scheme. It is a scheme where the solicitor works for free and the client makes a donation to charity in exchange.

Gambit

Well as I said in my previous post, I wanted to participate in this scheme but give a sightly less donation of £50 but the solictor I spoke to in Streatham was not willing to accept anything except the £75 'suggested' donation. They even told me that they didnt have time to 'haggle' on the price which I took offence at since I was under the impression that the donation was up to the will maker... :mad:

I think we need to make sure that everyone is reading from the same script as this seems to be creating confusion and personally has made me dislike solicitors that bit more... As for me, think I'm gonna grab an off the shelf version and maybe try again next year if this has been sorted out by then!

MSE_Martin

I've spoken to the Will Aid press office. The donation is voluntary - then again so is the participation of solicitors. While it shouldn't be a problem - if problems do occur, the press officer has agreed to look at issues with individual solicitors and can be PMd (though please only use this as a last resort).

I have updated the initial post with the following.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT HOW MUCH TO PAY?

The whole purpose of Will Aid is to raise as much money as possible for charity and to persuade people to get around to writing a proper will and at the suggested £75 it's actually cheap compared to what the actual fee would be.

If you cannot afford the full amount, don't blunder straight in and say "I will only donate £20 is that ok?"

Some oversubscribed solicitors may take umbridge. Instead Will Aid itself suggests you phone the solicitor and explain you want to make an appointment through the WillAid scheme without asking about the cost. Tell it you'll make a donation via the WillAid website and bring the receipt. That should be fine.

If there are any problems with an individual solicitor on this, the Will Aid press officer is monitoring this discussion and if you've tried every other option to sort it you can send her a private message

Martin