Trust Inheritance Will Writing Service

searchandsaveuk

SnowBelle wrote: »

As a contributor to MSE forums I find searching the forums is invaluble to me when investigating things I am about to partake/spend money on.
I have used Trust Inheritance recently to draw up a will for me,mine is very basic and I only have a couple of dependants(not Children)
I too was given the hard sell on the plans even though I told the salesman I only needed to write the will,
I have no intention now after reading this of taking out a plan.
But I will be honest and say I had considered it, and can see how more vulnerable people could be persuaded to part with their cash.
If I find I have lost £65 ( for the will draft) I will find this a slightly less bitter pill to swallow than losing £2500 (ish) quoted.
So once again thanks to the MSE'ers who have explained this from a sensible perspective ( and kept this thread alive!)

It sounds as though you have not taken your own council particularly well on this one - did your plan provide you with a lasting power of attorney? if so take a look at the BBC web-site link for the one show which has a video feature on lasting power of attorney. I think having seen this you will see just how important this is.

Similarly did the plan enable you to put your property in trust so as to mininimise inheritance tax and protect against your home being sold to pay for potential care home fees? if so take a look at the bbc panorama website feature on care home fees and people having to sell their homes to fund them.

Not having these extremely valuable (and in my opinion essential) benefits is now leaving you without that protection, which, if you believe is important you would be advised to reinstate with the same or similar provider. The fact is that in order to do so will result probably in a lot of hard work or indeed cost if you end up going to a solicitor. That is why Trust Inheritances plan is in my opinion (having bought one recently and having thoroughly investigated it in detail first) worth every penny. Storage of the will for life, unlimited free updates to the will going forwards, provision of a lasting power of attorney, the ability to put my property in trust for my kids thus limiting inheritance tax exposure and ensuring my home cannot be sold from under me to pay for care home fees and at the end providing my executors (my kids) with all the legal assistance required to wind up my estate without any encumbent financial pressure being on them and taking the hassle and stress away from them at the same time.

I fail to see here what not having this plan can be providing other than meaning you are not spending any money. If the points above are pertinent to you then I think that would be money well spent. Of course if none of the points above are relevant then your decison was sound.

I hope my take on things may balance what can become a bit of a one sided arguement otherwise.

antrobus

searchandsaveuk wrote: »

...
I hope my take on things may balance what can become a bit of a one sided arguement otherwise.

Nope, you're fairly obviously an employee of Trust Inheritance.

And it's 'counsel' as in 'advice', and not 'council' as in 'the people who empty your bins'.

Worriedaboutmum

Hello.

I think my mum has fallen for this scam, and it makes me feel sick. She's paid over £2500 (which she can't afford as she's a pensioner) for a will for her and my dad and they have a very modest estate and VERY straightforward wills. Particularly worrying is that they are named as each other's executors (with me and my brother should they be unable/unwilling), and not the company or any solicitors. There is no breakdown of cost, so I have no idea what she's paid for.

Unfortunately, my mum arranged all this shortly after she retired and was in no fit state to sign up to anything. (August 2011). She can't remember how she 'chose' them, although it seems likely that she was cold called. I have no evidence of this though.

I'm also concerned that bottom sections of two of the forms have been cut off (she doesn't know why or when) and both she and my dad have part completed Power of Attorney forms (neither need them) but they've been asked to pay up another £120 each to lodge some other forms (I don't know what on earth this is about!).

They also have her date of birth wrong on all the forms.

Is there anything she can do to get her money back?

Grateful for all advice.

Thanks.:(

John_Pierpoint

Worriedaboutmum wrote: »

Hello.

I think my mum has fallen for this possible "scam", and it makes me feel sick. She's paid over £2500 (which she can't afford as she's a pensioner) for two wills, one for her and one for my dad and they have a very modest estate and VERY straightforward wills

Fair comment is the legal price we pay, we don't want your posting to be "redacted" by legal interference;) - having had to take both my mother and uncle through the experience of getting old, losing their marbles and dying leaving a bit of a muddle behind, I know that the whole process can be complex and expensive simply because months of effort can be required to to sort out everything.
.

Worriedaboutmum wrote: »

Particularly worrying is that they are named as each other's executors (with me and my brother should they be unable/unwilling), and not the company or any solicitors.

If a sole executor, the survivor of the marriage or the child of the marriage (or preferably both) is named as executor(s), that is satisfactory. The executor(s) can always buy legal help if and when needed..

Worriedaboutmum wrote: »

There is no breakdown of cost, so I have no idea what she's paid for.

Unfortunately, my mum arranged all this shortly after she retired and was in no fit state to sign up to anything. (August 2011). She can't remember how she 'chose' them, although it seems likely that she was cold called. I have no evidence of this though.

I'm also concerned that bottom sections of two of the forms have been cut off (she doesn't know why or when)

.
Is there any evidence that your mother was mentally defective at the time of her retirement (?!?). What was dad's position in these transactions?
My late mother gave a whole weeks old age pension to a "crook" (?) selling "black" (?) fish door to door and ended up with 14 small packets of something suitable for cat food - put that is the price we pay for freedom of contract.

Worriedaboutmum wrote: »

Both she and my dad have part completed Power of Attorney forms (neither need them) but they've been asked to pay up another £120 each to lodge some other forms (I don't know what on earth this is about!).

That sounds to me like the fees required to "authenticate" the lasting powers of attorney (one for welfare and one for financial matters), powers that more than 3 out of 4 people will never need as they retain their faculties until their death. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing if your parents will be in the 25% band.
I have given my wife & son enduring power of attorney (cost pence) but that has now been replaced by lasting power of attorney, where the government double checks the paperwork - that is now the price you have to pay for living in a fraud ridden nanny state.

Worriedaboutmum wrote: »

They also have her date of birth wrong on all the forms.

Is there anything she can do to get her money back?

Grateful for all advice.

Thanks.:(

There is no proof that any offence has been committed, to quote Trading Standards in response to my enquiry about my mum's "black" fish.

Anyway congratulations on taking the first step towards financial sanity by joining us here on "Money Saving Expert".:T
If you search, you will find lots more good advice about wills and powers of attorney plus the financial and emotional problems of becoming responsible for elderly relatives.

dibdabable

Just to get back to the original question posed. I think whether this company can provide a suitable/legal Will aside, you should never be persuaded into thinking that Executing a Will is beyond the average person. Initially there's a lot of form filling etc, but if things are fairly straightforward most people can do it.There are lots of people out there to help you for nothing.
My OH has been a joint executor with a Solicitor and for another Will my OH was joint executor with a sister. Neither my OH or the sister have any legal experience or training and are of average iintelligence. They got the Estate wound up in 7 months.They spent approx £500 on legalities,£800 on conveyancing done by a Solicitor and about £2000 on Estate Agents Fees.

With the solicitor acting as an Executor alongside my OH, the total fees including those above cost £14500. The work involved was almost identical in the Will and the work necessary.The Estate was wound up in 10 months.

The fact is as long as there aren't any complicated situations, it's much more important to choose someone you trust. If the Executor needs a Solicitor they can quite easily ask for very specific work to be done, but all in all you won't be spending anything like you would with either a Solicitor/Bank as an Executor.The Solicitor when asked if they would give up their position as Executor quoted all the terrible scenarios that can happen, not realising my OH had already been an Executor. We would definetly have crumbled given what she said.She made the process sound horrendous.
We intend leaving a step by step guide for Probate with our Will for our Executors which we will update as things change to keep their job easier.

Good luck with your decisions.

John_Pierpoint

I am in two minds about the recommending the DIY route.
Having done three estates without a solicitor (unless I realised I needed one and paid a fee for a specific task), I do know the systems are getting more complex and the unnamed beneficiary (HMRC) is appearing at the front of the queue in more and more estates.
If you think of your knowledge as a candle, then the bigger your candle flame the larger the darkness you can see.

Ordinary neighbourhood solicitors suffer from the same problem and the lay executor will have to run round doing most of the work anyway, as paying a three figure rate per hour for professional help, would soon produce another major beneficiary getting paid out at the head of the queue.

I would start by buying the "Which?" guides - up to three of them, from (say) Amazon. However even the latest editions all re-printed since 2008 are not 100% up to date.

Fortunately we have the Internet and forums like this for double checking.

I have recently taken 3 years finally sorting out the will of a close relative - an ordinary working fellow who left school at 14 but ended life fairly "wealthy" because he lived frugally, had no children and inherited a house from his mother so never paid a mortgage.

I had the estate 90% completed within 6 months but a complexity of medical records, income tax arrears and Barclays bank investment (which caused the arrears) created a fog of misinformation that dragged on at snail's pace.

Paying a solicitor or an accountant to sort that out would have definitely made a huge hole in the estate.

So make sure your relative dies with all their affairs neat and tidy.

Black-Rose

A lady from Inheritance Trust visited us last night to draft our wills. I did not feel under pressure at all from her. Her attitude was very professional. She did tell us about the different plans they had available but did not put the hard sell on us to take any. She certainly did not talk us into parting with £2500. We did take out a plan for storing our wills and it covers the cost of having to update them as many times as needed throughout the rest of our lives. I have just rang an independant solicitor who says to get a will written and a storage service and to get your will re written when it needs updating even a few times would cost way above the £400 we have agreed to pay Inheritance Trust. I have not instructed them to be our executors just the actuall will writing/storage/updating service. They are covered by PALS which is a legal services regulator, so if they do go out of business we are still covered and will get the same service that we have paid for from another company. Does everyone still think this is a scam ? Is there anyone out there who can put my mind at rest ?

John_Pierpoint

a one post wonder.

Black-Rose

Was that comment aimed at me?


I don't think they are a scam as such, they just offer services which are quite expensive to what you can get elsewhere. We have managed to find the service we wanted elsewhere so we have cancelled and got the deposit back. They were very polite and helpful on the phone.
If you have paid these people any money I don't think they are about to disappear with it but you could probably find what you want a bit cheaper if you shop around.

jimmo

Black-Rose wrote: »

Was that comment aimed at me?

Almost certainly, and well aimed, I think.