Trust Inheritance Will Writing Service

davidgi

It's quite a while now since I posted the below and I have to say I did get over a £1000 refunded by them. It still cost me about a lot of money though for what we got and that I've had to write off as bad experience. I could have got similar service from my bank for about £80 or even free from Unite!

I'm wondering, has anything changed since last March. Is regulation of the will writing Industry still on the cards?

davidgi wrote: »

I deeply regret using Trust Inheritance. They cold canvassed my Wife and I outside of B&Q with promise of a will for £65. It also came at a time when I was being treated for Depression so my judgement was not at its best. Cutting the story short the Salesman walked away from our home with a cheque for £1750. Money that we can ill afford and for what!?

The very basic will TI provided that we could have easily written ourselves with a kit from WH Smith was peppered with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. What a disaster!

I written to them twice now and only today recieved an auto reply telling me they'll give my letter some attention when they get around to it.

My advice? Steer well clear !!!! Do it yourself or get a real soliitor to do it for you.

angiemaryjo

SeniorSam wrote: »

Hi Angie,

it very much depends on the wording of the agreement signed. However, I would have thought that such an agreement would commence once the Will had been completed, but I may not be correct. Most solicitors will meet for an initial discussion without charge, so it may be prudent to take the agreement to a solicitor and ask his opinion.

Alternatively, you could contact the Fair Trading Commission locally and discuss with them.

Hope this helps

Sam

Hi thanks for your reply to my question. I recently chanced back into my MSE messages and found I had received a private message from (text removed by MSE Forum Team) Chief Executive of Trust Inheritance Ltd. inviting me to contact his company to see if they could help and stating we could cancel this agreement at any time (except not mentioning of course that if he cancelled, the money my then partner, now husband had paid would not be reimbursed despite the fact that the will had never been signed and returned to the company so there were no storage charges incurred nor was my husband ever going to be making changes to said unsigned will or going to be wanting/needing any of their expert advice on the matter because of this!). My husband is dyslexic, nor does he understand financial matters. Presumably this company had cold called via telephone to arrange an appointment to visit and then 'sell' the drafting of the will and storage etc to him (he cant recall how they contacted him but he doesnt like telephones, uses them as little as possible and is not the sort of person to have thought about and slought advice on making a will). This also all occurred shortly after his first wife of many years had left him for another man! incidentally said ex wife plus Inheritance Trust were both named as executors on the unsigned will! as my husband had three adult children when this was drafted and given the circumstances leading to his divorce, I strongly doubt he would have nominated said ex wife as an executor! I had contacted Inheritance Trust on his behalf around the time I first posted on here, to explain the circumstances and see if he could claim back the money he had paid out, offering to return the unsigned will (my husband didnt realise he ought to have contacted IT and cancelled the 'contract' and payments asap, in fact he thought his funeral and plot were all paid for, such was his lack of understanding of this matter but had still decided he did not want to proceed with said will; he had let the matter drift so the montly payments continued to be taken from his account as he did not know he could cancel them or how and that the sooner he cancelled the better). IT at that time then sent us paperwork to be completed by our GP to verify my husband would not have understood what he was being sold. We latterly discussed this with our GP but were advised testing an adult for dyslexia is not usual and he was unaware of where this could be done on the NHS. Brick wall! I became unwell and did not pursue this matter again until earlier this year (2013) after chancing on the PM from Mr Jenkins. I then thought I would try again to get my husbands money refunded (the direct debits incidentally had been cancelled in 2011 but my husband had still paid out iro £1500 by this time) to hopefully resolve this matter. After a telephone discussion in which I explained we could not get the requested doctors report to satisfy IT my husband did not comprehend what he was being sold, I am happy to say they have refunded the monies paid (albeit without any interest). It was mentioned in the telephone conversations that theyd appreciate my posting on here upon receiving said repayment to the effect that they have resolved this matter and pride thrmselves in being a reputable and fair company. Done!
I would add that my husbands affairs were quite simple and straighforward, he had no stocks and shares or investments, nor owned multiple properties and his children would have inherited had he died intestate! I'd also add that IT cold called me too (prior to my once again pursuing this matter and it being settled) to try to sell me their Will services! I obviously declined, preferring to use my family solicitor for all legal matters, Will included (and with no charge for storing my, (now our), up to date wills!). Personally I am very sceptical and mistrustful of any company which telephone to try to sell their products and services and would never use such for that reason alone! (we are also TPS registered and ex directory but still they managed to get out number to call and try to sell to me!). Lastly, I had sought advice from the Citizens Advice on this prior to re-contacting IT was appalled to be told we 'ought to think ourselves lucky not to be taken to court for breach of contract after cancelling the direct debit payment' despite trying to explain to the said 'advisor' that it states on the paperwork that it is possible to cancel although no payments made would be refunded...so appalling advice and very poor service from that particular CAB representative I thought! I studied law many years ago and was very interested in contract law although did not pursue it as a career so am not totally stupid or ignorant CAB! I failed to see why my husband could not be reimbursed when it was quite clear that he had no intention of validating the will by it being signed and duly witnessed. It had been drafted some years prior to 2011 when I met my husband and tried to help him sort out his affairs which he had got into quite a pickle with! It seemed to me all along that as the will had not been signed and returned there were no services to pay for, storage or otherwise, or which would potentially be used (making changes to the will for free!) so my husband ought not to have lost any monies paid out for this 'package'! I think the sort of selling practise this company uses is dodgy and preys on vulnerable people.

00ec25

angiemaryjo wrote: »

I studied law many years ago and was very interested in contract law although did not pursue it as a career so am not totally stupid or ignorant CAB!

so you sought FREE advice from CAB and now wish to malign them in public because the advice they gave was not as informed as you wanted. If you are that good at contract law why not offer your services to CAB as an unpaid adviser then the quality of their service would improve and other people looking for free information would benefit from your knowledge

FBC24

We used this company for advice on wills and they set up a phone interview but also visit in areas where they have representatives. They are plausible and professional complete with glossy brochures and feed on the general feeling most of us have that legal services are too expensive. What they do though is recommend additional services such as will storage at £3 a month - most solicitors do this for free, suggest more complex and therefore expensive solutions which in our case were not necessary. In another case we heard of with an elderly relative they added on help with probate- £420 (probably not needed if you are reasonably sentient) and other legal services which were explicitly not to be part of the deal. The final bill came to over £1000 with no receipt issued and all transactions done on an iPad - bamboozling for someone not IT savvy.
We saved £275 by cancelling what we were talked into and going back to our local solicitors who provided us with suitable legal trust deed and wills.
They did send back the money in full but it took 2 weeks and a lot of hassle.

omits

Well, what a long discussion! But then I suppose this is by nature an ongoing issue for people as they come new to the subject (like me and partner).

What I am trying to sort is that we consider our kids to be not capable of sorting our affairs when the tie is ripe! If we were to appoint one or both of them:

1. What checks are in place to ensure the process is done correctly?
2. How do we ensure the WILL is picked up on (and not ignored i.e. intestate situation is followed)?

I am currently thinking of doing the LPA as a reciprocal arrangement for both of us (so the other takes over when/if incapacity hits) and a solicitor creates a reciprocal WILL which will be stored with the deeds at a solicitors. I have experience with getting COP for MIL so happy with such processes.

Comment appreciated.

Mojisola

omits wrote: »

What I am trying to sort is that we consider our kids to be not capable of sorting our affairs when the tie is ripe! If we were to appoint one or both of them:

1. What checks are in place to ensure the process is done correctly?
2. How do we ensure the WILL is picked up on (and not ignored i.e. intestate situation is followed)?

Don't appoint people who aren't capable or you don't trust to be your executors!

Savvy_Sue

omits wrote: »

I am currently thinking of doing the LPA as a reciprocal arrangement for both of us (so the other takes over when/if incapacity hits) and a solicitor creates a reciprocal WILL which will be stored with the deeds at a solicitors. I have experience with getting COP for MIL so happy with such processes.

If you can, appoint more than one Attorney for each of you, deciding whether to allow the reserve only to act if the first can't, or both to act together, or whatever.

Because quite often, when one half of a couple loses capacity, the other one follows soon after.

beckaroo

Hello

I know this is an old thread but I am desperately hoping that someone might see this and perhaps be able to give me some advice...please excuse the long post and my tendency to go into detail...but having read some of the early posts on this thread, I believe that my story will enrage some of you as much as it does me.

My late Grandad's best mate (Henry) sadly passed away recently at the grand age of 90 :-( Henry had lived by himself in the family home since his mother passed away in 1971 - his only living relative is his sister who is 93 and unable to leave the house easily. She is, however, an extremely wise and intelligent lady and has dealt with multiple estates herself in the past; but in a conversation with Henry at the
time he was having his will drawn up in 2006, he asked his sister whether she wanted to be named as the executor of his estate, but she declined - she did discuss it further with Henry however and says he later told her that he'd decided my mother would be the executor of his estate.

He gave his sister a small card with the title 'Wills for Life Membership' from a company called PEP (Legal Services) Ltd at Crown House, 1 Stafford Place, Weston-Super-Mare BS23 2QZ...ever the practical man, Henry had written his membership number on the card and on the back he wrote 'Executor' and my mothers name and contact details.

Also in 2006, Henry paid a visit to my mother and told her that he had arranged for her to be the Executor of his Estate when he died - he also gave her a small green business card (the same as his sisters), with his membership number and his sisters contact details on the back. Henry told my mother to ring the telephone number on the card when the time came (his words...he liked to be upfront!) as he had secured a deal with the company (PEP Legal Services) who, for £3000, would ensure that he paid no more than 1% of his gross estate in fees. He also advised my mother that the fee covered assistance for her with Executor administration duties incase she needed some help.

Being naive about this sort of thing, my mother trusted that Henry knew what he was doing as, like his sister, he was a very intelligent man who always did his research wherever money was involved. So she stored the card for safekeeping and now, eight years on, sadly Henry passed away shortly after his 90th birthday. He had remained quite mobile until late last year when he simply wasn't able to go out anymore. My mother and I visited him weekly and after his death, we became acquainted with Henry's sister and found that he had given us both the same cards from PEP Legal Services Ltd.

My mother called the telephone number on the card (01934 622012) only to get an automated message advising that the number had changed...she redialed the new number and spoke to a woman who answered the phone as Trust Inheritance Ltd...my mother asked whether she had the correct number and was assured by the woman that they were the same company but had changed name. My mother explained the situation as best she could - that Henry had passed away, given her their card with instructions to call them and that she needed their advice on where to start with her duties as executor. The woman on the phone asked for some details and confirmed Henry's membership number, then advised her that someone from their legal team would call her the following day at 10am.

In the meantime, Henry's sister asked us to find his copy of his will as she knew he had made one in 2006 - it wasn't hard to find and everything we needed from the will, to his birth certificate, NHS card and even the deeds to his house, were all neatly bound up together, as if he knew we'd be needing them all 'when the time came'...anyway, when his sister looked at Henry's copy of the will, under the section titled 'Appointment of Executors', the only executor stated is 'PERSONAL ESTATE PLANNING (LEGAL SERVICES) LIMITED' at the address previously mentioned...none of us really knew what this meant at the time so waited for the call from the 'Legal Team' the following day.

My mother received a call from a 'Legal Advisor' at Trust Inheritance who informed her that there was no mention of her being an executor on the copy of the will they had stored, which was made in 2006 (same copy we had found at Henry's)...the 'Legal Advisor' said that Henry had chosen for his estate to be dealt with by one of Trust Inheritance's 'carefully selected solicitors' via another company called
Red Apple Law (their website shows that these people aren't a legal firm of any kind but just a signposting/referral company which appears to just select a solicitor on behalf of Trust Inheritance....confused?! Me too...anyway my mother kept trying to explain that Henry had told both his next-of-kin and herself that she would be executor but the woman talked over her and said that unless there was a more recent will made elsewhere, theirs stated that only PERSONAL ESTATE PLANNING (LEGAL SERVICES) LIMITED were the executors...the woman banged on about how hard it was to be an executor and that most people just left it to a solicitor to handle and that they had a special rate of 1% of the gross estate (plus VAT and disbursements?!) blah blah blah...in hindsight having now seen this thread, my mother says the call seemed a bit sale-sy and as if the woman was trying to talk my mum out of any ideas she might have had of even attempting to deal with probate herself...by this point my poor mother was so confused so she asked for all the information to be sent in an email explaining everything and she would call them back after consulting with Henry's next-of-kin.

This was the email she received:

Dear XXXXX

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me earlier on the telephone, I appreciate that we covered a lot of information during our conversation and so I thought it useful if I confirmed our discussion in writing.

We spoke about the responsibilities of an executor and the liability involved in carrying out this role as well as what is expected of you when dealing with the assets and debts of the person who has died and ensuring their wishes are fully carried out.

As you will appreciate, this can be a very time consuming and difficult task and as such you have chosen for us to act on your behalf and to complete this process, this is known as the “estate administration”.

We work in partnership with Red Apple Law to deliver this service. They will refer you to a specialist from their carefully selected panel, and since they specialize in this area of work and so you can be confident with the service you will receive. We have managed to secure competitive fixed fees with this organisation and I can confirm that the fee for this service is based on a fixed percentage of 1% charged on the gross estate plus VAT and disbursements.

A representative from the law firm will contact you within the next day or two. You will be assigned with a dedicated case handler, who will be dealing with this matter for you and will be on hand for you throughout, they will deal with everything needed in order to finalise the estate administration and to cover off your legal responsibilities.

In the meantime, if you require any additional support or have any queries, then please do not hesitate to contact our Bereavement Team on 0800 840 1665.

Kindest regards,

XXXX XXXX
Legal Advice Manager
01934 422383

Trust Inheritance Ltd
Crown House, 1 Stafford Place
Weston-super-Mare BS23 2QZ
Head office: 01934 422 991
Fax: 01934 414 737
Web: www.trustinheritance.com
Registered in England number: 2490912


The email didn't actually answer any of my mothers questions (personally, I think it looks like a standard email template) and she didn't actually agree to anything, yet the third paragraph makes it sound as though she has.

We told Henry's sister what they had said and she is very concerned that Henry's wishes for my mother to be executor were ignored by this company and the person who drafted his will - she is certain that Henry was given misleading and/or incorrect guidance on naming his executor in his will as he had toldmy mother that this company would simplyhelp guide her with her executor duties. As previously mentioned, his sister has lots of past experience dealing with probate and estates and says that there is no way Henry would have left all his financial affairs to be handled by a third party after his death. It is a very worrying situation for his sister as she has calculated that this will cost Henry's estate in excess of £5000 (not including the £3000 he already paid in 2006) which she knows Henry would have never agreed to had he fully understood what he was paying for.

I am disgusted that this company took advantage of a trusting elderly gentleman in order to 'make a sale' - with his will was a letter from a man with a local telephone number confirming that Henry had paid £39 for a home visit to have his will drawn up and having read other peoples experiences on this thread, it seems this would have been the 'foot in the door' which then lead to this whole situation.

My mother and I are trying to do everything we can to help his sister and she is adamant that her brothers estate should not be dealt with by this company or any of its affiliates. She has been advised that a lawyer from a solicitor firm called Gordon Brown Law Firm (www.gblf.co.uk) will be calling her tomorrow morning (Thursday) for a 'free 15 minute' consultation to discuss her brothers estate - they got all the details via a referral from Red Apple Law/Trust Inheritance. As their terms of business state that any calls going over 15 minutes will be billed at the equivalent of £20 per 6 minutes, we need to ensure that all our questions are answered within that time to try and resolve this. As much as his sister has experience with estates and probate, she has never encountered a situation like this where the intended executor isn't stated in his will.

I really hope that someone out there with some experience may be able to help us ask the right questions and perhaps provide some advice on whether we can contest this company being sole executors - I have a gut feeling that now Henry has passed away, its going to be too late to do anything but do the beneficiaries have any influence to try and get this company to renounce their executorship? As previously mentioned, the name PERSONAL ESTATE PLANNING (LEGAL SERVICES) LIMITED is stated on his will but we now know that the current company (Trust Inheritance) don't actually handle the estate themselves, only refer it to a third-party solicitor - does this give us any 'loopholes' that might help us, so to speak?

My mother and I desperately want to help Henry's sister as she says that Henry would have much preferred such a large amount of money be donated to charity than pay a greedy solicitor/will company - any advice or help would be very gratefully received.

As a side note, I am absolutely disgusted that such companies as this one prey on elderly and vulnerable people with their convincing sales pitch and I would warn anyone who has an elderly relative who has hadtheir wills written by such a company to get them checked thoroughly to ensure their intended executor is named correctly in their will. I suspect that Henry was spun some line by the salesman to reassure him that my mother would still be the executor but by naming PERSONAL ESTATE PLANNING (LEGAL SERVICES) LIMITED in his will, they would provide her with help and guidance...Henry was very trusting of people and would've taken their word for it. I don't know how these people sleep at night.

Savvy_Sue

I am really sorry for your loss.

And I fear that if your mother is not named as executor, then she won't be able to act as such unless the named executor can be persuaded to renounce.

And Henry's sister won't be able to do a thing about it, however sure she is that it's not what her brother wanted.

I don't know if the onward referral thing gives you a loophole, I'm afraid.

savingmoney1234

Have you specifically asked them to renounce?
what did they say?