Willbank Scotland?

iwilson16

Anyone know what happened to this company?

They write and store wills. I made a will with them in 2000 or 2001, and have been paying £35 a year ever since. Recently I thought I should update my will, however I can no longer find any trace of this company, except for some hints that they may have ceased trading in 2002/2003 timeframe!

I wonder where my £35 has been going ..... ?

Thanks,
Ian

Yorkshireman99

Have you looked on Companies house?

Company 02876313 is a possibility.

unholyangel

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Have you looked on Companies house?

Company 02876313 is a possibility.

Scottish companies start SC

SC227916 - thats their company number according to other sites but no record on them on companies house. Dissolved sometime between 2003 and 2004 by the looks of it.

OP how did you make the payments to them?

Yorkshireman99

unholyangel wrote: »

Scottish companies start SC

SC227916 - thats their company number according to other sites but no record on them on companies house. Dissolved sometime between 2003 and 2004 by the looks of it.

OP how did you make the payments to them?

But they may be connected. It is worth the OP asking

unholyangel

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

But they may be connected. It is worth the OP asking

The only connection they have is having willbank as a word in their company name. Not any connection in address, directors etc.

The director of willbank scotland is connected to quite a few other companies (name is William Gordon Stewart - clicky), but that doesn't seem to be one of them. Not all of his companies are listed on companies house though.

iwilson16

I had a standing order. Bit annoyed I paid for nothing for all those years! Plan to get a new will with a local solicitor in next few months, one who will store a copy for me.

Ian

Yorkshireman99

unholyangel wrote: »

The only connection they have is having willbank as a word in their company name. Not any connection in address, directors etc.

The director of willbank scotland is connected to quite a few other companies (name is William Gordon Stewart - clicky), but that doesn't seem to be one of them. Not all of his companies are listed on companies house though.

Still worth the OP calling them as the money has been going somewhere. Little effort or cost involved.

SevenOfNine

You could consider storing your new will with the probate office (cost one-off fee of £20), wherever you store it of course your executors should be advised of where it is.

https://www.gov.uk/make-will/writing-your-will & follow the link there.

I often wonder why solicitors are so keen to 'store' original documents given that they never do anything for nothing - so what is the hidden agenda there?

Mojisola

SevenOfNine wrote: »

I often wonder why solicitors are so keen to 'store' original documents given that they never do anything for nothing - so what is the hidden agenda there?

I think it's so that they can offer their services to the executors when they come to collect the will.

unholyangel

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Still worth the OP calling them as the money has been going somewhere. Little effort or cost involved.

IMO the OP would be better contacting the director (who unlike the company in question, is definitely connected with willbank scotland).

Indeed OP may have a claim against the director personally. As part of the winding up process they should have written to all their creditors/customers and made them aware.

OP could also contact her bank (and financial ombudsman) and see if they can help reclaim the payments (or whether her bank possibly have any liability if they're supposed to check the validity of the recipient account for example).

If its like normal bank transfers though, the banks only check the sort code & account number exist I think. They don't check the account name or whether the account is open/active. They could implement these checks but they dont - probably because its in their interests despite it being contrary to every single one of their customers interests.

Crabapple

They get some work as a result, either from when people want to change their wills or advice on probate.

It costs almost nothing for them to store documents as they need a secure storage room in any event.

Bear in mind if a solicitors goes under documents are moved to another local firm, which is an added protection and stops situations like the OPs.