MSE News: Legal watchdog wants will writers regulated

RoryInBristol

I've just been editing loads of content on the Law Donut website about wills, bereavement, probate and so on ... and it was a real eye-opener.

The most common pitfalls are all about signing the will and getting it witnessed. Eg a parent asks his child to act as the witness, without realising that the child then CANNOT receive anything under that will.

There's a huge range of legal services available in this area nowadays. Lawyers have to be far more price-competitive than they ever were before.

Yorkie1

Many people think a DIY will is straightforward. Sometimes they are, but sometimes a particular turn of phrase will have been used which makes the will far more complicated than it need be. I bet many DIY willmakers don't know what those phrases are, and of course they don't live to see the mess they've created by cutting corners.

As previously stated, witnessing wills is a real problem and can invalidate a will. Again far too late to do anything about it.

Worryingly, even those who charge to write wills - both the unlicensed sector and the licensed ILEX / solicitor sector - made mistakes both basic and complex.

Regulation of the sector means that only people who have proved their specialist competence can work in the sector and charge for their services, thus reducing the legal and financial problems caused to grieving families at a later point.

And 10% of the estate as a routine charge is way OTT. Most local firms here charge 1.5% - 2%, although mine charges per hour because that is generally more cost effective.

Don't forget that Will Week comes up later in the year - you can get a will written for a fixed fee, and the fee goes to charity rather than the solicitor.

John_Pierpoint

Here is the link to the donut site; it looks useful, not just spam

http://www.lawdonut.co.uk/law/personal-law/wills/making-a-will-27-faqs#10

Here is my own experience of faulty solicitor written will:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1164505&highlight=mr+dog

PasturesNew

My parents had wills written by proper solicitors.... and they still c0cked it up spectacularly....

John_Pierpoint

How did they get it wrong?

FrederickWallace

Most Will writers and even many solicitors who write Wills have no idea that Wills can be overwritten under a law called the Inheritance Act 1975. Then after the client's death, their assets are distributed against their Will, which they never had warning of.

Thus, regulation of Will writers as suggested in the article is not enough. There needs to be strict guidelines for all those who write Wills so that they do it well and give rounded advice. One reason for our blog is to increase awareness - Information on Contesting of Wills can be found by googling "Dolphin Inheritance" . As the article says, solicitors are regulated, but still many are not warning their clients about this - so the current regulation of solicitors in this area is not sufficient.

It is difficult for anyone to argue that a client paying for a Will should not be told about the risks to the Will being overwritten by someone contesting it.

John_Pierpoint

The "Which" books on the subject of wills & probate make several references to the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975, so it is hardly a well kept secret.

I think its purpose can be summed up as "If you have been keeping someone prior to death, don't assume you can cut them off with the proverbial shilling (and dump them onto the public purse)".

I would assume that any will writer, who failed to discuss and document this situation with his client, was failing the due diligence test.