Supposed free inheritance preservation seminars

W.Ford

Apologies in advance if this isnt quite the right place for this post. An elderly relative has received a leaflet through the door for a free seminar, offering to give advice on keeping inheritance in the family. To me this sounds like a scam. Has anyone come across things like this before? I've had a look at the website of the people running it, and it's full of stock images, and a I can find very little in the way of feedback on them online, despite their domain name having been established for a decade, and the parent company having being listed on companies house for quite a long while.

Thanks

tacpot12

Probably a scam, or at the least, bad value. If they need advice, it would be better to find a local Society of Trust and Estate Practitioner. 

Keep_pedalling

Tell him to stick it in the recycling. The main purpose of these ‘seminar’ of for these leaches to scare people that all their house will be sold to pay for care and that they can avoid this by setting up inappropriate trusts for very high fees.

They don’t mention deliberate deprivation of assets or point out the danger of ending up in over my dead body grange.

kinger101

100 percent to be avoided.  The fact the parent company is a listed company is absolutely no indication they're not going to fleece people. 

If I was a shiny polyester suited spiv preying on the elderly, I'd to the same in an attempt to minimize any personal liability.

dunstonh

An elderly relative has received a leaflet through the door for a free seminar, offering to give advice on keeping inheritance in the family. To me this sounds like a scam. 

Unlikely to be a scam.   However, it is well known that the companies that generally run these give a bit of hard sell to get people to sign up to trusts etc and typically charge 10 to 20 times what a solicitor would be charge.

 I've had a look at the website of the people running it, and it's full of stock images

Many websites use templates and stock images are used with those.  However, if you are referring to images purporting to be the people involved, then that is a massive warning bell and leans more towards scammers or dodgy dealing.

and a I can find very little in the way of feedback on them online, despite their domain name having been established for a decade.  and the parent company having being listed on companies house for quite a long while.

That is not unexpected. The genuine firms doing it correctly will be small local firms with little or no footprint on the internet.  Some won't even have a website let alone appear on review sites.    Often it's similar to looking for testimonials of your local fishmonger.    

JohnBrown53

My wife and I attended one of these seminars which was presented by a STEP solicitor. It was mostly about lasting powers of attorney, wills and how to reduce inheritance tax. The presenter made clear it was factual information not advice and also stressed to avoid companies who try to sell care or tax avoidance schemes. There was no selling and we weren't obliged to do anything further though some of the other attendees did book meetings afterwards. A few downsides - the room was quite congested, there was too much to take in and it was hard to hear the presenter from the back.

LHW99

despite their domain name having been established for a decade, and the parent company having being listed on companies house for quite a long while.

It is also possible for dodgy companies to put out printed leaflets using the details of legitimate companies, but their own phone number. Not saying that is the case here, but something to be aware of.

Clive_Woody

W.Ford said:

Apologies in advance if this isnt quite the right place for this post. An elderly relative has received a leaflet through the door for a free seminar, offering to give advice on keeping inheritance in the family. To me this sounds like a scam. Has anyone come across things like this before? I've had a look at the website of the people running it, and it's full of stock images, and a I can find very little in the way of feedback on them online, despite their domain name having been established for a decade, and the parent company having being listed on companies house for quite a long while.

Thanks

If you feel comfortable to do so, could you share the name of the company handing out these leaflets?

akadk1612

I went to this course last week. Very interesting and no real hard sell. I think that comes later when they do a follow-up phone call to arrange a "free, no obligations" meeting. Of course, if you accidentally leave a false name, address and phone number on the feed back sheet, they can't do that. 😉