Free Wills in March?

Tsmee

Looking for opintions, please:

My MIL was cold called and told there is a government initiative at the moment where you can get your will done for free during March. I'm very scepticl about this. I know there is some kind of scheme where you can get a free will, with just a donation to charity, but I thought this was in November and it was orgainised by the lawyers themselves (Law Society?), not the government. They want to visit her at home to carry out the work on the will

Does this sound dodgy to you?

BTW, should point out that we're in Scotland.

Thanks,

Tsmee

joeblack066

I would say that a basic will would probably be free, but there will be a hard sell on a more complex will and that will be what they are after. If your Mum wants to see, be there with her. These are trained sales people who work on negative emotional blackmail to get the deal.

Pee

I get a lot of answerphone messages, one a week, saying about wills. (The other favourite is about debt management.) I have to admit I delete the message without listening to it properly as I am sure that it is a con, and besides which I am tired from writing wills for people most of the day and don't want to hear more about it when I get home!

I am not aware of any government scheme although I am based in England. The only governement scheme I am aware of is Legal Aid and I don't know any solicitors who write wills under that scheme because there are so many hoops to jump through. The qualifying rules are really strict, apart from low income and low capital you need to either have a child you wish to appoint a guardian for or be over 75 with a terminal illness or disability.

The difficulty is that when writing a Will a professional would not wish other family members to be present, in case there was any influence on the person making the Will, but this makes it very difficult when you are concerned about the professionalism of the person concerned.

If she wanted to leave a reasonable amount of money to charity, there are cancer research schemes which operate year round (Cancer Research Uk and Institute of Cancer Research) and also some other charities which are part of the Free Wills Network. One is the Soil association and one Britsish Heart Foundation, I think. You are right that the WillAid scheme is only in November.

If you ring around, I expect you will find the average cost of the will will be £95 plus VAT and that if she is unable to go to a solicitor's office that they will visit her at home.

There is a criminal offence for charging people for a home visit without giving them a chance to change their mind.

The scams to watch out for are charging for will storage, a solicitor will store for free or you can send it to the Probate Registry for about £5, appointing themselves executors when there are adult beneficiaries who could act themselves and selling trusts which she may not need or a Lasting Power of Attorney - useful, but sadly currently expensive.

Mojisola

Tsmee wrote: »

My MIL was cold called and told there is a government initiative at the moment where you can get your will done for free during March. I'm very scepticl about this. I know there is some kind of scheme where you can get a free will, with just a donation to charity, but I thought this was in November and it was orgainised by the lawyers themselves (Law Society?), not the government. They want to visit her at home to carry out the work on the will

Does this sound dodgy to you?

BTW, should point out that we're in Scotland.

I'm sure this is a lie. Ask them to send you the paperwork from the government that sets out this scheme.

FBaby

It is genuine
http://www.freewillsmonth.org.uk/?gclid=CKes0rvd2qcCFYob4QodeU9G9w

Mojisola

FBaby wrote: »

It is genuine
http://www.freewillsmonth.org.uk/?gclid=CKes0rvd2qcCFYob4QodeU9G9w

It doesn't mention Scotland -
"During March the campaign is running in Basingstoke, Bedford, Blackpool, Chesterfield, Coventry, Croydon, Darlington, Eastbourne, Harrogate, Hastings, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northampton, Peterborough, Sheffield, Slough, Sunderland, Twickenham, Wolverhampton and York."

It's an initiative by certain charities, not the government.

It's available through a selected list of solicitors who will not be cold-calling customers.